Sober experiment - weekend #1

I honestly cannot remember the last time I went an entire weekend without having a drink. Yes, I’ve had weekends where I may have only had a few drinks at dinner one night. But I can’t remember the last time I went stone cold sober. Sitting here writing this on Sunday, I’m through weekend one out my month long experiment.

It definitely was not as difficult as I thought, but I do know it’s the first weekend and most of my friends are also relaxing after a big last weekend. I was craving my Friday after work drink a bit. And going to dinner with a friend who was drinking definitely made me want to share a beer with him. But I felt great waking up Saturday and had a productive day.

I had thought that Saturday night would be difficult as I had my friend’s birthday party and most of the attendees were people I did not know. I had always used alcohol as a social lubricant and as I walked in with my non-alcoholic beer, I wondered if I would last long.

In an interesting way, I felt that I was much more social. I cared a lot more about listening to people’s stories and getting to know them. I felt much more ingrained in conversations. Instead of focusing on my next drink, I was focusing more on the people around me.

Even after missing a round of shots and whatnot, I didn’t really miss drinking. It was a great feeling that I was able to go to a party and have fun while not drinking. Even better, I was able to drive home and get a good night sleep.

I do feel overall better. I’ve slept in a bit less the last couple nights than I normally do on weekends, but I feel much more rested, awake, and motivated. It’s just the first weekend and it’ll get more interesting in the weeks ahead, but I’m liking the results so far.