Why I stopped drinking alcohol
Image by Free-Photos from Pixabay
I am now into my second year since I had my last drop of alcohol. I do not miss it at all. When we were expecting our son back in 2018, I needed to be ready 24/7 to get in the car and bring my wife to the hospital. Any responsible husband, soon to be father would do the same. When our son finally was brought into this world, there where a lot of new habits that needed to be established. We had plenty of new commitments as any parent can attest, and thus there where never any proper time, nor interest to have a drink. Not until I went on a business trip a couple of months later, on the 7th of March 2019. I was staying in a nice hotel and had plenty of time to eat a fantastic dinner. Better yet, I could now enjoy a beer to my dinner, for the first time in months! As it happened, they even had a local micro beer brewer on site this evening, who had brought a special beer that had been brewed for this evening. I got a personal introduction and the story behind the beer and I was really looking forward to the culinary experience, where this fantastic beer would be the icing on the cake. The dinner was just as tasty as I had expected and the beer was fantastic, no doubt about that. It might even have been one of the best I have ever had. But this was also the final beer that sealed the deal.
The next day, I woke up with a hangover. My head was aching, reminiscent of migraine. All of this from just one beer? Yes, apparently. I was giving a breakfast lecture to a bunch of potential clients. As they say, “the show must go on”, and it did. I have no problem to deliver even if conditions aren’t perfect because they never are and never will be. But I wasn’t performing as high as I could have done, I had lost the “edge” I usually have, due to the pain. It didn’t stop there either. I could feel a slight headache and my body felt different for at least 48 hours (!) after I had that final beer. That’s it, I thought to myself. I will not do this to myself again. Time is much too valuable to be spent on hangovers, that is crazy. No matter how tasty the experience was, I value my ability to be 100 % present in my thoughts higher. I believe what happened to me was that I had such a long hiatus from alcohol during the pregnancy that my body got rid of every little trace of alcohol and lowered my tolerance to a new level it hadn’t been before. That’s why just one beer could trigger such a powerful reaction. It felt like I had been poisoned.
Of course, I do understand and can appreciate the way a beer or a glass of wine can raise a dinner to the next level. That fact does not need to be discussed. I have been that person and my choice means that I cannot reach the same level of culinary experiences ever again. It is a sacrifice. It’s just that I value time so much more than pleasure. Time and control of my thoughts. To have control over your mind is a drug that has no side effects and only benefits. That makes it a no-brainer for me. By abstaining from alcohol during the pregnancy for at least half a year, increased control of my mind was a side effect I wasn’t expecting. That final beer gave me the contrast I needed to understand it. We humans aren’t good at detecting absolute levels, but we are very good at detecting contrast. Just like the news story I came across yesterday about the Himalayas being visible again for the first time in 30 years due to the massively reduced pollution.
In the last two years I have discovered other benefits, like the freedom to go to any social activity and then just get into the car when you are done and go home. And the improved quality of the sleep, that could be the topic of a whole blog post. Every little thing adds up. Abstaining alcohol relates to the concept of incremental improvement that I have talked and written a lot about. If I can get just 0,1% more out of a day by having control of my mind, it doesn’t make a noticeable difference. But cherish that daily 0,1% for five or ten years… you will be blown away by the results. My wife has always known this. She has never been drunk in her whole life.
I am proud to join her.