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Saturday, April 22, 2017

Day 7: 2 firsts, 2 hours and 2's in general

I'm having fun reading my blog entries from last year at the same time.  This morning I woke up with my mouth feeling like I had been drinking last night and again had to deal with Mutt#1 getting up in the middle of the night.  The latter is a training issue on our part.  Somehow we are already up, turning off the alarm and opening the door for the dog before waking up enough to say "hush, go back to sleep"!!

Lo and behold, last year I woke up feeling hungover on Day 7 and also was dealing with dog issues.  Last year I had had too much pizza accounting for the bad mouth taste and this year I think it was too much AF wine.....must still have some annoying characteristics as real wine.

Yesterday was 2 firsts for me.

1) I called and caught up with a friend in late afternoon whom I hadn't spoken with in awhile.  Normally I had wine in hand.  This time, during the call, I had two of my mocktails and it felt great.

2) When my other friend arrived for dinner, I had a mocktail ready and I opened a bottle of red for her.  I think she thought I was drinking white since my 1/3 AF wine, 1/3 sparkling water, 1/3 club soda and lime juice looks like a white wine.  I had one before dinner, water with dinner and then one after.  She drank about 3/4 of a bottle of red and I sent her home with the rest.

The first one was pretty easy actually because I really couldn't have drunk much with another friend about to arrive and dinner to prepare, anyway.  So I may not be able to take too much credit for that.

The second was interesting.  My friend had put on a lot of weight over the last year.  She looks puffy, tired and stressed.  After dinner, we were talking and catching up and she literally was falling asleep on the couch.  She would talk, and then when I talked, she would zonk out.  I was cracking up but poor thing was exhausted.  She has had a lot of work stress and older-children-moving-back-in stress.  She just lives about a mile away but I made her text me when she got home.

Traditionally, because I had the young child, she always came to my house.  I feel horrible at how many times she, and other friends of mine, have driven home and probably shouldn't have been driving.  Even watching how much 3/4 of a bottle affected her scared me.

I sort of have always protected myself from driving under the influence.  But therefore my friends who came over have certainly been at risk. In the past, I would have drunk a bottle with her and probably started on a second and barely remembered her leaving.  Last night was much better.  She left around 9 and I hopped in bed with a book.

For me, I'm trying to remember that on nights where I don't have other obligations, it really boils down to 2 hours.  There are only 2 hours when I have ever really craved wine and they hit between 4 and 7.  It's never those full 3 hours but 1 to 2 hours somewhere in that range.  I never have wanted alcohol during the day.  2 hours out of 24!!!  That's all!!

I also have to be aware of the (2's) TOOs.   If I am too tired, too edgy, too hungry, too stressed, I turn to wine to turn off those feelings.  That's the only reason.  When I feel in balance in those areas, I can turn away from wine.  This time around when I feel a craving, I'm really going to try and identify and blog why I have the craving to see what the pattern is.

Today is a relaxing Saturday, not a lot planned and just looking forward to time with my son.  Monday will likely be my next challenge!

Have a great weekend everyone!

HD


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