stapsdoes101things | Habit-Forming (Reply)

I woke up with a hangover today. Last night I drank a couple of glasses of red wine. I'd eaten a few liqueur chocolates through the day. Still, if you abstain from alcohol in Lent, a hangover on Easter Monday morning is hardly surprising.

Yes: from 22nd February to 1st April I drank no alcohol; for form's sake I had a small glass of wine at the final meal of the Lent course on 2nd April, and then nothing again until Easter Day, 8th April. (Pro-tip: do this sort of thing during Lent, and nobody assumes it's because you're pregnant.) It was both easier and harder than I expected. I don't drink much in the ordinary way of things; we make a point of not drinking at home unless it's a special occasion, so the crunch point was always going to be the social situations.

And there were plenty of social situations. Over the month of March I went to: a family party, three church meals (and this is the Church of England; forget everything you ever heard about Christians not drinking), the pub with work, the pub with my partner, Maidstone with my mother for a long walk - all situations where I'd usually have a drink or three. The only thing I missed was the church wine-and-discussion evening, being ill or something.

And, while it felt odd not to have a drink in my hand, I coped with the general chit-chat and social awkwardness much better than I expected. I'd always assumed that I needed a bit of alcohol to let my guard down a bit, but actually the party atmosphere does it for me. I also discovered that the way I get tired and grumpy towards the end of a party has nothing to do with what I've drunk: I got tired and grumpy towards the end of my father's 70th birthday party just because I was tired and grumpy.

On the other hand, there were days when I really fancied a pint. So there you go.

Since the beginning of February, I've also been happily taking lunch into work every single day. This never happens, and I'm really impressed. What I do is make up a large batch of soup on Sunday evening, either on the hob or in the slow cooker, and buy a packet of rolls on my way into work on Monday morning. Every day I take a bowlful of soup into work in a plastic tub, and heat it up in the microwave at lunchtime.

Once I'd got away from the idea that it had to be sandwiches, it was easy. I hate making sandwiches. Having to put that much effort in every day? No chance. But reducing the major effort to once a week, and making the minor effort something I do every day, so I can get into a routine, has worked really well.