I posted earlier about all the benefits I’ve already noticed from being off of alcohol. Some early benefits, included better sleep, less puffiness and circles under my eyes, more energy, clearer thinking. As the months have gone on, even more benefits started appearing, like my hair, skin and nails all appeared healthier and stronger, stronger emotionally, better bowel movements, less body aches and pains, continued clearer thinking, muscle recovery quicker after a workout.

But something popped out to me this past week, while I’m watching podcasts and videos on This Naked Mind. Newer videos of Annie Grace and Scott Pinyard show them both looking absolutely fantastic. I watched a video from December of 2017 when Annie first interviewed Scott and their transformation over the last 5 years is nothing short of miraculous!! In the 2017 video, I believe Annie was about 2 years AF, so currently she’s about 7 1/2 years AF. So even though there was noticeable changes in the first couple years of her journey, it seems to me both her and Scott continue to look better and better as the years go on!

I am a speech therapist and have worked with many people who have suffered strokes. The basic rule of thumb for recovering from a stroke is that the most improvement is going to happen between the first 6 months to a year. In my experience, I’ve seen these patients continue to make progress years after their stroke. It got me thinking when I see the continued improvement in Annie and Scott’s appearances, that maybe, like after the brain suffers trauma from something like a stroke, that when getting off of alcohol, the body and brain just continues to heal and grow. After all, I’ve been drinking for 40 of the 54 years I’ve been alive, I think it might take years for the effects of alcohol to leave my system.

I just think this is such an important revelation because I know how impatient we can get. Wanting to see changes and improvements quickly. Yes, I’ve noticed some HUGE improvements in the past 5 months but if things can keep continuing to improve for me both physically and emotionally, I feel like this will really help me stay on track for years to come!