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Going On the Wagon
By Jay | December 30, 2007
I mentioned in yesterday’s post that I wish to stop drinking for a while.
I don’t drink a lot – I rarely if ever get drunk – but I do drink consistently, a couple glasses of wine almost every day. They say that this is healthy, but after a few months of doing it I always feel sluggish. It’s a time waster — if I have my wine with dinner, I’m shot for the rest of the evening: 3 hours of productive time lost. Even worse, I think the alcohol disturbs my sleeping patterns: not a problem if it’s once in a while, but when it’s every day, well that’s a different story.
Not to mention the impact drinking has on my budget. 2 good-size glasses of wine add up to about half a bottle. I like good wine, and the bottles I buy are in the $15-$30 range. Three of them a week and I’m looking at spending $60, or $240 per month, which adds up to almost $3,000 per year! This alone is reason to stop drinking.
Lastly, the wine I drink adds about 400 calories to my daily calorie consumption, or about 2,500 per week. A pound of fat equals 3,500 calories. By making one change — taking a 20 minute walk each night instead of drinking my wine, I believe I would lose about a pound per week.
It’s a no-brainer – I’m going to break myself of this habit.
But I need to examine the underlying reasons for why I drink in the first place. Some drink to forget, some drink to have fun, but I drink to self-medicate, to use an AA term. I rarely get drunk, but every night I have that half bottle of wine. Rarely do I have more, but I’m nothing if not consistent in taking my medicine — or poison as I’m seeing more and more.
As I get older I notice more how much of an impact booze has on me. I get fatter. I get broker. I feel time slipping by. Drinking brings less satisfaction and becomes like an old and useless habit. In fact, it makes me miserable. There was a reason I drank when I was younger, I guess. In fact, I’d have to say the best times in my high school and college life involved alcohol. And in some way I suppose I’m trying to relive those times when I drink today. Old methods for new situations do not always work.
If I could have a drink once in a while it would be ok, but alcohol is a very seductive drug for me. That once-in-a-while drink once in a while becomes half a bottle of wine per day very quickly, and I fall back into the pit without even realizing it.
Last night I had my last drink for a while. I wasn’t even going to write about this because I don’t want my blog to be focused on alcohol, but I do want it to be focused on my improvements to my life. And this will be a big one, that will help with my other resolutions.
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Topics: Alcohol |
December 30th, 2007 at 11:01 pm
I can so relate. I too considered myself a social drinker until I added up how much that was costing me in health and wealth. New Year’s Eve myself and my husband drink a bottle of Dom Perignon - and that is it for awhile. I know I will miss it -but I know I can give it up. For calories and dollars….
December 31st, 2007 at 4:57 pm
The funny thing for me is, I never really miss it when I don’t drink. It’s hard to prepare pyschologically to stop, but once I do I always end up wondering what the big deal is.
It’s always about 3 months after stopping that I think to myself, “gee, wouldn’t a glass of wine be good right now.”
Ah well, even if it’s for only 3 months, I’ll save a bunch of money!