Why I’m staying sober this Christmas?

This will be my 3^rd sober Christmas and it is most definitely a time of year I question my sobriety.

I mean I didn’t HAVE to stop drinking, I wasn’t an alcoholic, I just liked to really party every weekend and I had the friends and resources that made that very easy for me.

Oh, and occasionally a bottle of wine or two during the week at home depending on work commitments. It was a Friday and Saturday that used to be my drinking days, both at home and out in bars.

I had some really good fun too, at the time, and I don’t regret anything! But, being sober at Christmas is a little bit odd.

I had such good fun digging out my old drunken pictures, so many memories came up and made me smile. I tried to pick out the worst ones and I think I must have deleted some in sober moments of shame because I can’t find them now.

All kind wonderful things happened to me when I had a few drinks!

I used to go out at 2 pm on a Saturday afternoon for a couple of hours thinking I’d only be out until tea time and get home at 2 am!!  I could never work out afterwards what had happened, I just figured it must have been good and why not put on a pair of sunglasses, eat a big chocolate cake and take a picture of myself to end the evening in style whilst ridding the drunken munchies.

I used to turn into a musician too. I became really good on a guitar, the drums and even singing after a few drinks. I could never work out why my musician friends who were playing the gig did not want me up on stage with them? They did give me a tambourine though sometimes (away from the stage)

Saying goodbye to people after a few drinks was such an amazing experience, it used to take me two hours from saying goodbye to actually leaving where I was.

I developed a thing for climbing on tables too and doing some yoga. It felt so artistic doing yoga on someone’s kitchen table with a bottle of ketchup and a massive vodka.

Talking of falls, I got away with a lot actually and managed to stay on my feet pretty well, which is why it’s another really good idea to do Pilates and Yoga as a lifestyle because you fall over less when you’ve had a few.

However, there was this one time that things went wrong and I injured myself.

It was 2014, before I gave up drinking, so no judging please.  I never thought I would tell this story but here goes.

I was going up to Leeds to see my friend Jayne (we’re both called Jayne!) and we were going to a cabaret night. I still can’t remember any of the acts on that evening. I don’t know how I got so drunk.

I do remember reading a highly spiritual book on the train up there, because even in my drinking days I was always into my metaphysics and meditations.

This book seemed to knock me out. I read for about ten minutes and then fell asleep like I was unconscious and woke up the moment the train pulled up in Leeds station. I hadn’t had a drink at all and I remember being really surprised as I don’t usually fall asleep in this way.

Jayne met me at the station and drove us to her house and the first thing I did was have a glass of wine and it wouldn’t have been a sensible measure, more like a fish bowl full.

I hadn’t eaten much as we were going out to eat first, only the damage seemed to be done by the time we got to the restaurant and I remember feeling drunk already.

We got to the cabaret and I don’t really remember anything much about being there. I remember being outside and the fresh air hit me and that’s when I fell for the first time. I remember being helped back up by a glamourous transvestite and then chatting to him/her for a while.

The next thing I remember is being back in Jayne’s Kitchen, we had a cup of tea and I thought I was fine. I can’t have been though as her son came home and I forgot I no longer smoked, I asked him for one of his roll ups (I know, I know, I feel shame).

I went outside on the doorstep to have the cigarette and I think I only had a little bit as it tasted awful and I went light headed, so I put it out and turned around to go back into the kitchen.

I forgot about the step that lead into the kitchen and tripped over it, falling into the kitchen and cracking my eyebrow open on the edge of the kitchen table on the way down.  I put my hands out to catch myself falling and I landed just kind of wrong.

My eye was bleeding a lot and my arm hurt even more. Jayne got straight on my eye, applied pressure and it eventually stopped bleeding.

I went to bed, slept a bit and when I woke up, I could hardly move my arm. I was so upset with myself. This really wasn’t good, I was teaching bodybalance the next day (a wonderful workout system involving pilates, yoga tai chi and more) but I couldn’t even put my own bra on!!

I called my boyfriend, whom at that time was a fairly new boyfriend so that added to my shame and we all went to the hospital.

Luckily no breaks, phew.

My boyfriend got me home and drove himself all the way back to Leeds. As for me I spent the next day in bed feeling total shame and worried sick about how I would teach bodybalance.

With a bit of adjustment and wonderful class participants, it was manageable, though I probably didn’t tell them the truth about my drunken smoking fall.

I got sorted and I learnt to eat more before drinking, so please if you are drinking this Christmas don’t forget to eat first.

I’ll be staying sober this Christmas, even though I don’t think there’s anything wrong with having a few drinks and getting tipsy. The thought of a hangover now though scares me, and I don’t want to do anything that might make me feel like a fraud and upset my inner being.

I don’t care for other people’s opinions on it either.  “Oh, go on it’s Christmas, a couple of glasses won’t hurt” I have heard this one a few times and my answer is, I never really saw the point in moderating my intake before so why would I want to bother trying now when it smells like toilet cleaner? You go ahead though because I sure do enjoy watching the tipsy fun of others.

Here are three of my best tips for helping you keep safe and avoiding weight gain whilst still being able to have a little drink this Christmas:

• Go low calorie: Ditch the drinks with multiple different liquors or with high calorie mixers like sugary soft drinks. Vodka with soda or with grapefruit or cranberry juice has less calories and carbs. Avoid regular margaritas as they are full of sugar, high in useless calories and carbohydrates (about 20 grams of carbs per drink)
• Eat first then drink: Think of my fall to remind you! Some food in your stomach helps to reduce the impact of alcohol.
• Moderation: This didn’t work so well for me once I got started but one thing that I always did was incorporate a healthy eating and exercise routine and so can you. Get a good workout the day after the night before. Just do something to sweat out all those toxins, eat plenty of vegetables, drink lots of water, and definitely have a protein-based breakfast.

I hope this was useful to you, little changes can make a big difference and if this resonates with you then my emails always have more tips, tricks, stories and information so feel free to sign up for more information on mind, body, wellness and maybe a few more stories about my past drunken antics! Just click the link below!

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Love, light and elderflower juice

Jayne