6th Day Sober

I have been hesitant to use the word "sober." It sounds so official, like admitting there's a problem. The question of whether there's a problem is not a simple one, so I'm not worrying about answering that question right now. Right now, I'm sticking to a commitment I have made to myself: I'm not drinking any alcohol throughout the month of July. I'm just not doing it, and I'll see how it feels. I'll see how it feels dealing with stress, kids, family, friends, work, eating, sleeping, exercising, and hopefully losing weight.

Sofar, a few things I've been doing instead of having a drink:

1. Let's be honest: watching tv. :) 
2. Drinking amazing tea that a supportive friend gave to me.
3. Working out - just one official workout sofar, but that in itself is a change for me.
4. Sleeping well - for some reason, drinking usually leads to sleepless nights for me.
5. Taking an epic Lush-inspired bath

I want to elaborate on this bath thing, without getting too personal. First of all, I'm talking a totally self-platonic bath. And I mean that exactly, because I just looked up "platonic" for clarification, and Google says:

So, my bath was intimate and affectionate, but not sexual. I took the bath because I was stressed out (from going to see the blubberingly sad Inside Out, on top of watching a thought-provoking PBS documentary on transgender kids), and slightly depressed about my kids growing older so quickly. Instead of staying in my funk or having a drink, I admitted that I needed some time to myself, and remembered that I had some wicked-awesome Lush bath bombs that had been waiting patiently for me on the top shelf in my bathroom for just such an occasion. 

Granny Takes a Dip is the one I chose, and it was lovely. It wasn't my favorite--it didn't surprise me with rose petals or encouraging messages written on linen paper, but it was PURPLE! I didn't know it would make the water purple, but in retrospect, pink + blue + green... Turns out, the Lush bath bomb experience was exactly what I needed. The smells, the color, the delightful fizz sound, the ultra-softening of the water (thank you, CaCO₃). After enjoying all this for awhile, I decided to talk to all my amazing body parts that work so hard for me. I touched my foot, noticed that it was beautiful, and thanked it for carrying me around so expertly for so long. Then I touched the scratches on my calves and thanked them for helping me to have an awesome day outside with my boys this past weekend. And so on. 

All of us who have bodies that have functioned beautifully our whole lives, who have never had to sit in a wheelchair, who's arms and legs all bend exactly as they were meant to, who's nervous systems always send exactly the correct signals so that we can move and breathe exactly as needed... we should be thankful every day for that. We should treat our bodies with respect, not only by giving them what they need to grow and keep doing a kick-ass job for us, but by looking directly at them every once in awhile and just being grateful.

(I know we don't all have bodies that have always done what we expected them to be able to do, but today I'm focusing on this aspect. I have a blog post in mind for what it's like when your body lets you down. I'll try to do that one soon.)

It was a nice bath. And I felt amazing afterwards, both physically and emotionally. And now I'm on my sixth sober day.