Leaving alcohol behind for a month
And the effects of quitting booze on my motivation and energy levels
Since last year, I’m trying to improve myself. For instance by journaling every day. This improves my ability to reflect on myself, to check my common mistakes, to learn and to express gratitude. It also made me wonder how it would be to try quitting alcohol for a month. Hence I stopped drinking for the whole month of June.
The decision to stop came from a very important resit exam I had to take at the beginning of July and because I drank, let’s say, excessively in May. Drinking is a common thing in my social environment. It’s pretty much in the village its roots. Nearly each Saturday people hang out with friends and go out to a local bar/club. Besides that, many towns in the Netherlands have their own funfairs. Mostly this is just a reason to party and drink for several days in a row. There was one fair in my town as well in May.
While it’s fun and entertaining, the days after aren’t. Not only because of the hangover but with the laziness and emotions that come with it. After drinking abundantly, it often affects me numerous days in a row.
I felt down and unhappy when I couldn’t put the time into my hobbies because I was feeling hangover and unmotivated.
Mood swings
My mood graph was low on Sundays, going exponentially upwards nearing Saturday, and then immediately dropped low again. For most people, this works, but it made me miserable. I’d rather see a more uniform graph which is stable throughout the week creating additional free time to spend on my side projects. It is very energy-consuming to constantly contemplate why you drank so much and why you procrastinated in those early days of the week.
This is something I wrote in my journal after the first week:
“In the first week, I actually felt a lot better. My energy levels on Monday and Tuesday were off the charts, I don’t want to immediately conclude that it’s because I didn’t drink at the weekend beforehand, but it is nice. As of Friday it actually declined somewhat. The reason for this energy drop could be my lack of 8 hours of sleep (not because I didn’t sleep well, I just slept in late).”
For some, their workweek will look something like the image of Snoopy. And that might work for them. Some people may not have a choice at the moment but to go through a hard time at work. For me, the week often went like the shown image. Especially after a heavy drinking weekend.
During the challenge, I felt great because my energy-levels were even at the beginning of the week and therefore I was excited to start off the week. In order to get a better understanding of my week, you could replace the images from Monday till Thursday with the image of Friday.
The effects of alcohol
Alcohol can hugely affect human behavior. It can make you loosen up more, increase your confidence/sociability and decrease your shame. There are of course lots of negatives too. It can boost violent behavior and can get you in deep trouble. There are health-related issues as well.
This is what I wrote in my journal after 15 days:
“Alcohol definitely makes me looser. It is kind of strange having no drink in your hand while standing in a club or bar. It makes you get out of your comfort zone more because now you can’t hide behind your glass and it forces you to dance or use your hands while talking. You also tend to have a cheaper night out. Friends were supportive, which made it much easier to deal with people who had the urge to criticize me. Right now I’m in the second half of my challenge without having a headache all Sunday, which gives me space to do things.”
During this challenge, I noted that Nathaniel Drew also did a ‘30 Days No Alcohol challenge’ (he is a great YouTuber, go check him out).
“I know that alcohol makes it easier to socialize. It breaks down some of the barriers, but it doesn’t help you get better at socializing I feel like. ”
I can relate to that and a lot of points made in the video. One thing he pointed out was that you should be able to have fun without having to get drunk. I support this in the same way. I like a commenter who greatly described it as:
“Truth be told if alcohol plays a big role in your entertainment — you’re either bored or have not much going on in your life.”
Cheers
At the start of my drinking journey (at a young age), drinking was exciting since the new, fun and forbidden tags were still fresh. And it is still fun; I enjoy the time with my friends. That doesn’t have to mean the drinks are necessary. I enjoyed my time without alcohol a lot too.
Summed up the positives I experienced in the course of the month were the following:
- A better mood
- Increased energy
- More motivation due to a non-existent hangover
- A non-existent hangover
- Made me stretch outside my comfort zone more
- Learning more about myself
- Having a reoccurring subject to talk about and interest people with
- Being able to make better decisions during the week because I was less tired, thus increased discipline.
If you have a whole Sunday to just stay in bed and watch Netflix, a hangover might not be that bad. But because I removed the hangover, my motivation and energy levels remained steady throughout the week. I got the motivation to go for a run every Sunday and work on my hobbies. In the long run, I’m sure there will be more positives to add to the list.
This challenge wasn’t hard for me, but it might be for you. After the challenge, I started drinking on and off again and at this moment I am not quite sure if I would quit fully. I am thankful for the lessons I’ve learned during this challenge and if you can recognize yourself in my story, you should try this as well. Thank you for reading my article, I really appreciate it.
Can you recognize yourself in my story? What are your experiences with quitting alcohol? I would love to hear more from you, so feel free to leave a comment or to contact me via my Instagram.
