Going Dry - Follow Up

Time for the follow-up! It’s been more than a month since we decided to "go dry" and here is what happened. For each level that I thought alcohol consumption affected us, we have noticed great improvement J

1. Money - we spend money on wine, beer and tequila on a pretty regular basis: We saved about $150 per month between not buying alcohol and less eating out
2. Poor Eating - when we drink we make extra trips to the store to buy the alcohol, while there we usually decide we want junk food to go with our alcohol, so we spend more money to eat junk food and don't use the good food we have in the house: The poor eating has been reduced to about 10% of our diet as opposed to 30% before going dry. I think this is a good ratio as eating healthy 90% of time is a healthy balance.
3. Unwanted Habits - drinking on a regular basis the way we do encourages us to sit in front of the t.v. for a couple of hours every night instead of doing all the other things we are always saying we want to do; i.e. exercise, read interesting books, work on our respective businesses we're starting, etc.: This one was the biggest for us. It became very apparent to us just how much the alcohol consumption was affecting us physically and mentally. When we decided the dry spell was over and started having some drinks again, we both noticed how horrible the alcohol made us feel. We noticed these negative affects in the same night we drank and then the next day as well even though we only had two drinks each. We are now positive that drinking alcohol saps us of energy and motivation needed to pursue anything other than sitting in front of the t.v.

My motivation, energy and clarity increased ten-fold:

• I made a proposal to my boss to change my working situation
• I started a newsletter
• Created my Logo
• Found my Target Market
• Finished setting up my website.
• Created a Facebook page for my business

My husband also noticed the following changes for himself:

• He is finishing multiple projects and starting new ones
• He is less “groggy” in the morning
• He drinks more tea and water throughout the day
• His thoughts are focused on more things besides the next drink in the evenings
• His stomach has stopped aching at night
• He believes that he never would have known any of this if he hadn’t stopped drinking and then started again while carefully monitoring how he felt and acted.

This has been an eye opening experience for us both. I personally have decided that drinking alcohol will be reserved for special occasions and will not be consumed regularly like I was doing. My husband is much more aware of how it affects him and is choosing the times he consumes more carefully.

Here are my top five benefits for stopping or reducing alcohol consumption:

1. More Energy
2. Increased Mental clarity and Motivation
3. Improved physical comfort
4. Monetary savings
5. Improved out-look on life

If you are consuming alcohol more than once a week I encourage you to think about how it is affecting your life. How do you think your life could be different if you stopped? What goals and dreams could you achieve if you had the mental clarity and motivation needed to start taking action?

Wishing you balance and clarity in living your dreams!