Dateline 8-7-2016

I can't believe it's another Sunday. It seems like just yesterday I was writing about taking advantage of a hangover and using it as an excuse to take a "me day." Last night, I hung out with the same friends but decided to not join in on the drinking of adult beverages. 

It actually wasn't all that bad. Even when I was a heavy drinker I was able to take breaks and still be social without feeling the pressures to give in to my former favorite vice. My drinking has gone up again over the past couple weeks, as I've been spending more weekends hanging out with friends. This has led to a bit of a conundrum.

Though I do enjoy the upswing in social time, I haven't been all that happy with the increase in the alcohol that I've been consuming. It's not that I'm anywhere near the levels of the past and it hasn't increased my urges to drink alone, I just don't get the same rewards from drinking that I used to so it all seems rather pointless.

As I've said in the past, I'm not interested at all in committing to giving up for good. I've always found that the all or nothing approach to habit breaking make the whole falling off the wagon stage far more extreme than it needs to be. I would much rather stop the wagon, step off to take a break and then ride on. 

That said, I think I'm going to try to ride the wagon for a little longer than usual. Last night's test was more to show them the booze free me that they're going to have to get used to if they still want to hang out on the weekends. I think it went well, I still had fun but who knows how they felt because both friends seemed to get drunk faster as there was a little less drunken rambling coming from me to keep the conversation going.

Oh well, we'll see how this turns out and as always, I'll share any insights as they arise.

Talk to you tomorrow,

- The Wicker Breaker