Observations from the wagon: day 8

So sobriety is finding my a little less irritable overall, my mood has gone from “extremely murderous” to merely "very murderous” - practically zen for a New Yorker - in just 8 short days, as proved by my subway ride this morning where I did not have the urge to kill ANYONE, not even the man who decided he could not possibly go one stop without reading his free Metro paper, which he held about an inch from my face, putting me at serious risk of a paper cut. Tsk!!! Admittedly I did passive aggressively get out my Kindle and reclaim my personal space, but still….I did not have the urge to push him violently from the car!!  Success!!  Just imagine how mellow I will be in 3 more weeks.*

*Probably so desperate for wine I’ll be snatching glasses of Chardonnay out of the hands of customers seated at outdoor restaurant tables.

On the wagon

After a particularly boozy couple of weeks while my parents were visiting from England I've decided to give my liver and kidneys a bit of a break and abstain from alcohol for the next 4 weeks.  Today is day 7, not that I'm counting you understand.  Ahem!!
I was talking to my friend Melissa at dinner on Friday - where I consumed nothing more potent than a San Pellegrino with my tasty upscale tacos - and mentioned that by my calculation I've probably been drinking more than I probably should for about 6 years now, having slowly fallen into the habit of having a glass or two - occasionally 3 - every night with dinner.

"I feel the same way," she said, "it's probably been about 6 years for me too.  Somehow its become much more socially acceptable to drink, I can't tell you the number of times I've seen that photo of the woman with the massive glass of wine posted on Facebook."

Now we New Yorkers generally seem to like our booze quite a bit, so when you tell people that you've decided to give up drinking for a month the typical response tends to be "but...but...why would you do that?"

Me: Because I feel I've been drinking too much and I want to break myself of the habit

Them: But you don't drink too much, you drink the same as me!!

Which says it all really.

Not that I'm judging my heavier drinking friends if they are fine with their habits,  I don't feel that things are so bad that I need to stage an intervention for any of them, but my personal drinking habits don't sit so well with me, so I'm making an effort to do something about it.  So far it's not been as bad as I anticipated, I have not been tempted to snatch up a glass of Chardonnay from someone's table at an outdoor cafe and glug it down, so in my book I'm doing pretty well, even though life has tested my resolve a few times this week by:

• Giving me the gift of persistent insomnia.  Joy!!
• Having my laptop crash and die while I was working from home on Labor Day, resulting in the loss of about 12 hours worth of weekend work (aaaaiiiieeeeeeeee!!!) 
• The agency where I work coming close, but ultimately losing yet another new business pitch (NB: must update resume) 
• A favorite work colleague resigning
• Having to walk through Times Square to get to my Pilates class

Admittedly there have been times when I've reached for chocolate - don't tell me I don't know how to eat my feelings - but so far I've resisted opening any of the wine I have at home, so big pat on the back for me.  

Only 21 days to go!!