I'm going to dive into this topic and I know it'll hit a nerve with some but we need to start talking about it.

In the past 10 years I've watched and took part in society selling the idea that moms deserve a drink. A way to escape our stress and sense of being overwhelmed can be a glass wine at the end of the day. Then it turned into 2 glasses of wine, then three. Then it became a mimosa bar at a kids birthday party. Then the wine socks. The memes of drinking wine from the largest wine glass ever made. Then travellers at the park.

"The rate at which people are drinking has also spiked sharply during the pandemic, and heavy drinking among women specifically jumped 41 percent, according to a new RAND Corporation study" Link to article

Somehow alcohol became a normalized coping mechanism. At the same time binge drinking and alcoholism is spiking among women 20-45. I too felt I was starting to go from enjoying a drink with dinner to needing a drink with dinner.

Alcohol is a depressive but socially acceptable. The 2 create a dangerous coping mechanism when the world can be too much. But alcohol is also a hormone disrupter. It wreaks havoc with your cycle. From your weight, your body temperature, your mood swings, the length or irregularity of your cycle, water retention, joints swelling and more. Wine is the worst!

The first time I did this challenge I struggled with no alcohol but I also realized my fingers were no longer swollen. I started sleeping better too. I went the whole 30 days without alcohol and the minute the challenge finished I cracked open a bottle of wine. I felt like shit. So I switched to clear spirits but like everything in my life I put in lots of rules because I realized I don't have a problem but I was on my way to having a problem.

Today I drink socially and minimally. I'm not preaching you need to stop drinking. What I am asking is for you to visit your relationship with alcohol just like you are changing your relationship with food. What we drink and how much we drink is just as important as what and how much we eat.

I hope you accept the challenge of no alcohol for the next 28 days and reflect on what roll alcohol plays in your life. Does it serve or does it need to change? I realized after visiting this question several times now with each challenge, that it's an ever changing relationship but what can't change is your willingness to ask: "is this serving me or harming me?"

I am sharing some of my home made herbal teas and you can find more ideas in the workbook.

If you want to talk privately about this, please reach out. I am here to listen judgment free. Always.

https://gettrifit.com/programs/hydration-bb5dae?categoryId=87655