Healthy Choices

You Are Your Own Master
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If you have a job right now, you will no doubt have a boss — a supervisor who directs you. Most people have a boss. If you are self-employed, you might not have one direct boss, but you have to answer to all of your clients; in a way, you have many bosses.

But even though you have a boss or bosses at work, you are your own master. You have the final say. It is your life. You choose to do the job that you do. You could just as easily choose to not do that job. You might say, I can’t leave my job, I have bills to pay, mouths to feed, and I’m sure that’s true, but you are making that choice — to stick with that job.

Nobody owns you. You are in charge of your own destiny. If you’re in a job that you hate, you need to change it. You need to motivate yourself to do something about your situation. You might think that sounds scary, but it’s actually liberating — taking control of your life.

Think hard about your options. Network. Reach out to friends. Learn some new skills. Read up on the most sought after skills, and see if you can acquire some of the top ones. What’s your passion? Could you turn it into a way to make a living? Think outside the box, you’ll be surprised at what you might come up with.

The same applies to drinking: you are your own master. Nobody has the power over you to make you drink, it is something that you choose to do. And if your drinking is causing problems in your life, then it’s a poor choice. If you’ve had a bad day at work, going to a bar — or home — and getting drunk will solve nothing.

If you’ve been drinking regularly for a long time, you no doubt have developed a very bad habit, where you reach for the booze automatically. I can assure you it’s a habit that you can break, and you are the very one to break it.

As your own master, consider these options:

  • Before you reach for the booze, think about the consequences of what you’re about to do. Drinking will solve NOTHING. Not only will it solve nothing, it will make everything much worse. If you had a bad day at work today, tomorrow will be even worse — guaranteed — with a hangover.
  • Develop new healthy habits to replace the old bad ones. Instead of automatically reaching for the booze, go for a walk, or read something uplifting and inspiring. Or have a drink, but make it a healthy, non-alcoholic one. I now drink a glass of carbonated water (Perrier, for e.g.), with ice and a slice of lemon, when in the past I would have had wine: after a tough day at work, with meals, out with friends. It is working brilliantly. It’s fresh and fun, and I have no hangovers to deal with.
  • Choose your friends carefully. If all of your friends are reckless boozers, it’ll be hard for you to be around them and not go back to your old, unhealthy ways.

You can choose to make the most of your precious life, or to squander it, poisoning yourself with alcohol.

Do you know how lucky you are to have that choice?

KTB

Because Life is So Precious
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Have you ever pondered the odds of your being born a human being? The top of the food chain? On planet Earth? Let’s look at some numbers.

If you go back 40 generations, starting with you, then your parents, then grandparents, great grandparents, and so on, how many people would you guess had to be involved? In 40 generations? Hundreds? Thousands? Try more than 2 trillion. That’s trillion with a “t.” Let’s not even get into the odds of all of those people meeting and having a productive roll in the hay together, nor consider going back another 40 generations, lest our heads explode.

There’s a Buddhist story that if you threw a lifesaver randomly into any of the oceans on the planet (around 140 million square miles of them), and if there was only one turtle in all of the oceans, the odds of you being born would be akin to the turtle surfacing for the first time and poking it’s head through the lifesaver. Which is to say, almost no chance at all.

And what about death? Have you ever considered the chances of dying? Let me grab my calculator… Oh, wait, I don’t need it. Chances of dying: 100%. Guaranteed.

Do you know how precious and fleeting your life is? You were born, against all the odds, not a flee, nor a rat, nor plankton, but the highest of all life forms: a human being.

After the absolute miracle of your being born, how crazy is it to poison yourself and ruin your life with alcohol? I’ll tell you how crazy: 100%.

Wake up! Now is the time! Do something with your mindbogglingly precious life! The past is the past — forget it. The rest of your life begins right now, in this very moment. Do you want to make something of it? Or just continue as you have been? Drinking, unhappy, unhealthy? You know the answer.

This is your shot. Your life. Once you’re gone, you’re gone. You will never have this chance again. Ever.

KTB

No Labels Necessary
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We do need labels — on some things. For example, the label on a bottle of wine will tell you how much alcohol it contains — around 13.5% on average — or on a hard liquor bottle — around 40% on average. They are useful labels. If you’re getting ready for a night of boozing, they’ll give you an idea of just how much damage you’re getting ready to inflict upon yourself — on your heart, your liver, your brain, etc.

Other labels aren’t so useful. For example, some use the label “recovering alcoholic” to describe themselves or others. I choose not to. To me, the label “recovering” puts you in a position of weakness. It implies that there is something wrong with you, that you are sick, that you might be healthy some time in the future, but in no way should you consider yourself healthy right now.

Personally, I don’t care for the idea of having to go through life believing that there’s something wrong with me, and I don’t care what labels others might want to tag me with either — that’s up to them.

Here’s how I see it: drinking makes me feel bad, not drinking makes me feel good. I have chosen to not drink, because I like feeling good. If anything, I might say that I was “recovered,” but I don’t need that either. I’m not drinking, I feel much better for it, end of story. It’s that simple. No labels necessary.

Interestingly enough, here’s a link to an article that describes the problems with identifying with either label, recovering or recovered.

In my book, if you choose to kick the booze, you will go from being a person who used to drink, to being a person who doesn’t drink — and a happier, healthier, wealthier one at that.

KTB

But All My Friends Drink!
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Most of my friends drink to some degree or another, do I just end the friendships now that I’ve quit drinking?

It’s going to be difficult to stay off the booze if your friends are all heavy boozers. Here are some straightforward pointers for dealing with this problem.

The Best Kind of Friends

We have to choose our friends carefully, because the people we spend our time with have a big influence on us. The people you want in your life are:

  • Kind
  • Decent
  • Honest
  • Healthy
  • Fun to be around
  • Inspiring
  • Motivating
  • Supportive
  • Genuinely interested in you
  • Reliable
  • Trustworthy
  • Positive
  • Loyal

People who are truly your friends, who care about you, will respect your decision to kick the booze. They will support you one hundred percent.

The Questionable Friends

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You might want to question the depth of the friendship with friends who tease you about quitting alcohol, and try to coax you back into drinking. Are they really your friends? Would somebody who really cared about you want you to be drunk? Would they let you drink and drive? I think you know the answers to those questions.

It’s not that they’re malicious, that they are intentionally wanting to jeopardize your health, your happiness, your life. It’s more likely that they’ve just given up caring about their own lives. If they don’t care about what happens to themselves, how can they care about what happens to you?

Choose Wisely

George Washington said: “It is better to be alone than in bad company.”

A Buddhist would advise: “If you cannot find a good companion to travel with, walk alone, like an elephant roaming the jungle. It is better to be alone than with those who will hinder your progress.”

While it might not be easy to completely sever the ties with the heavy boozers in your life, you should seriously consider reducing time spent with them to a minimum. And spend more time with your true friends, the ones who respect and support you. Or maybe try spending more quality time with family, or alone. Read an inspiring/entertaining book, learn a new language or skill, work out, practice yoga, meditate, there are endless healthy ways to spend your time.

To kick the booze, you must become a different person. A better, stronger, smarter person.

Give it a go, you’ll be AMAZED at what you are capable of.

KTB

Do This and You Won’t Drink
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There’s one simple thing that you can do that will stop you from drinking: THINK.

  • Think about how bad you’re going to feel with that hangover tomorrow if you drink today.
  • Think about the fact that you’ll be poisoning your precious body if you choose to drink, destroying your liver, your heart, and your brain, among many other things.
  • Think about the money that you’ll be wasting, money that you could be saving and putting towards a new car, or a great vacation, or setting aside for a rainy day.
  • Think about the stupid things that you’ve done under the influence of alcohol — do you want to repeat those?
  • Think about the promises made but not kept, and all the things you’ve said under the influence of booze that you’d like to take back.
  • Think about the fact that all of your worldly troubles will be waiting for you with a vengeance when you awake.
  • Think about all the things that need to be done tomorrow that won’t get done if you drink.

And then think about the benefits of choosing not to drink:

  • Think: you won’t wake up with a hangover tomorrow, filled with regret and berating yourself.
  • Think: you won’t be poisoning your precious body (it will appreciate it more than you could know).
  • Think: you’ll be saving your hard-earned money for something so much better.
  • Think: you won’t be tempted to do those stupid things that booze would have you do.
  • Think: you’ll be better able to cope with any problems that you might be dealing with. We all have problems in life; drinking does not solve any of them.
  • Think: you’ll have much more energy tomorrow, and you’ll be able to think clearly, allowing you to attack the day and get things done.

There’s a moment when we make a final decision — it’s a split second — like a light switch. It’s on or it’s off; I choose to drink, or I choose not to drink. The next time you’re getting ready to flick that switch, think about the guaranteed consequences of the choice that you’re about to make:

  • Drink and you will suffer.
  • Don’t drink and you’ll be a better, smarter, stronger person.

It should be a pretty easy decision, right?

Just think.

KTB

Burn Your Money
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If you’re struggling with alcohol, if you’re waking up with hangovers, missing days from work, not doing the things that you should be doing, here’s some advice: when you feel the urge to go and buy booze, just burn your money instead.

You were going to spend it on booze, let’s say $10 (maybe a lot more?), and booze is the very thing that’s causing so many things in your life to go wrong. By burning your money, you’ll be out the $10, but you’ll avoid the hangover and all that goes with it.

Would you pay somebody $10 a few times a week to make your life miserable? I think not. So why spend money on booze, knowing that it will continue to make your life miserable?

The next time you get the urge to buy booze, read something inspiring, or go out and do something different, or spend your hard-earned money on something fun or useful instead.

It gets easier as time goes by — I promise. And everything in your life will improve.

KTB

New Glasses and a Fancy New Drink
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I’ve had a set of stemless wine glasses for some time now, and when I hold one of those glasses it really wants me to pour some wine into it. So I decided to pick up some new glasses today — a set of four for the price of a cheap bottle of wine. They have a completely different feel to the wine glasses.

I also picked up some lemon and lime flavored Perrier water. I’m not a Perrier drinker, but I thought it might make a nice change. I was right! A nice glass, the Perrier, some ice and a slice of lemon, and it feels quite decadent. And healthy!

I’m going to reserve this healthy drink for the times that the old me would have had alcohol, thereby replacing an old, bad habit, with a new, healthy one.

Small changes can make a big difference.

KTB

What To Do with All This Energy!
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This time last week I had a horrible hangover. I decided it was time to kick the booze. I spent half the day in bed, the other half figuring out how to get this blog up and running.

A week has passed, and I’ve had no alcohol at all.

Sometimes, the old me would drink during the week, maybe after a particularly stressful day, but it was guaranteed that I would unwind on a Friday after work.

A typical routine was to pick up some take-out and drink wine. Initially it would seem fun and relaxing. Then I would go to bed, fall asleep for a while, and wake up in the middle of the night, feeling awful, and unable to get back to sleep again. Tossing and turning for the rest of the night — berating myself, and feeling guilty.

Last night (Friday night), I skipped the wine, and just made a nice meal at home. It was a stressful week at work, and I definitely could have used a drink. But I chose not to.

And today I’m so glad that I did! Because I got a good night’s sleep, woke up and had some coffee, and now I have so much energy! Whereas last Saturday I got next to nothing done, today I’ll do laundry, pay the bills, and get out for a bike ride. And that’s just this morning!

If you’re suffering with a hangover right now, I feel for you. And you’re not alone. Here’s an article that might help you through the day.

Just remember, it’s never too late to kick the booze. You could choose to start right now if you want to.

KTB