OK so the truth is I have been a binge drinker for the better part of a decade. Not everyday, maybe not even every week but pretty much bi-weekly for nearly 10 yrs. When I drink I don't have a few cocktails, it more like a few bottles and throw in a pack of cigarettes ( lovely). I used to have an incredible tolerance thanks to my parents drinking lineage (yup, u guessed we have some irish in us...eeeww get your mind out of the gutter).
So I have never thought this to be a problem until about the past year. The truth is my tolerance is not what it once was and although I drink mostly wine now & I'm not doing keg stands (actually I never did keg stands but straight vodka was my poison of choice) it somehow has stopped being fun. I think the universe has been trying to tell me to quit for awhile now.
1) Busch Gardens stopped serving complimentary beer for the first time ever
Ok I hear ya, who do I think I am. But here's the deal I found out I have celiac disease a little over a year ago (it means I can't have gluten which is a byproduct of processed grains, i.e. bread, pasta, cake, cookies, pretzels and beer a.k.a as all the good stuff) so I really needed to give up beer and was pretty successful except when we went to Busch Gardens, we have passes so that's pretty often. And then they stopped serving it and I was saved yeah!! there was much rejoicing.
2) I need to lose weight
this sounds superficial I know, but I am still battling the weight I put on with the celiac I was so tired all the time and my body just couldn't process the poison (all the good stuff) I was putting in my body. And alcohol is the next thing which needs to go
3) I've already given it up
Yup the beginning of this year I went the first two months sans alcohol. It was hard b/c we live in the land of permanent spring break (FL) and you are kind of expected to drink everywhere, people looked at me like a crazy person when I said I wasn't drinking. (there is a lot worse drinking here than my once weekly or once every other weekly habit, which is why it is so easy to excuse my behaviour)
4) I want to quit smoking
There I said it, when I quit drinking I got down to 8 cigs a week. When I drink having a cig in my hand is such a habit.
5) Last month I got dosed at the Casino
Yup someone slipped something into one of my drinks about a month ago, fortunately I was with my boyfriend who saved me from a night which I don't remember after a certain point. I hear you saying yeah it's a blackout from drinking. But you see I am one of those rare creatures who gets to remember and re-live each and every embarrassing moment from a night of imbibing and also the sugar of alcohol gives me more energy as the night progresses (more energy not more sense) so I don't pass out, nope I just rage on. So yes I know I was drugged and that scared the beegeesus out of me.
6) Last night I fell off the stairs
Yeah not down, off and to the side. I did this b/c I had already twisted my ankle (heels and wine do not mix, but I just love dressing up and drinking) and in my ridiculous heels shifted my weight and fell 'off' the stairs. I now have a twisted left ankle, contusions (I always wanted to use that word hehe) and bloody bruises on my left leg, a lovely 4 inch wide scratch down my right calf and my right arm is either sprained or I have bruised the bone at the elbow, either way it hurts like a mother( yeah not funny) And I am a choreographer for a living , great.
7) My luck has run out
I believe you can only push the fates so far before they push back. I have been incredibly lucky to not have something truly heinous happen to me. So I don't think I am going to push my luck anymore. This is my official resignation from drinking I will need your help to keep me accountable so I will blog about my journey, but from here on out I QUIT.
A former binge drinker
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