IF YOU’RE GOING TO DRINK THIS THANKSGIVING, TRY THIS!

I don’t know about you but I’ve spent my entire life beating myself up for how much food I ate on Thanksgiving, but not giving one single thought to the drinks. Although I’m not exactly talking about calories here… If you’re going to drink today on Thanksgiving, cool, that’s totally your choice and you’re never going to get judgement from me. Just try to do it a little differently this year and think about how it’s affecting you. Even this year, sober, I’ve already spoken to my nutrition coach about how to ensure I have a healthy week but still get to enjoy pumpkin pie! I wish I had put that much time and effort into thinking about my drinks, and how they were affecting my body.  

So here’s your challenge from me this Thanksgiving: 

1. Write down what you’re going to drink and more importantly, why. What are you drinking to achieve? Relaxation? To easy anxiety from family stress? To escape that annoying relative who only wants to talk politics and your parenting? . Are you drinking just because you associate it with the holiday and always have? Because you’re nervous to say no? Because you have no other options?! Get curious! If this is the first time you are doing this, it’s going to be an awesome exercise for you.  

2. If you can, take mental notes about the evening and how you feel throughout. The average woman gets about 20-30 mins of a euphoric feeling from a drink (caused my dopamine release), but after that your body tries to counteract the brain response, and so you end up chasing the 20 minute “high” the rest of the night. Did this happen to you? Could you tell it was happening to others around you? Did you feel great at first but then anxious? Tired but jittery? How’d the night play out for you? Were you able to have real meaningful conversations with your family and friends throughout the entire evening or just the beginning?  

3. The next day. How are you feeling? How did the night go? Did you say anything you wish you hadn’t? Did the kids notice any behaviour you wish they hadn’t seen? Again no judgement here, I just think it’s important to notice and make note. Are you extra tired? Grumpy with the family? Or do you wake up feeling energised, grateful and ready to put up the Christmas tree with the kids?  Now the important part- Go back the reasons you wrote down before dinner about why you were drinking. Did any of them get accomplished? If you wrote down that you wanted to ease your anxiety- how did that play out? How are you feeling now?  

We’re all adults here and as women I just want to empower all of us to start thinking about our drinking behaviour. If it all sits well with you, cool. If not, are there things you are surprised by!? Had never thought of before? I’m just asking us to put a little time and effort into thinking about our drinking- after all, we think SO much about the food, exercise and everything else we do and put into our bodies. We should do the same with alcohol.  

I had a lot of shockers when I examined my behaviour, when I took the time to think about why I was drinking. I realised it didn’t actually help with connection or anxiety. It did the opposite for me. It made me feel anxious, disconnected and then awful the next day. The amazing news is, you have the power to make the decision about how you want to feel!!!  

Be mindful this Thanksgiving and if you want to talk about your discoveries feel free to book a discovery call and we can chat through it together.