Oh dear - what the fuck have i done.....oh yeah, i announced to the world that i am going on a journey of being alcohol free. That's right, no booze, no life, no fun.....B O R I N G! But hang on a minute, that means a life of waking up with a clear head, using my money differently and fun. In the book - The 30 day sobriety solution - they call it thriving-in-sobriety but for me i always link sobriety with someone who has had a really dependent addiction that caused their life to keep spiraling downwards to a point where they lose people and things in their life due to the inability to stop being on a really self destructive journey and the only outcome is to never touch a substance again.
Any time a few glasses of wine is consumed it begins to change what we do and how we do it. I feel that i know first hand about that, cause i've done it and have watched plenty of others do it as well.
Most people who drink or take drugs or eat too much or shop too much have a rock bottom before they can reconcile that their behaviour isn't okay and warrants change. the rock bottoms can vary and for me i had a rock bottom moment where i went ENOUGH. If I use a rating scale of wine glasses with one wine glass being mild and 5 glasses being extreme then it was probably about 1.5 wine glasses. That's pretty low, but that was my measure, so I called time and decided to make change. I love a rock hard bottom as much as nicki minaj does, but the rock bottom doesn't have to be extreme, it just has to be enough.
The key to this solution is to allow a re-boot or a re-booty by going 30 days alcohol free and completing daily action steps to allow change to occur. It's a change management program whereby i will turn wine into water......and fizzy water at that!
So what happened on day 1. We learnt about the theme of the day, were given a welcome (but without the welcome drink), learnt about the 30 day reboot, our rock (hard) bottom, fear of failure and why we drink. That's a lot hey. And after reading all this, there are action steps to complete and i am a woman of action. and these need to be written each day. oh i am having school homework trauma. But i am onto it and into it. Along with the book, there's an online companion that is complementary to the program and has great concise recaps of what was read in the book. So here's what went down and no, it was not Nicki Minaj's butt.
Action 1. Start a journal.
Here we will record the actions and thoughts during the program and things we glean that might assist with our success.
I have chosen to complete in 30 days, but it can go for 60 or 90. Note this in the journal and decide which day during the first week you will stop drinking. Congratulations, seems i just entered into a contractual agreement before i even realised. where's my lawyer.
Action 3. Use the equation E + R = O (who doesn't love a big O - and i don't mean Oroton)
Event + Response = Outcome. Pay attention to moments when we complain or blame. Look to create a new response to give us a different outcome.
Every EVENT positive or negative that has occurred in our life we have chosen a RESPONSE positive or negative that has lead us to the OUTCOME of how we are affected whether positively or negatively. If you and i were to experience the same event - then it's likely that how we respond to the experience may be very different and the outcome of how we react may show this. We can't change any EVENTS from the past but we can take ownership of how they make us feel. I know it's a really hard thing to do, but i have been able to do it with the many terrible events from my past and i take full responsibility for not laying blame on anything or anyone. I've learnt to take ownership and that give me a really solid foundation to begin with.
Your destiny is the consequence of your daily decisions.
It's in the moment of your decisions, that your destiny is shaped.
Action 4. Capture the before you.
Action 5. Listen to the time travel technique.
This is where we do a visualisation of what our life will look like in the future should we continue drinking and what our life would look like if we don't. We then had to write about that experience. It was quite a powerful piece and got me to thinking about where i want to be in 5 years. I'll be 55. There are things i want to make happen, so i really want to give them the best shot possible.
I've included it here for you to try, should you want to see what it's all about.
3.24pm - feeling a bit scared and anxious and feeling like i will fail (i've barely started)
7.10pm - feeling a bit anxious and wondering why i decided to do this
I remind myself that i am a leader and i drink a fair bit of soda water. The soda stream is the best invention ever invented however, i want to see if that bubble butt program tops it.
9.30pm - i am feeling quite amazing.
I have had my first of 30 alcohol free days and having it underpinned by a solid foundation has made it a really strong way to start becoming alcohol free or having a take it or leave it approach in the future.
Just stopping is one thing but understanding the power of what the conscious and subconscious changes that will come from it is probably the most exciting part for me as someone who likes to grow and look at life through fresh eyes all the time.
Since my post yesterday, i have had a few people cheering me on and that's really nice. I do want to reiterate that this is not a cry for help, nor am I consumed by getting my next drink, but i am excited about experiencing something new and different and that sums me up quite well in general i think. An explorer and a fearless warrior who will tackle anything headfirst - sure some blokes would love the sound of that, but if i aint drinking, then i aint swallowing!
Day 1 is done and dusted and i am looking forward to waking up not so dusty. Goodnight
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