The Next Round: What happens after you change your drinking?

One hundred days alcohol free

100 days alcohol free

If you stopped drinking on January the first, either for good or as part of a timed challenge, then today is 100 days alcohol free. Congratulations!

My 100 days fell slap bang in the middle of the 2012 Olympics. I was volunteering. In the stadium by 6am. I could not have done that if I had carried on drinking. By 100 days I felt like an athlete!

How about you? What does it feel like? Is it worth doing? Can it help you moderate? Or make a decision about your long-term future with alcohol?

Sober discoveries after 100 days alcohol-free

Here are six discoveries that bloggers have revealed about going sober for 100 days, some to quit, and some to stop for a bit.

1. Starting new hobbies is a great way of starting afresh…

One anonymous blogger shared his five big finds, but for us, this was the most powerful:

“For me, that was salsa. You’ll start to realise that there do exist people for whom going out and enjoying themselves is just that and doesn’t need to be a whiskey-swilling adventure.”

2. You are much better placed to deal with the stuff life throws at you

Fostercosgrove on Hello Sunday Morning wrote of his 100 days alcohol-free last year.

“I am really really happy with this decision. Life still happens. Just that now I am so much better placed to deal with the stuff life throws at you. I have faced a wave of emotions. Been through the sugar cravings. Stared down the doubters. I’m the last one standing in a recent restructure. I have two great job offers to consider for relocating my wife and I to Victoria.

But most of all, I feel really good about myself. I came here not thinking that my life meant that much. Wasting your talents does that to you.”

3. You can see and feel the physical changes within 100 days

“I felt the benefits almost immediately – Within 2 weeks of being alcohol-free, I was feeling SO much better physically. I was sleeping like a baby, I felt generally happier and I had bags of energy.

My hair, skin and nails started shining within a month– I just LOOKED so much better within the first 4-5 weeks. People would tell me how great my skin looked”

From Fitfatfood.

4. You will feel the financial savings and be more productive

“Things are also very positive on the financial side, as I’m on pace to at least DOUBLE my income this year – and it’s simply because my sobriety has allowed me to work much more efficiently at my home business. Or, to put it another way, I no longer have hangovers getting in the way of my making money! Also, I am saving a LOT of money by not wasting it on alcohol, which has allowed me to reduce a great deal of debt in other areas of my life.” from Stopdrinkingalcohol.

5. After 100 days, you will feel remarkably free

Rebecca from Sunnysanguinity has blogged 30 discoveries from taking a 100 day break and they are worth a read.

“After spending most of my adult life thinking about drinking (how much I’ve drank, how much I can drink, how much wine is left, when I’ll drink again, why I’m hung over, what will I drink differently next time, why I drank so much and on and on), it is refreshing to stop thinking about it for awhile.”

6. You are really quite fantastic

“I am so happy. It turns out I’m a pretty decent person! I am a nice wife, I am a good friend, I am a (mostly) conscientious employee. I am a fantastic mother.”

Allie Holbrook on Life After Alcohol, after 100 days alcohol free.