Somehow (perhaps while drinking??) our friend Katie P. inspired Hubby and I to join her for an alcohol-free April. Katie does it every year and swears by it. You save money, you save calories, you clear your head, you organize your house, and you find other things to do. It makes perfect sense.
But those of you who know us personally understand that a month of no drinking is practically a miracle for a couple like us. Hubby is the life of the party. He is hilarious. He loves his friends like they are family. He tells great stories that make everyone in the room laugh and could do so until the sun comes up. And for him, drinking only enhances all of these great qualities.
I, on the other hand, have a thing about always being productive all the time. But, I also LOVE red wine, watching ”The Thano Show,” and participating in dance parties. A little alcohol makes me and Hubby a great match.
For example, in the large image above, you see us getting kicked off stage by security. It was Christmas, and we were on a cruise…
Later that night, I did a toe touch (in the middle of a circle of dancing people), ripped my Christmas dress up the butt (fine, it was too small anyways) and fell flat on my face. Don’t worry, my toe-touch-gone-wrong is all on tape. Maybe you’ll even get to see it someday…
Add about 457 similar stories to our arsenal and you’ll understand why we went into this whole “no drinking in April” thing seriously questioning if we’d make it even one Friday night sober.
As I write this part of the post it’s day 8. So far, we are shocked to say we are loving our lives without alcohol. Who would’ve thought!
I’ll continue adding to this post throughout the month to track our progress. I’ll also give you a snapshot of what your weekends could look like if you choose a sober month too!
Sober Weekend #1: Running The Shamrock Shuffle 8K
If there’s one thing Hubby and I are NOT known for, it’s being healthy and athletic. We’ve gone through super-healthy phases in our past lives, but our devotion to work and fun seems to have put fitness on the back burner for the time being.
But after I ripped that Christmas dress and couldn’t fit into my favorite pair of jeans shortly after, I knew it was time to get it together. So, I signed us up for the Shamrock Shuffle 8K in hopes that we’d use first quarter to train heavily for it. But it turned out, we started the year off like most Americans do: using our gym memberships for about 4 whole days before opting for couch time instead.
Even the morning of the race I was wondering if we’d really run it. We didn’t even do ONE practice run. With a bit of reverse psychology on both of our parts (Hubby almost stayed home), we both somehow made it there. And we finished the race. Running this race made me want to get back into running. The lunch afterwards with Katie P. (fried mac & cheese balls included) helped too.
Sober Weekend #2: Family Cooking Class
On to weekend two. This one was much more difficult than the first, yet we both feel a sense of pride that we’ve survived 12 days of sobriety. There are moments that are extremely hard for me to say no. Such as going to the bar by work my co-workers and I frequent and sipping on diet cokes instead of alcohol. Or, skipping out on my red wine after a long day. We both made an effort to keep all of our plans as normal as possible overall, but it’s admittedly unappealing to go to certain parties and bars sober.
The thing that starts to annoy me around day 12 is people who are almost mean about our decision not to drink. As if it effects their life that we are having waters…! People try to tempt us to “just have one drink.” Or, they tell us how they don’t understand why they’d do this or how they could “never do it.” Good for you. Let us do our thing. It definitely brought attention to the fact that binge drinking has become socially acceptable perhaps to an unhealthy degree- as if there’s no life or fun outside of it.
Cooking class was a good distraction. My Mother (whose parents are from Italy) had a new year’s resolution to have a family party of some kind every month during 2013. Learning how to make some of my Nonna’s recipes was her April event. We made homemade lasagna one noodle and layer at a time. It was delicious and a really fun thing to do that didn’t require drinking!
Sober Weekend #3: Trip to Nashville
I was really glad to get out of town for weekend 3. It was Katie Dawson‘s (our home columnist!) sister Grace’s prom. Katie and I were helping Grace make decisions about her hair and outfit. We also did her makeup. We did a few test runs, bought lots of new fun products and Grace looked absolutely stunning!
While at a bar with friends after Grace went off to prom, I ordered a virgin Bloody Mary so I wouldn’t have to explain to everyone why I wasn’t drinking (it was getting old by this point in the month). When we went downtown Nashville to meet up with some other friends, I got grapefruit in a short glass and sparkling water in a short glass to avoid the questioning.
Sober Weekend #4: Boredom & Meltdown
By weekend 4 I think we were sort like “Ok, we get it.” Our house was clean, we had cleaned out guest bedroom/home office and revived it from dumping ground to a livable condition. We had way more money in our checking accounts than usual, we’ve been eating healthier and I was well into a fitness challenge that I had started with my sister Ashley (our Beauty columnist!) which involved me going to workout classes, eating a salad every day for lunch, drinking lots of water and taking a big combo of vitamins. I was sleeping more and better than usual. I was at a coffee shop by 8am both days of weekend 4 so I could blog before working out. The problem was that work was stressing me out so much that I was ready to drink! We couldn’t wait for sober month to be over.
Would we do a sober month again?
Yes absolutely. In fact, we plan on doing it every year. We felt it was a great lesson in self-control and to keep things in check. We also felt we had a more long-term view on life when not drinking and a clearer perspective on a lot of things.
As I write this, it’s May 5th, meaning I just survived my first week & weekend of drinking again. On the days I drank even a few glasses of wine, I woke up in the night and started the next day feeling STARVING and craving junk. On days after drinking, I felt I made less of an effort at my work out classes. I also feel completely broke from going out to eat and drink so many days in a row. My anxiety is higher when I drink and on my first Saturday, I missed my regular work out class because I was hungover and in and out of bed all day.
If anything it seems like drinking starts a bad cycle:
- You spend too much money going out
- You eat too much the next day or make poor food choices while you’re tipsy
- You skip workouts
- You have a worse attitude/mental state
- You waste beautiful spring days sleeping
- You feel guilty for what you didn’t accomplish on the weekends while hungover or drinking and start the week with a messy house, no groceries and no plan.
- …then you have to go back to work and repeat the whole bad cycle again
I personally don’t plan on being alcohol free, but I do think a month of not drinking gave me a really good perspective on drinking overall and the role it plays in my life.
