Third Sober Weekend

Well, this will be my third sober weekend.  In general, I have felt much happier and better about myself.  I feel like I am really honoring my self worth and respecting myself.  I keep thinking about the old saying that your body is your temple.  It makes me feel good that I am treating it as such.  The thought of going home and drinking a bunch of wine doesn't really tempt me.  In fact, like many of the stories I have been reading in Blogville, the desire to get drunk is pretty much gone.  Who wants to be drunk?  I don't think anyone really wants to be drunk.  Who wants to be buzzed?  Me! Me! Me!  Honestly, isn't that why we drink in the first place?  Alcohol is an elixer afterall.  I have to always keep in mind that once I am buzzed, my body goes into turbo drive headed to sloppy drunk.  It is like I always miss the stop to get off the bus at Happy Buzzland and end up in Drunk Disasterland.  All kidding aside, I also feel glad to be fully conscious, aware and present.  Many of the spiritual leaders, self help gurus, and extremely positive people I admire choose to live their lives without alcohol.  On the flip side, I can think of many entrepeneurial leaders that I admire that do drink.  But hey, they probably don't have a problem.  You may see Richard Branson drinking but you don't see him on the news in trouble for doing inappropriate things.  One thing that really made me feel better was finding out a surprising fact about a particular person I admire.  I am friends with this person on Facebook but don't really know him well.  He has written books on hiking, traveling and adventure.  He is also absolutely crazy and hilarious.  He tends to fully immerse himself in the culture of whereever he goes and write about it.  For some reason, I just assumed that he drank.  If you are going to fully immerse yourself in Greek culture, that includes Ouzo right?  Or in Russia, you have to drink vodka with your comrades, right?  Wrong.  I just found out he doesn't drink.  He never did.  He just never liked alcohol and never became a drinker at all.  For some reason that made me happy.  I look at him as such an example of a free spirited adventurer.  He is living life to the fullest without alcohol as a personal preference!  Wow!  Anyway, I guess I have always looked up to those daring spirits that journey this life sober.  I think it is kind of a rebellious thing to do as well as an enlightened thing to do.  So now I am trying it for myself!

Oddly, this weekend I will find myself at a winery.  It is my friends 50th birthday and we are meeting at a winery for a picnic.  There may be some hiking or walking around a nearby town.  I don't feel I will be tempted to drink.  First, I have made a decision.  I don't drink.  So why would I even consider it?  Second, I will be driving.  Third, I want to fully focus on the beauty of the countryside, the nice food, and the fun conversation with friends.  This will be a change from the focus being on the wine... which probably normally leads to a focus on a wine buzz.  If I have to be fully honest, I am very slightly agitated that I can't do a tasting.  I was always big into visiting wineries, doing wine tasting, doing wine pairings, doing chocolate and wine tastings blah blah blah.  I know a lot about wine and took a lot of pleasure in understanding it and enjoying it.  I also love vineyards.  They are beautiful and wine tastings are fun!  I guess letting go of the whole wine tasting experience is a small price to pay for being mentally, physically and spiritually whole.  Tomorrow I will be interested in observing my feelings and emotions about being at a winery as a nondrinker. 

I won't have time to blog again until Sunday or Monday.  I will let you know what the experience was like... That is if anyone is reading this!  Well, if anyone is or isn't, it sure has helped me to write on a regular basis.