I was reminiscing about my younger days. My drinking days. And I started thinking about my hangovers, my drinks of choice at certain times of my life and how much I was actually drinking. As I was thinking about these things, I thought to myself “wow, if I never drink again, I will NEVER have to experience that again”! And that alone should be enough to keep me sober!

In the past decade of my drinking, my hangovers seemed to worsen. I was finding I didn’t have to drink near as much to have a rager the next day. They also tended to last longer. Instead of waking up with a headache that lasted until around noon, I was suffering nearly all day. If I really tied one on, I’d have lingering affects for 2 days. It reminds me of that line in a country-western song, “hangovers hurt more than they used to”. God, isn’t that the truth?!

I mentioned in an earlier post waking up with a raging headache and I’d spend the rest of the morning trying to recall how much I drank. That somehow if I could figure out exactly how many glasses of wine I had, this would trick my mind into getting over the hangover quicker. It’s so bizarre to me thinking about this now. What in the world was my mind going through? The affects of alcohol poison, for sure.

I’ve always been petite. I can remember in my early days of drinking, I could out drink people that were bigger than me. And it was almost like bragging rights! People would comment, “man, do you have a hollow leg” or “where do you put that”? I’d have chugging contests with them and win. I was so “cool” because I could outdrink them!! WTAF?? How backwards, sad and just downright wrong is that way of thinking?

When I’d wake up with a hangover, which was nearly every day in the recent years, I learned that the only thing that would cure the hangover was time. I’d have that nagging headache behind my left eye. Nothing would touch it. I’d try Excedrin, caffeine, even my pain pills for my back, but NOTHING worked. Finally, usually around bedtime, it would finally ease. Of course, by then I had started drinking again, so that obviously relieved the pain. Wash, rinse…repeat…

And what a waste of my day?? Hungover. Zero energy. Depressed. Tired. In pain. Why would anyone in their right mind do this to themselves day in and day out? Oh, that’s right, you’re NOT in your right mind. You’re addicted to an ADDICTIVE POISON!!

I don’t mean to sound flippant or undermine the seriousness of this problem. I felt the need to write these things down as a reminder to myself of how bad it was and how much better things are and can get. The thought of never, ever having to wake up feeling like total dog shit again in my life is so empowering and exciting! I’m taking care of my body and it feels so amazing. I’m thanking my body and brain for all the years it took the abuse and kept on going. The years moving forward is all about taking care of myself and allowing my body to heal and to become the best I can be.❤️