50 was a great year - it was full of vacations, parties, food, wine and late nights. I partied like I was 20 and felt about 100 at the end of the year. Do I regret any of it - NO - do I wish I did more of it completely sober - YES!
Fast forward to December 2019. A parent that required our full attention…throw in Christmas, and a blow up with a family member made for a bad way to end what was about to become the crappiest year ever! I needed a change...I needed a way to "deal" that didn't include saying "I need a drink" - it was going to be a long year ahead and I needed a healthier way to cope...one that didn't add fuel to the fire and create more stress, depression and anxiety.
Then I had kids and I drank wine as a REWARD!
So January 2 was day one; I read books, followed like people on instagram, loaded up on soda water and food : )
- You won’t be fun anymore (that one was from my dad! need I say more)
- You are going to become “one of those”
- Can’t you just have one?
- Why are you doing that?
- You have a problem - I don’t, I know when to stop!
By the third week I was over my FOMO (fear of missing out), because I wasn’t missing anything…except being tired, groggy, and moody....

I was waking up earlier, starting to workout….and then COVID HIT! Seriously, what timing - but the more I thought of it the happier I was with my decision as I saw post after post about “wine all day”, “zoom wine meetings”. Had I still been drinking during COVID that would have been me…starting at noon right there with them.
"Alcohol is an inflammatory substance, meaning it tends to cause swelling in the body. This inflammation may be made much worse by the things often mixed with alcohol, such as sugary and carbonated liquids, which can result in gas, discomfort, and more bloating."
- 3 bottles of wine a week on average was what I would drink.
- 700 calories on average per bottle
- 2100 calories a week
- 8400 calories a month
- 2.5 lbs a month
- 30lbs a year!
If you are Sober Curious and thinking about making your life easier by kicking wine to the curb, I strongly suggest reading Quit Like A Woman by Holly Whitaker
The Radical Choice to Not Drink in a Culture Obsessed with Alcohol
USA TODAY BESTSELLER • The founder of a female-focused recovery program offers a radical new path to sobriety.
“You don’t know how much you need this book, or maybe you do. Either way, it will save your life.”—Melissa Hartwig Urban, Whole30 co-founder and CEO
We live in a world obsessed with drinking. We drink at baby showers and work events, brunch and book club, graduations and funerals. Yet no one ever questions alcohol’s ubiquity—in fact, the only thing ever questioned is why someone doesn’t drink. It is a qualifier for belonging and if you don’t imbibe, you are considered an anomaly. As a society, we are obsessed with health and wellness, yet we uphold alcohol as some kind of magic elixir, though it is anything but.
When Holly Whitaker decided to seek help after one too many benders, she embarked on a journey that led not only to her own sobriety, but revealed the insidious role alcohol plays in our society and in the lives of women in particular. What’s more, she could not ignore the ways that alcohol companies were targeting women, just as the tobacco industry had successfully done generations before.