If you're just having a nosey at our website for the first time - welcome! It's lovely to have you here!
If you're already alcohol-free and are reaping the benefits of AF life, big up yerself!
If you're sober curious and considering dabbling with ditching the booze for a month, or maybe even longer, every credit!
Or if, like me in that top photo, you're rocking the 'freshly-dug-up' look and are hanging out of your arse yet again for what feels like the millionth time, please know you have the power to change absolutely everything.
Even my nose looks p!ssed. And my eye. WTF?
Today is the 1st October - a month when many people ditch booze for 31 days and raise some much needed funds for Macmillan Cancer Support along the way.
Here at Over The Influence we want to do our bit to support Macmillan who along with so many other charities have been hit hard by the lack of fund-raising during the pandemic. So for the month of October we are opening up a select number of live podcast recordings and Monthly Masterclass Zooms to non-members in exchange for a £5 donation to Macmillan - this is payable to us when you book your virtual Zoom ticket and then 100% of funds will be passed on to the charity at the end of this month.
Just click on the EVENTS tab on our website for further information.
Before I finally took the plunge to commit to 90 days without alcohol back in 2018 I did Sober October for a few years.
Apart from one year, when I got ruined at a friend's 50th, I was always successful. If I set myself a challenge I'll see it through and I'm only ever prepared to do something 100%. I don't do half-arsed. I only ever use my full arse. And there's enough of it.
But when I committed to Sober October in previous years I HATED EVERY SINGLE MINUTE OF THE BORING, SHITE, AWFUL, MISERABLE ALCOHOL-FREE MONTH. How do people DO THIS? Why would you NOT DRINK? What an absolute JOKE. What a WASTE of my time. I'm missing out on so much FUN!
I would drink like a fish on the 30th September and wake on the 1st October with yet another hangover from hell knowing I had to endure 31 miserable days without booze. I clung on. I moaned. I posted 'sad-face' selfies clutching a Diet Coke or a brew on the settee at home. I white-knuckled the whole sorry month until November FINALLY arrived.
And then I celebrated nailing my booze-free month successfuly by getting absolutely trollied and drinking my body weight in rosè wine, vodka Red Bull and anything else I could get my deprived chops around to make up for my lack of drinking over the previous 31 days. I literally fell from Sober October into Neck It All November and then rolled into Can't Remember December.
All I did was focus on what I THOUGHT I was missing out on...
...and NOT what I was gaining.
I knew 30 days wasn't long enough to experience these mysterious joys these weirdos who'd given up booze banged on about - so in September 2018 I decided I'd do a month either side of Sober October... just to see... what might happen...
My large bloated wine-filled moon face began to shrink
My skin lost its red mottled hue
I slept like an actual baby
I discovered I had cheekbones
Unexplained aches, pains and throbs disappeared
Mornings lost their miserable fog
I realised I had patience
My family kitchen became calm
I was productive, consistent and showed up
I laughed, loudly
I made new sober friends who just got it
I wasn't the extrovert gobshite I thought I was
Going out out was over-rated
Posh coffee is a must
Relationships improved
I rediscovered my love of reading
Shit still happened but I dealt with it instead of drinking through it
I got brave and bagged the job of my absolute dreams
My closet friends were proud, not piss-taking
I stopped caring what people thought
I changed every single aspect of my life for the better
This is just the short list. I could write for days about the benefits of removing booze - to say it has been life changing is an understatement.
Don't get me wrong - it is HARD! If it was easy to stop drinking everyone would be doing it. They're not. And it's interesting because quite often people start by asking you WHY you're doing it (none of your f@cking business) and then later come back and ask HOW you're doing it (I'll help absolutely anyone).
I started that 90 day challenge after yet another booze-filled summer on Monday 3rd September 2018 - the day that top photo was taken. I never want to feel or look like that again.
I'm now over three years completely alcohol-free - no blips, no 'just one' and certainly no thoughts of the toss that is the myth of moderation.
If you're starting Sober October today - you've got this.
Listen to our pod, follow our socials, keep an eye on the articles page and maybe consider joining a Live Pod Recording over Zoom for a small donation to Macmillan.
And if you can do 30 days - YOU'RE AMAZING.
60? INCREDIBLE. WITH KNOBS ON.
90? POTENTIALLY LIFE CHANGING TERRITORY.
A simple mantra got me though those early weeks and I still use it to this day...
Don't drink. Do something different. Don't be a dick.
Email us anytime at OTIHQ@overtheinfluence.co.uk
Shaz x
Comments