Alcohol-Free August
This past Thursday (July 30th) I was having a conversation in the gym with one of my clients. We were talking about morning routines and evening habits.
I was literally in the middle of a sentence when I stopped speaking. Right then, at the gym, on a random Thursday morning, I instantly decided to stop drinking during the month of August.
I made the very obvious connection that my daily habits could possibly making my own life harder, and potentially leaving some “magic of life,” on the table.
To give you a little bit of context, I’ve been red-lining my days. I’m a creature of habit, and my day-to-day flow has been slammed in the months of June and July. I’ve been going hard. Here’s a breakdown of a typical weekday:
5:05/5:15a - Wakeup. Morning Routine.
6a-12p - Training and running sessions at the gym.
12-12:45p - Finish my own personal training session and tie up loose ends at the gym.
1-5:30p - Wrangle Liam (20 Months) and Emma (5 Months). My wife has a corporate job and is working from home due to COVID. But, she doesn’t have the flexibility in her day that I do. I come home and handle the kiddos until she’s done. SOMETIMES I get some work done in the afternoon, but it’s always a multitask and I can’t rely on uninterrupted time.
6:00-6:45p - Family dinner.
7-7:45p - Bath/Bed time routines for Liam and Emma.
8p - The littles should be asleep and my wife and I put the house back together.
8:30-11/11:30/12a - Work. Usually I’ll catch up on admin work that piled up during the afternoon. Maybe I need to do some programming. This is when I do ALL of my creative work like writing, video edits, YouTube uploads, Instagram posting/replying/commenting, etc. Or, if the to-do list isn’t urgent this is the only time in the day that I have to read or explore new material. ALL of this happens AFTER 8:30p.
Pretty full days.
Now, for those of you that don’t know, my wife has worked in the wine industry for over a decade. The wine world has provided her and I some awesome wine experiences in the past, and it’s something that we’ve both built an interest around. And that’s great! It’s a fruitful (pun) hobby.
Personally, I don’t drink excessively. I never really have. It’s not my style and that’s not why I want to eliminate drinking in August. I’ve simply gotten too comfortable with my evening alcohol habits.
My problem is that my wine consumption has become so day-after-day, week-after-week, month-after-month constant that I think I’ve put my body in a hole. I notoriously don’t get enough sleep and my days are packed with face-to-face interactions with people that depend on my attention, energy, and overall presence. I am SURE that routine glasses of wine are preventing me from operating at my best for the people around me.
This last Thursday, during that morning conversation, I had an immediate realization that eliminating drinking is low hanging fruit. This is one variable I can change instantly that may have a positive impact on EVERY other hour of my day. This is an appropriate stage of life to give that assumption a fair shot.
Plus, it’s good to break habits. Growth never happens in the comfort zone.
Bring it on, August. I’m looking forward to it.
I’ll report back in September.
EDIT: I went back and added a random week’s worth of iWatch data from July. Look at my Blue Bars. This is my “Stand,” time throughout the day. I put my watch on before I leave the house in the morning and usually I throw it on the charger right before I go to bed. If the bar is illuminated, I’m up moving around. Please don’t show this to a sleep expert, haha!
