I’m still alive.

The booze gods did their best to temp me this week with one of the ultimate drinking opportunities: a snow day. We got a couple inches of nice, powdery snow here in the Oklahoma City area on Friday which was more than enough to cripple most of the state, causing tons of school cancellations and forcing people to either take the day off or work from home. With Kate being a teacher, that meant that the second day of her spring semester was cancelled. While I worked from home on Friday handling client calls and sending many emails about many things, Kate had herself a little party watching TV, cuddling with the dogs, and enjoying delicious beverages like Four Roses Elliot’s Select, Knob Creek 2001, and Whiskey Sours. Once my work day was finished I was ready to dive in and crack some huge stouts before transitioning to some Bourbon or Old Fashioned cocktails.

I had water instead.

Even now as I write this, Kate is off hanging out with some friends at a bottle share in downtown OKC, trying little sips of fancy and rare beers that I long for, yet here I sit on my couch with a cup of green tea. I can only imagine all the amazing things she’s getting to try. Actually that’s not true, I’m sitting here refreshing Untapped so I can see exactly what she’s trying. She just drank a Casey Montmorency. Damn it.

Alright, to be completely honest, this really isn’t that bad. While it’s definitely annoying that I don’t get to partake in things that I enjoy so much, and that I have to explain why I’m only drinking water at dinner with friends, it’s not actually a difficult thing to do. It’s just changing a habit, a beautiful way of life, and this month will be over before I know it.

As I mentioned in the first Dry January post, along with not drinking for a month I’m also making some other lifestyle changes in order to improve my overall health. The drinking thing is just for a 31 days, but the other aspects of this won’t be. I’ve changed my diet. I’m not on a diet, I’ve just given what I eat an overhaul. I’m counting calories, but really just to make sure I get enough. I’m merely replacing what I would normally eat with healthier alternatives. Instead of that bangin’ patty melt from Whataburger, we fried up some tofu and made red curry at home. Instead of a melty chicken quesadilla and a supreme gordita from Taco Bell, we made some shredded chicken tacos with whole wheat tortillas and no cheese. Nothing crazy.

I also plan to get into some kind of gym routine, but I’m not sure what that’s going to look like yet. So far this week I’ve gone on a bike ride, jogged, and rocked some weights. It felt good, and it’ll only get better.

The Dry January thing will just allow me to see results from these other efforts more quickly in hopes that it will focus me on staying motivated, and so far those results have been great. I feel good, I’m sleeping great, I’m actually drinking the amount of water I should in a day, I’m not hungry all day because of some dumb diet, and I’ve lost 7 pounds. 7!

While that pace won’t last long since those first few always fall off the fastest, it gives me great hope that this time I’ll actually stick with this thing.

The trick will be not putting it back on when February 1st hits. Hopefully my greatly reduced alcohol tolerance will help me ease back into things and find a better balance of the booze that I love and my new healthy lifestyle.

Next weekend is Colorado. Wish me luck.

Until next time…