I'm giving up drinking alcohol.
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Before the bets start and the cries of "you tried this before," ring through the planet, let me explain.
I moved to Tasmania to enjoy the outdoors and kick a few more goals here than I could possibly kick in Sydney (insert league v AFL joke here). So far that hasn't happened. My job has been much more stressful than I would have thought, and the friends I've made to date, like to relieve their stress with a beer or wine after work. Couple that with a $10 taxi ride home from the pub, and it's just become TOO. DARN. EASY.
Living the dream, you say? Mates, cheap booze and cab? Well hang on Skippy, it's a bit more than that. You'll remember that I have this little condition called panhypopituitarism. That's right, not even Google spell check knows that one. It means my body doesn't make or regulate 5 chemicals, two of which are essential to live. Only in the last year have I been able to feel normal-ish by taking the supplements I've had prescribed after pain-staking 8 hour long tests and clinical trials.
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Since moving to Tassie, I've been a little off-kilter, more stressed, more agro and anxious and less satisfied with my life and my goals. On the days I don't meet the mates at the pub, I come home tired, with no self-discipline to do anything else, and the days I do meet them, nothing on my list gets done. I want to see if cutting out booze will make a difference.
No, I don't want you to donate money to a cause, and certainly don't buy me "days off:" That's not the point. It's about me meeting my goals and taking steps to do so. I won't put a time limit on this, but I have a goal in my mind. It may take a week, a month, a year, or forever. However it long it takes me to work out alcohol's place in my life.
It won't be easy. Now more than ever we live in an alcohol fueled culture. People who don't drink are seen as prudes or judgemental of those who do. Trust me, you are quite welcome to find your own alcohol medium. And be a prude? Yeah, I'm pretty sure I was this way before alcohol ever touched my lips.
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What can YOU do? Just treat me as normal! When it's your shout, be okay that I'm getting a Lime and Soda or Ginger Ale. Keep the chiding down on Facebook! Nothing's changed. I'm still me. I'm just not drinking.
Last wine o'clock. I made it a good one. Thank you present from my last client for getting the project in on time. 2015 Coldstream Hills Pinot Noir. Seriously, if this is the last alcohol I ever drink, I will die a happy woman.
Updates on how it's going coming up!
