Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Day 350: 15 days to go.

Holy guacamole. Can I really be only 15 days off a full year off alcohol? I sent out my invite to my first celebratory clink of glasses today. Just a little do with my nearest and dearest to mark the achievement. A bigger party will follow. But it's weird. I'm excited about finishing what once seemed like an impossible mission, but I'm not that excited about the booze. Maybe I'll change my tune when I taste my first sip of Champers. I dunno. It just feels like by going back to alcohol, I'm stepping back into normality, kind of falling back into line with the general guidelines of life on the straight and narrow. That's kind of ironic, considering alcohol's the stuff that gets you twisted. I know a lot of people will be kind of relieved to have me back in the zone, and not doing this weird thing anymore. But maybe I won't feel at home in the zone. Who knows? Maybe I'll just relax about it all, and see how I go, one day, or drink, at a time.

5 comments:

  1. Crikey I'm a half-arsed geek...it's taken me MONTHS to figure out how to comment!!

    Claire, you rock, I've really enjoyed reading your blog and following your journey :)

    I did a slightly similar thing at the start of the year (7 weeks does NOT compare to 365 days!!) and I went through a lot of the same thoughts and experiences as you.

    One thing that may help this close to your finish date...I have definitely had big, boozy backslides in the months since the end of Feb...BUT...I also notice it more now and see more of what it's really like (as you've been alluding to over the last couple of months) - do we really have to drink to do ANYthing fun? Nup. Is it possible to have a great time without booze? Yup.

    So what I do now is give myself reasons to take another sabatical. Latest reason: decided an amatuer boxing match was up my alley! So another 4 weeks of tee-totalling and getting really fit. My birthday's a week away, then my bro's 40th, then a business trip, so the wheels will come off a little after tomorrow night for a few weeks but hey, cycles are better than ruts, right? :)

    Premature congratulations, kudos on being a GREAT blogger (thoroughly enjoy your style and sense of humour) and ROCK ON!!!
    Pete

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  2. Are you sure you even want to have one? I'm serious, not because I'm anti-alcohol - I'm just asking myself the same question in advance for 6 months time. My life is better without it, I think. But I'm scared to conclude that. And if I do, then I would be even more scared about that first drink.

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  3. Hey Pete! High fives for working out the commenting thing, and thanks for the props. I appreciate your reading. And your approach to the drinking seems entirely sane - like a workable way forward.
    But Grogger, I know what you're saying too. My life's been awesome without alcohol in many many ways, and I'm really more fine with the absence of booze than ever. Is going back to it just a dumb idea? But would not going back to it mark me out as a freak forever? And can I actually drink alcohol moderately, or will drinking again soon see me back to my bad old ways? Guess I'm gonna find out. Gulp...

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  4. Well make sure you report back. I know what I would do: slip into my pisshead ways, with the bad things that follow for me (weight gain, look like shit, poor sleep, time warp/loss). I just love love love it too much, in every day. That doesn't mean I want to drink a 6 pack a night, but I like drinking 1 or 2 a night, and a 6 pack once a week, and that's enough to suck some joy out of my life I think.

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