Besides not shaving your face in support of men’s health issues, there’s another movement held every November that everyone (yes, that includes women) is welcome to join: Sober November is an attempt to enter the Christmas season with a regenerated liver, all the maximum health benefits of living an ascetic life, and an iron will when it comes to respectfully declining that last glass of eggnog that will be inevitably offered to you at the company Christmas. Its main aim is for people to get a better understanding of themselves and their relationship to alcohol.
Sober November is basically a pre-emptive strike against the evils of overindulgence during the holiday season, equipping you with the means of fending for your own health. Statistically, taking a month off heavy drinking adds a day or so to your life (benefits include cleaner skin, clearer head, and a positive change in blood pressure, energy, cholesterol and liver enzyme levels), but the greatest advantage comes with the realization that life can be more fun without the painful hangovers, the memory loss, the drunken mistakes, and the senseless wasting of money on overpriced, watered-down drinks.
You have only got one life, so instead of whiling it away while slowly poisoning yourself every other night, why not sober up for a month and see how it goes?
If nothing else, then the promise of 31 days without hangovers and a healthy looking bank balance are surely worth going booze-free. Say no to alcohol and say yes to the challenge!
If you’ve completed the task successfully and want to continue your own “little” life-changing experiment, then here are a few advices to help you start off on your journey to an alcohol-free life:
#1 Make the decision. Don’t be afraid of this. The positive aspects of quitting alcohol should tip you in the right direction to make the decision to go for this. Firmly make this decision and move forward with the next steps.
#2 Set the date. Now that you have made the decision, you should set your sights on your start date. Armed with an arsenal of positivity and a decision firmly made, you should look forward to beginning this amazing journey. Right now, you have no idea how good a call this is, but you will soon see.
#3 Share your decision. Tell your friends and family what you are doing. You will be astounded by the support you’ll receive. It’s an extremely powerful thing in life to communicate exactly what you want. Most people will have your back. Some won’t understand. This is alright as well, as long as your understanding of the purpose of the journey remains clear in your mind. Communicate to those who don’t understand with patience, and try to understand their side too. You were most likely once there.
#4 Take up a new habit. Channel your newfound energies into useful pastimes: subscribe to your local swimming pool, register at a gym, learn how to cook healthy foods, go for a jog a couple of times a week, read some classic literature.
#5 Journal your thoughts. Keep a journal of each day and log the challenging moments and how you grew through them. Refer back to these as you move through the month. Each moment you struggle through builds your strength for the next one.
#6 Enjoy the journey. You don’t meet people that regret quitting alcohol or miss it. They enjoy life so much more. Once this enjoyment is firmly established, and you realise there is nothing to miss, your life will become infinitely better.
