This is the 5th year in a row that I’ve officially gone alcohol-free in January.
I started to go ‘on the dry’ in 2016 to help raise funds for Irish Heart Foundation and while that was a good cause, my real reason for going alcohol-free wasn’t that noble—I just really needed to save some money. This year though, I’ve decided to take the alcohol-free challenge.
I’m going to be taking a break from drinking alcohol for 365 days as part of my self-care plan.
As it is a leap year, it should be 366 days but because I celebrated New Year’s Eve and I was drinking until 1:30am, technically I can’t count January 1st towards my challenge.
Why am I doing this?
I’ve always had a love-hate relationship with alcohol. There were a couple of different stages in my life where my alcohol consumption was heavy and it affected me physically, mentally and emotionally. Honestly, there were times when I turned into a ‘grade A asshole’ when I’ve had way too much to drink. I can try and recount hazy memories of really stupid things I did or uncharacteristically mean things I’ve said when I was under the influence of alcohol in my teens to my 20s and up to this day, I still wish for some sort of time machine to undo the damage or for the ground to swallow me whole.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m much tamer now with my alcohol consumption and I can go on a couple of months without booze but suffering from a hangover, feeling completely useless because you can’t do anything and feeling extremely anxious due to ‘the fear’ for a day or two just aren’t appealing to me anymore.
If you’re on the same boat and you’re wondering how you and I will manage, I understand your hesitation. I mean… I live in Ireland and there’s a tendency for friends to invite you to ‘go for one’ that would turn into a harmless two which turns into three to some genius yelling, “SHOTS!” so you end up in a takeaway at 3am ordering a cheeseburger, a kebab tray or large chips with plenty of salt and vinegar…
The next day, you find yourself nursing a hangover swearing “Never again” which you know isn’t even half-meant. The truth is, when someone says, “Ah, go on, we’ll go for one!” it’s never really just one drink.
So, I’ve gathered some handy excuses you can use for peer pressure and some tips to help you smash this goal.
BRING YOUR CAR – “I’m driving”
This is tried and tested and it has never failed me. Thankfully, you can’t drink and drive legally anymore so when you bring your car, you won’t be tempted. When you say, “I’m driving”, people generally accept this as a good excuse. There would be some people who might try and convince you to leave your car somewhere and offer a spare bed or couch. All you need to do is try to imagine the many pros of sleeping in your own bed in your own house and I swear you’ll be able to quickly shut them down.
ALWAYS PLAN SOMETHING IMPORTANT THE NEXT MORNING WHEN YOU HAVE TO MEET PEOPLE AND THERE’S BOOZE INVOLVED – “I’ve got this really important thing on tomorrow morning and I have to be up for 9am”
You don’t even have to plan something really important. It could be as simple as you’re going for a 5k run or you have yoga.
On Saturday mornings, I volunteer for my local dog rescue and I’m assigned to walk a dog at 10am for an hour and a half. The kennels are a 16-minute drive from my house so it’s an understandable reason for me not to have any remnants of alcohol in my system when I’m driving the next morning and I have to do that.
DRINK SOMETHING NON-ALCOHOLIC ON THE DOWN-LOW
When you have to attend an event or meet with friends or family to celebrate something and you don’t want them to notice or make a big deal out of your ‘alcohol-free challenge’, you can order the following non-alcoholic beverages:
- Iced water with a slice of lime or lemon
- Elderflower tonic with ice and lemon
- Heineken 0.0%
- Sprite or coke
- Rock Shandy (half fizzy orange, half fizzy lemon soda)
- Seedlip Spirit with Elderflower tonic (it looks like gin, would probably be expensive)
- Virgin Tom Collins (just ask for no gin so it’s a mixture of lemon juice, soda water and sugar syrup and ask for it to be topped off with cucumber or a slice of orange or berries)
- Non-alcoholic Mojito (just ask for no rum)
- Shirley Temple (you can’t beat this classic!
- Ginger ale with a splash of grenadine and maraschino cherry)
- Other Irish non-alcoholic beer like Wicklow Wolf Moonlight Hoppy Ale or Stonewell Cider from Cork
TELL THE TRUTH
The easiest way to deal with this is to just tell people you’re taking a break from alcohol before you meet up with them. It’ll save you both the awkwardness of being asked and having to explain in public why you’re off the drink. Below are three reasons I’ve used:
“I’d like to think that I’m entertaining enough without booze. I like myself better sober.”
“I want to try to be off it for a year to see how it’ll improve my life physically, mentally, emotionally and financially.”
“I want to have a productive year in my personal life. Because I’m older, every time I drink, I lose a day or two nursing my hangover and I could really use that time to do other things I’ve always wanted to do.”
Alternatively, if you’re comfortable lying and the company you’re with are really pushy about your choice, you can always try and be vague and say you have some sort of condition to get them off your back. The truth is, if they’re good friends, they should respect and support your decision.
DE-STRESS WITHOUT ALCOHOL
When you’ve had a really bad day or a bad week, sometimes the automatic response your brain comes up with is “I need a drink” and that’s totally understandable.
Alcohol lowers our inhibitions, which leaves us in a relaxed state hence it makes us forget our worries and that’s totally fine every once in a while.
But, if you’ve heard of this Frida Kahlo line, “I tried to drown my sorrows but the bastards learned how to swim”, you’ll understand that relying on alcohol to cope with stress can be detrimental to your health.
You have to find alternative ways to manage or learn to cope with stress without alcohol.
If you’re feeling stressed or emotional:
- Go for a walk to clear your head
- Go jogging or running
- Exercise/swim or invest in a punching bag
- Visit a friend and talk it out over tea
- Write
- Run yourself a bath using bath bombs (I use Lush’s bath bombs)
Have you ever gone off booze? Do you have any tips on how to survive not drinking alcohol?
This alcohol challenge is something I can very easily take because guess who does not drink? You guessed it correct, its me. Haha. But hey Roch, I think this is very well written and alcoholics should read and take up this challenge. (: