Since I posted my Alcohol Detox Declaration a week ago, I have come across two major snafus that I overlooked. During my three week Detox period, I will be celebrating three birthdays – My best friend, my close friend, and oh yeah, my own. Chalk it up to my horrible absent-mindedness when it comes to dates, but needless to say, I began to have doubts over whether I would follow through with my original plan. It’s one thing to conduct an experiment, relatively privately, alongside my boyfriend as we spend each weekend in alcohol-free situations. But it’s a whole other thing to attend two birthday parties where wine is the star of the party: One, a wine tasting and the other, a wine painting party for me and my friend.
Two thoughts entered my brain:
- The more I put it off, the less likely it would happen (November and December aren’t going to make it any easier).
- I’m missing the point if I put myself in a non-social, barrier-free bubble during my detox.
I can say, though, that the last two days at work have been particularly stressful. The kind of days where a glass of wine next to my laptop while I work on a time-crunched assignment might have taken the edge off. But there’s something very freeing about a detox. Instead of restrictive, it’s actually very releasing. When faced with stress, there’s no real choice to make, but that between a big glass of water and a cup of tea (Trip and I bought three new batches of loose leaf tea from Argo in preparation for our detox). But after a long day with little time to eat and a lot of energy spent, my rosemary chicken and yellow vegetables with a big glass of water tastes fantastic.So here I finally am – Day 2 of Detox, and so happy to be here. Of course I have nothing real to report yet. I didn’t have to get rid of my morning mimosa before I headed into work, nor did I have to hold back from grabbing a beer from the fridge the moment I walked in the door. Remember, I’m not an alcoholic; just a girl attempting to be much more self aware of the effects of alcohol on my body, from weeknight wine glass to Sunday Funday Bloody Mary.
