[Video Transcript]
The Benefit of Time
Would you like more time?
Who wouldn’t like more time?!
Getting more time was one of the benefits I found when I decided to remove alcohol from my life.
Hi, this is Sonya, from Love Being Alcohol Free, and I wanted to share this benefit with you because it’s one that I don’t think that we would really think of as a benefit of giving up drinking, when that’s what we decide to do.
You see, for me, the end of the day, around that five o’clock “drinkies” time, was when I had the sense, from some environmental conditioning I suppose, from my upbringing, from a habit that I had seen and got into, I felt that that time of day, late in the afternoon, was when I deserved, after a hard, busy day, to be able to sit down with my glass of wine, (or several!). And that was when I got to take a deep breath and relax and try to – you know – turn that untidy, that very busy head off. And (I thought) that was something I should have been allowed to do.
But what happened in fact, was that was the time of day that in my lifestyle, it just didn’t work.
I’ve got a busy family with, you know, three children needing me, needing stuff, needing homework done, needing dinner cooked, needing things prepared for the next day. So there was all sorts of “stuff” going on. You know, household bit of chaos, bit of a mess. And it really wasn’t a sensible time of day to sit down and think that I could have, you know, half an hour to myself and have a glass of wine.
Now, in reality, I probably could have that half an hour.
But what I found wasn’t, but that the wine didn’t help me necessarily to relax. And interruptions that I would get, would, you know, would just end up making me feel more frustrated and less relaxed than I, you know, I would’ve if I’d maybe not even tried to do it.
So it just didn’t work for me at that time of day.
And what I’m finding now, and it wasn’t something that I consciously, you know, chose or realized it was going to happen, but not trying to take that time, and not having your day revolve around that “drinkies” time that – you know – “everything stops now “and “this is what I do now”, and end up feeling, frustrated because it doesn’t work out as you want.
I find that I’m actually a lot more fulfilled and do other things, and feel better in other ways.
Because what would happen to me is I’d get frustrated because I couldn’t relax as I thought I was going to relax with this glass or so of wine.
And I’d end up getting really sleepy. I’d fall asleep – is how it sort of affected me. After a couple (of drinkgs) I’d just be ready to go to sleep. And of course then it later would disrupted your sleep and woke you up because your body’s trying to process it.
So you know, it really just didn’t work very well for me.
It actually worked the other way in that I didn’t get stuff done I needed to get done. The house was still in a condition that I didn’t want it to be in. But because I’d fallen asleep and not done anything about it, it was there to face me the next time I looked at it.
I felt bad because I wasn’t really there for the Boys with the patience and the time that I wanted to give them.
So, I ended up with all these negatives, really.
As well as, you know, the habit of needing to do it again the next day, and possibly a headache if I’d had too much. Let alone the health consequences by having several glasses a day, which, we’re finding out now is a little bit more impactful than we’ve been, you know, given the information on previously.
So I now find other ways – and I didn’t realize I was going to do this – but I’ve found other ways where I get that peaceful time to myself.
That makes me feel a whole lot better.
I do get time to myself, it just doesn’t happen to be at that time in the day where it impacts other people who need me at that time. They are healthier pursuits and very fulfilling. And the other benefits are then, that because I’m not sitting trying to, you know, do my own thing at five o’clock (and after and after that) I’m actually able to give the boys the time they need, and I feel better.
They’re happier, they’re very much happier. Seem to be more settled and things are going a lot more nicely.
So, you may not think that time is something you would gain when you stop drinking.
You know, you might think that, I used to sometimes take a glass of wine to my desk and continue working and having a few glasses, thinking it was helping me get through, but what benefit did it really have?
What disadvantages did it have?
I think there’s probably many more.
So, that’s something to think about when you’re considering what you might gain when giving up.
I hope you get something out of that, and I’d love to hear your feedback, if you want to pop some comments down below.