My New Year’s Resolution Has Already Fixed My Sleep

I think we can all agree it’s been a crappy year for all of us and we’ve sought different ways to deal with the long, drawn-out days, while our countries decide how they’re going to deal with the pandemic.
If there was a year to forego the New Year’s Resolution, it was going to be this one. According to UAB Medicine, only 8% of people who make New Year’s Resolutions actually stick to them. That isn’t a great statistic to know when you’re trying to better yourself, is it?
My way of coping with the pandemic was drinking, and I’ll admit that I drink too much, but last year was an exception to the rule. With my country’s future being held in the palm of a scruffy-haired buffoon, I decided to drown my sorrows most days, opting for alcohol after midday when the important company work was done.
This worked, for the most part. During the summer, my husband and I drank all the tropical alcoholic beverages multiple times over. We didn’t need to get up early for work in the morning; we’d just slid out of bed and boot up our computers. We were also experiencing a really hot summer for the UK, so barbecues and alcohol were in full swing most evenings.
It’s funny how drinking in the summer feels more acceptable. Those long evenings, sat out on the terrace drinking from a jug of pre-mixed booze as the air begins to chill. There’s something magical about it.
However, towards the end of this year, I began to worry. At what point would this “magic” stop? The summer had ended and the lockdown wasn’t going anywhere, in fact, it was about to get even more serious, as a new strain of the virus was hitting our shores.
On the 28th of December, after another round of cheese and crackers, accompanied by a bottle of port and vodka and cokes, we slumped on the sofa. Too much food and alcohol had once again filled our evening and we were falling into a heavy nap state.
I realised that I was organising my days around drinking and that was insane. I was freeing up time so I could cook and drink, or bathe and drink, or read a book and drink.

By the end of this year, I could drink a bottle and a half of wine and just feel tingly. I felt like a blob fish. Enough was enough.Apparently, it takes 10,000 hours to master a skill. It took me seven days to sober up my body, and have a great night’s sleep.After ridding my body of wine, beer, vodka, gin, rum, port and everything in between, my body began to detox itself. Drinking only water allowed my poor skin to breathe and my head to clear, and I found myself having a much better attitude to the day.

Apparently, it takes 10,000 hours to master a skill. It took me seven days to sober up my body, and have a great night’s sleep.

January the 1st came and went without alcohol and I felt better but it wasn’t until a week later that I found myself completely changed.
Apparently, it takes 10,000 hours to master a skill. It took me seven days to sober up my body, and have a great night’s sleep.
After ridding my body of wine, beer, vodka, gin, rum, port and everything in between, my body began to detox itself. Drinking only water allowed my poor skin to breathe and my head to clear, and I found myself having a much better attitude to the day.
My sleeping has been much better over the past seven days, I’m astounded. Going to bed with a clear head, rather than beer sloshing around inside it has been an absolute game-changer. I don’t wake up constantly throughout the night, as I used to and my FitBit now reads my sleep as in the high nineties, rather than the sixties.
I no longer dread “the fear” in the morning, as I did for so many months. I strangely enjoy my alarm screeching in my ear, and I look forward to a busy day. My mind is now clearer and it’s given me more time to consider what else I can change.
I know, I know; It’s only been seven days, I’m aware of that. But something has changed internally, and I already feel like a completely different person, just by cutting out something that, let’s be honest, made me feel awful.
My takeaway from actually giving something up for a short while is that if you can, you should. Cutting things out of your life, if even for a short time may make you appreciate them more, or make you realise that you don’t need them at all.
Don’t get me wrong; I’m going to drink again, I just needed to step back and give my body a rest. Having a mini detox has clarified my journey, body and soul. If only for a little while.