Water
Like so many people, I’ve been trying to drink more water for years. I’d tried counting ounces, counting bottle refills, paper trackers, apps, and a all sorts of reminders. I’d been bringing water to the table at meals but one day I decided to tweak the model a little so that I’d only get to my coffee/soda/beer/etc. after my water.
A pattern quickly emerged where I’d eat a bit, get thirsty, chug the water, then finish the meal and maybe get to the fun drink. I didn’t know this but when you’re dehydrated, you don’t always feel thirsty. Once you’re properly hydrated though, your body starts to signal thirst more reliably. Once I got into a reliable flow (ha ha) with the three core pints, I began to get thirsty throughout the day.
After around a week of this, I started to feel pretty good. I felt good about hitting my daily water goal, but I was also sleeping better and my mind just generally felt clearer. I began to believe I finally hit a state of being I believed unattainable by the busy-go-getters we are: hydrated.
Alcohol
Then one day something completely unexpected happened… I didn’t like the way alcohol made me feel. I hadn’t made myself sick on alcohol or switched to anything, it just wasn’t the warm buzz I was used to. It felt weird like the dull without the calm, so it just felt confusing. It’s been liberating to be freed of a chain I didn’t know I was carrying. I still want something other than water in the evenings, but all of a sudden a cup of tea is sufficient when before I’d be looking for a way to “unwind”.
Which is kind of a funny phrase if you think about it. Like you get so wound up throughout the day that you need something to help you calm down before bed. I’m coming to realize that I’m always wound up, and I’d been relying on even a single drink per night in a ritualistic way, and that ritual had become a habit. Not yet a chemical or physiological habit, but a habit nonetheless.
Layers
I still drink socially and sometimes have a Friday happy hour, but it’s not the same. I sleep better, I feel better, and while it’s uncovered the underlying anxiety and focus problems that were likely driving use to begin with, at least I’ve pulled another layer away that’s allowed me to look those problems in the eye and address them without the complexity of ritualistic alcohol muddling things.