Looking Back on Dry July – 10 reasons to Stop Drinking Alcohol By Myself!
Yes there are many happy reasons I look back on Dry July and there are many Benefits of Not Drinking Alcohol – but the best thing is that I love being alcohol free!
I feel better in terms of my health, I feel better in terms of my well-being, I feel better in terms of my happiness, and I feel better in terms of my self-satisfaction.
I remember a time when undertaking the challenge of avoiding alcohol for the month of July was a step too far in terms of feeling too challenged by the goal, and too threatened by thought of not being able to fall back to old habits and have a drink whenever I felt like it. But that is no longer the reality, and happily, I can report that the opposite is now the truth.
I feel liberated from the need to drink alcohol. I no longer feel trapped by the continual need to pour a glass, and another and another. And I feel so proud of myself everyday – I no longer even think about alcohol. Alcohol plays no part in my life at all, and I can’t believe what a simple change it was to make in my life. I found a way to stop drinking alcohol by myself and I am so glad I quit drinking now – I love being alcohol free!
If you find this difficult to believe, I encourage you to avoid drinking too much alcohol – not only will you do yourself an enormous favor in terms of your short term health and save some money, but the long term benefits to your health and well-being will be something you will something you wished you had done sooner.
Quit Drinking Now – you will wish you did it sooner
If you are worried about how you can achieve such a major change in your life, then all I can say is the immediate sense of pride and well-being will be more than enough to keep you motivated. The long term achievements that you will only realise once you make a start will be stunning, but you have to make a start! Quit drinking now! You will be glad you did.
Let’s discuss the immediate benefits if you quit drinking now:
1. Social interactions: I admit that as a normally shy person, alcohol seemed to help to overcome social inhibitions, and help me to be a little more outgoing, but drinking too much alcohol has a negative affect on interactions with other people. Moodiness, anger and frustration are common emotions which are probably side effects of drinking too much alcohol. We tend to manage our emotions in front of friends, but sometimes frustration can spill over when we are with family, and yet these are the people we should never hurt with anger and bad temper, especially our partners and children.
2. Injury: We all know that drinking too much alcohol impairs our balance and motor skills and this is what can increase the risk that you can cause an injury. Even at home, there is a tendency to trip over things, and those kids toys seem to cause a ridiculous number of injuries, simply because we don’t watch where we are walking! Drinking too much alcohol also direct and more serious links to risk of severe injuries such as falling, breaking bones and especially violent behaviors which seem to occur with increasing regularity these days.
3. The Hangover: This is the inevitable outcome of drinking too much alcohol, and even thought we know how alcohol makes us feel bad, we just keep on repeating the same old mistakes. Why do we drink to excess, when we know that it is bad for our health, bad for our mental attitude and bad for our finances? Why can we stop drinking now, before we have one drink too many?
4. Poor diet: Drinking too much alcohol never seems to be conducive to eating healthy food! After a few too many drinks, the last thing we care about is counting the calories, and watching our weight. But this is a crazy thing to do, that only ever leads to regret and self loathing afterwards. The extra calories from the alcohol as well as the poor dietary choices is a double whammy that means you will never be able to lose those excess pounds.
5. Alcohol is not good for your short term health: Drinking too much alcohol has some serious, but often hidden effects on your health, such as your heart, stomach, blood supply and even your libido! Yes, despite most people thinking that alcohol improves your chances with the opposite sex, the opposite is true. Alcohol causes damage to your stomach, alterations to the rhythm of your heart, changes to your blood vessels, and all of these things can very definitely affect the way your libido works – and not for the better!
Long term benefits – if you quit drinking now!
All of these problems are just the crust on the surface of a much deeper issue – drinking too much alcohol has a long term effect on you health, and the impact on your life span and quality of life can no longer be ignored. The ongoing effects of drinking are adding up all the time, and even avoiding alcohol for one short month may not protect you from the bigger issues:
6. Alcohol causes long term changes to the brain: We are not talking about headaches and hangovers, the effects of drinking too much alcohol have been shown to alter the neurons in the brain, and in particular the production and reception of dopamine, which is the feel good chemical that we all crave after drinking alcohol. Our brain can actually become conditioned to the long term effects of drinking, and compensates by reducing the production of dopamine and / or changing the reaction to dopamine such that we no longer feel good about ourselves and our daily lives. Now that is very serious, and in some ways might explain the massive increase in anxiety and other issues in our society.
7. Happiness: Why do we all think that alcohol makes us happy? Sure we get a feeling of well-being after one glass, but what about the second and the third? No drinking too much alcohol does not make us fell better – and it actually steals away our happiness. I can only re-iterate how much better I feel since I found a way to stop drinking alcohol by myself. Yes, I quit drinking by myself, and I can show you how to quit drinking on your own, and to love being alcohol free also!
8. Quality of life: If you wish for a long and happy life (don’t we all?) and if you believe in working hard now so that you can enjoy retirement, then be wary that drinking too much alcohol might spoil some of the plans for your long term health. Alcohol has been proven to contribute to cancer, high blood pressure, diabetes, pancreatitis, and of course terminal liver disease. The only way to protect yourself from these long term health impacts is to quit drinking now.
9. Overweight: Whilst alcohol may not be directly to blame for excess weight problems, it is certainly a contributor the effects of poor diet and health. Drinking too much alcohol comes with excess calories, that when put on top of your normal daily intake of calories, can tip you over the edge of what your body can burn up in the course of the day, and what calories contribute to fat storage, and hence putting on weight.
10. Financial Well-being: We all know that having a few drinks comes at a cost, and sure the wallet is always a bit lighter afterwards, but somehow we just put that down to the cost of entertainment, and having a bit of fun. But how about adding up the cost of drinking over a whole year – it certainly adds up to a significant dollar total. How about the cost over a lifetime? If you put that money into your retirement fund, you might be surprised to find out that you could retire sooner – and happier – if you can learn the benefits of avoiding alcohol, and quit drinking now.
If you want to quit drinking or if you are interested in my story, and how I learned to stop drinking alcohol by myself, feel free to click here to read my story.
How to Stop Drinking on Your Own
After discovering the keys to successfully quitting alcohol, we’ve written this guide for you, so you can do the same. Download your copy here:
