Fifteen Months

You know what yesterday was?

October 2nd.

You know why October 2, 2018 is significant to me?

Because it’s fifteen months from July 2, 2017.

And you know what happened on July 2, 2017?

On July 2, 2017 I stopped drinking alcohol.

It has now been fifteen months —  and one day — without a single drop.

That’s, as the kids would say, one and a quarter years!

I am a little bit surprised by myself.

And a LOT proud of myself.

I never really thought I would be this person. Not by choice.

I don’t think I thought I was strong enough to do this.

But I am.

Obviously.

Which means I’m stronger than I think and that there’s a whole bunch of other stuff out there that I might think I can’t do but I TOTALLY CAN.

I know if five years ago you had suggested that I would have stopped drinking by choice (and not because I was given an ultimatum or did something really stupid but just because I had the realization that it just wasn’t helping me get where I wanted to be in life), I would have choked on my beer and reflexively spit it in your face.

It was just always a part of my life. Even though I didn’t drink daily — or weekly even — if I was going out, I was gonna drink.

And probably drink a lot.

Unless alcohol was involved, I wasn’t really interested in participating.

A booze-free Moms Night Out?

Phhhhhhhhttttttt.

What the hell would be the point of that?

Once I made the decision to stop, I was afraid I’d never have fun again.

I was sure there would be a huge void in my life.

I was wrong.

Actually, I wasn’t wrong.

My life has been definitely been affected since cutting booze out of it.

Here are the ways my life has gotten worse since I cut Blue Moons and Pinot Grigio and Franzia and Kirkland margaritas out of my life:

Oh….

Wait….

THERE AREN’T ANY WAYS MY LIFE HAS GOTTEN WORSE!!!!

And here are the ways my life has gotten better:

1) I have saved hundreds (maybe thousands) of dollars.

2) I remember everything I do with my kids.

3) I recall all my Friday and Saturday nights.

4) There have been zero alcohol-induced fights with my husband.

5) I have not lost hours, mornings, or entire weekends due to being hungover.

6) I am using healthy(er) methods to deal with stress.

7) I watch the sun set and the sun rise every day.

8) I am discovering who my “party” friends were, and who really values spending time with me even when there is no alcohol involved.

I have a group of people I swim regularly with now.

I LOVE them!

They are my new Mom’s Night Out, except it’s in the morning and I feel awesome when I get home!

And also now instead of a mom’s night out, I go out for breakfast with a friend, AND I LOVE IT!!!

I am totally going to start a Mom’s Morning Out!!!

They are waaay better than Mom’s Nights out because they don’t obliterate you the following day, you don’t stay up too late, and you don’t have to drag your butt through the McDonald’s drive through and order a large Coke and a super size fries in order to tame the hangover from hell.

Nope. Life has not gotten worse since I ditched the booze

It’s gotten way better.

And now that I see what I was missing when booze was in my life, I’m really looking forward to the next fifteen months.