In January I decided to give up drinking alcohol. My reasons for giving up were twofold I suppose, firstly was to prove to myself that I had the will power to give up, after all I gave up smoking the year before. Secondly was for health reasons, not that I think I was drinking excessively but more that I was drinking every weekend at home, and that was always accompanied with peanuts or crisps, or some other kind of fat and salt packed snack. Those of you that know me will see that I am not exactly athletic in my build and never have been.
So New Year was the last time I was to drink alcohol. To be fair January and February passed surprisingly easily with me only having a passing thought of having a drink. But then again I spent every weekend at home in those months and had not been on a night out.
March I knew was always going to be a problem month, with it being my birthday month. To be brutally honest not drinking at all just proved to much to me. I had a small drink on my birthday itself, but nothing more than that.
I well and truly fell of the wagon last weekend. I had a night out to celebrate my birthday with some old mates. In the week leading up to the night out I was pontificating about what I was going to do on Saturday night. Then I said to myself what am I doing? I am a grown up, if I want to have a drink with my friends I can. This is a completely different to smoking (in my experience) as I was addicted to tobacco, but I was not addicted to alcohol. My drinking had not become a problem, whereas smoking had. Well that is what I said to myself! On Sunday morning when I had a terrible thirst and a headache I wasn’t so sure. That was not the worst of it on Wednesday night I went out with my brother as it was the first time since my birthday to meet up. We decided to go on Newland Avenue (Hull) for tea. We went to Roots and had Goat Curry (I highly recommend if you live in Hull or visit Hull that you visit Roots Kitchen and Rum Shack on Newland Avenue, the food is great, in fact all the bars and restaurants on Newland and Princes Avenue are worth a visit). The problem of going for tea with my brother is that alcohol tends to play a large part and this evening was no different. I can definitely confirm that drinking large amounts of alcohol on a school night is definitely a problem, and any reoccurrence should be reduced to a minimum! You notice that I am not saying never be repeated, I am not falling into that trap again.
So I had decided that I would not let drinking alcohol or not drinking alcohol become a part of my life. I would drink when I went out with friends as a social occasion, and occasionally at home, but it would no longer be a weekly routine.
Sometimes goals need to be amended or scraped because they do not have the impact that you first wanted. That is perfectly reasonable, it is after all part of life. Whatever you do, do not beat yourself up if you do not achieve all your goals, just think of another one and give that a go you never know that one may change your life for ever.
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