I made it a week before I fell off the wagon so to speak. Where did that saying come from? I must look it up. I discovered that the weekends are incredibly hard when you are doing it by yourself. Nothing worse than watching hubby enjoy a cold beer on a Friday and wanting to join in. So I did. Did I regret it? Yes a bit.
Moving on though he told me that he would like to cut back and get healthier too so that means we now get to do this together. Which is going to make life so much easier as we can help keep each other accountable.
I also discovered that I need to change my habits and routines as pouring a glass of wine has become such an ingrained part of my day. In fact it became the very first thing I did when I walked in the door without me even realising.
I have spent time lately trying to pin point at what stage in my life this change took place. When did I go from rarely drinking to it becoming a daily thing? I didn’t really drink before we had children. If we went out then I might have one but I was usually the sober driver. I remember going back to work full time when our youngest was about 8 months old. We had a beer fridge in the shed and I would unload the car and take a couple of beers inside with me. I would drink them over the next few hours as we did baths, dinner, etc. Perhaps that is where the habit began.
I was never a big wine drinker. However my MIL and SIL were and so when we got together…weekly then that would be what I drank. I remember starting a fitness programme in 2017 on Monday, Wednesday and Friday mornings and so I wouldn’t drink the night before going. But then that evening I would ‘reward’ myself for my workout with a bottle of wine. Looking back I was undoing all my hard work but I was oblivious to that at the time.
Life got busy when we purchased our business at the beginning of 2018 and while I managed to stick out the programme till the end of the year I then gave it away. With it the excuse not to drink three nights a week. This coincided with some terrible staff issues, lawyers visits and of course covid and so the nightly debrief that we would have became a thing.
In 2021 I gave up for three months and then for no reason that I can recall started again. I probably just assumed I could moderate… haha.
In 2022 I vowed I would start the year and have a year free of alcohol. I remember my Mum laughing at me and saying she didn’t think I could do it. I made it to mid April and I think it was a trip away at Easter Weekend that was the excuse I needed to start again.
2023 We decided we wouldn’t drink during the week and we actually made that work pretty well if you don’t count the binge drinking on the weekends. Somehow a Friday night slowly became a Thursday night and then a Wednesday… so on.
So here we are in 2025 vowing to not lose our Spring and Summer evenings to alcohol yet again. In my head and on paper it all seams so easy. Just don’t buy it! But usually come later in the week one of us will say, “I fancy a drink.” That is all it takes and the week is written off ready for us to start again the following.
So this week it is a NO go zone. The word drink, wine, beer or alcohol are not to be uttered. We are heading away for the weekend and have decided that we will go out for a meal and enjoy a drink with dinner while we are away but we clearly cannot have it in the house. It may take a lot of work but I believe eventually we will find a balance that will work for us. For now though I need a new routine when I first walk in the door. Something simple but one I will enjoy.
