What does your drink less goal look like?
As I have an interest in personal development and have spent many years as a coach and mentor I knew that there was something to be said for choosing a stretch goal or a length of time that was outside my comfort zone.
I knew I could do a month alcohol free easily – I had the evidence for that as I had completed successful Dry Januarys and Sober Octobers in the past. Doubling or Tripling my goal to 60 or 90 days didn’t seem challenging enough and there was no way I was going to say I was never drinking again. I’ve had enough hideous hangovers and said that often enough to know my brain hears la-la-la when I say ‘never again’ about anything.
So – What to do?
I’m a sucker for a round number so whilst 100 days sounded good to me it still just didn’t seem enough of a challenge. I wanted to be able to question whether I could really do it.
In the same way people know they can run a 5k or a 10k but start marathon training not knowing whether the final race is really achievable
Well done to you if you’ve ever run a marathon – you are my hero
So 365 was the magic number I settled on.
I decided a proper life experiment would be best if it involved all the big drinking activities in an annual social calendar.
Christmas and all that season entails, MYE, my birthday, family and friends birthdays, a wedding, hectic times at work, holidays.
So there it was then 365!
All this ‘work’ went on inside my head in 2019and I was set to start my life experiment on 1st Jan 2020. I’d told myself that my nice round goal of one year should start on new years day.
As summer rolled into Autumn 2019, I started to do some research – I felt I needed a few tools to fall back on if my life experiment was to be successful
By October I was committed to my alcohol free 2020
I cut my drinking down significantly between October and November and then began to wonder why I was waiting for January to start my virtual stop watch? Who was I doing that for and why? Did I care about New Years resolutions? No!
If alcohol was making me feel rubbish why didn’t I stop now?
If I could get through December 2019 without a drink then it would give me the evidence that the whole of 2020 was possible surely?
So, I started before I was ready
On the 8th December I went with my family to a house party at some close friends. I had a few G and Ts and we ate/played board games/danced and had fun.
The next morning I woke up and knew that my life experiment had begun. I wasn’t going to drink for 365 days from now.
Would you like some support and kindness for your Alcohol Free/Drink Less next steps – Click here for details of my 1:1 coaching programme – I’ve been where you are and know how hard it can be
