3 months after finishing the blog - where am I today, teetotaler or boozer?

I stopped counting the days and I stopped keeping a blog of my progress back in May. I no longer wanted my attempts to stop drinking to dominate my life and my thinking anymore. How was I to know that that was in fact the final piece of the jigsaw!  

Week and weekend after week and weekend now passes by without a drop. But now, not by actively resisting and forcing myself not to drink, nor by fighting off any cravings and worrying about the number of dry days as I used to, but simply due to a process of natural progression. 

I still visit pubs and restaurants and socialise, but I  now automatically turn to softies when I go out, and I feel absolutely no desire to drink alcohol at home either. It's now an in-built, reflex reaction. 

It feels very different. I do not feel like I am missing out like before. I suppose my brain has evolved - it just isn't worth going down that road anymore! The scales have tipped and the triggers are now identified and understood - some are manageable, others have recently been removed from my life. A harsh but necessary and uncompromising shake out process. That which has been removed has been replaced with physically and mentally productive time with myself, Rachel, family and strong friendships.

Nothing has been in vain since January though. My blog detailed my struggles to quit day to day, but the ups and downs were all part of reaching the final destination - I can see that now. My body and mind moved on, saw what was possible and slowly kept building.

Alcohol has been put to bed folks.  

Cycling, on the other hand, is everything. It played a huge part in helping me win this war, I am eternally grateful and blessed to have it front and center in my life. I now start my next big cycle tour, La Palmyre, France to Gibraltar. I've completed so many European tours but I'm totally buzzing for this one. 

It gives me goosebumps, the nice kind, thinking about what awaits. Excitement abounds  - I feel lighter, physically and mentally. I've taken years off myself. 





  

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