After a couple of months of 'slow travel' in the South of France, I've set myself the challenge of a 10 week hiatus from alcohol. Our time in Europe has been very delicious, but not strictly speaking perfectly nutritious.
Our travel schedule isn't slowing down anytime soon, so now feels like as good a time as any for a bit of a detox. I figure that if I wait around for a period of time when we're not traveling, or when we don't have house guests, it will never happen.
I do schedule breaks from drinking alcohol somewhat regularly, but usually only for a week or two at a time. On this occasion, I wanted to try something a little more intense. I’ve had friends take year long breaks from alcohol, but that felt a little extreme for me at this point. On the other hand, a month didn’t feel like enough of a challenge. So I’ve settled on a 10 week break, and I officially started on Saturday 12th August (5 days ago).
There are three main reasons why I value a break from drinking:
I like the idea of giving my liver a bit of a rest. It deserves a chance to recover from time to time.
I usually lose some weight. Drinking regularly doesn't help my waistline.
There's nothing like a period of absolute clarity to heighten my productivity. I really do get a lot done when I don’t drink, and it can be enormous gratifying.
There are a bunch of other benefits that I've also noticed in the past; after a couple of days I start to sleep better, my skin improves, I find myself reading more in the evenings, and I tend to instinctively eat healthier foods. Of course it can be difficult too, but I'm not focusing on that now as it won't help me achieve this goal!
To really make the most of the challenge, I’m also hoping to restart my yoga practice during this period. Since having Rosie (nearly two years ago!) I’ve completely stopped attending yoga classes, something I used to do regularly and really benefit from.
For those of you who know me, or follow me on Instagram, you'll know that I'm partial to a tasty cocktail and a good bottle of wine. So 70 days completely alcohol-free is going to present a significant change in lifestyle. I'll keep you updated on my progress in future posts. In the meantime, wish me luck!