My Favorite Benefit of Going AF for 100 Days
Ahh, glorious sleep. For years it eluded me. I would spend hours every night lying awake praying to fall into the darkness of rest, yet unable to do anything but mentally run like a hamster on a wheel, looping through the most horrific times of my life, past and future. You know, the memories that happened but not quite as traumatically as my mind believes at midnight. My mind recanting the somewhat real, the overly imagined…only some of it true. All of it magnified. Every. Night.
Belonging
I didn’t quit drinking because I needed to “get sober.” Instead of alcohol overtly damaging my life and relationships, it was silently and slowly stealing my joy. I didn’t have a rock bottom; I just grew tired of living below the surface. My life hadn’t become unmanageable, it had become post-menopausal.
What I’m trying to say is that waltzing into an AA meeting, declaring I was an alcoholic, and telling a grueling tale of meno-suffering was not my path. But had that been my path it would have solved what has been my biggest issue to date…
After Work Angst
After work was the hardest switch for me. Sure, the weekends are difficult but at least I would be out with friends, and I make sure I had AF options.
But weekdays, that been another story. I had grown quite accustomed to wine at the end of the day. Rob and I would polish off bottle nearly every night, while I silently hoped he’d crack open his bourbon or tequila for his last drink so I could have one more glass of the wine for myself…
It Started at Love
The truth about my alcohol-free journey is that it’s not new. This has been coming for a long time.
Maybe it started back in March when I decided to take the month of April off from drinking.
Maybe it started back last fall when I took 2-weeks off.
Maybe it started back in 2019 when Rob and I took 70 days off from drinking leading up to his Ironman race.
Maybe it started back in lock-down…
New Possibilities
I had just had a long weekend “off the wagon” after having been AF (alcohol free) for 38 days straight. Monday morning was here, and the effects of the craft beer bender had settled directly into my joints and was wreaking havoc on a specific spot in my leg that has been giving me trouble since 2020.
I’ve known for a long time in my gut that I needed to say goodbye to alcohol but…
Non-AF Ideas for 100AF
I purposely made the tagline for 100 AF:
100 Days Alcohol Free –
Or Whatever the *F* You Want to Be
Not all of us are on an alcohol-free journey. But you can use the 100AF challenge to make any positive change you want to.
Here are a few ideas of changes you could commit to for 100 days straight (I suggest you choose one at a time).
No AF Days Are Wasted
In 2019 Rob and I took a long break from alcohol. We went AF (alcohol free) for 70 days leading up to his Ironman, Chattanooga that June, and as a result we felt amazing. Rob says it was the best he’s ever felt in his life.
Day 35 - the Second Time
This is my second time this year being here at 35 days AF (alcohol free). Last time I was at 35 days I already knew my days were limited.
On my last day 35, I had promised myself to take off the month of April and I had accomplished that and then some. The following Monday we were having a work dinner and…