blue

I drink because I am depressed, I am depressed because I drink. Sound familiar? I used to be on an eternal rollercoaster with my binge-drinking, with euphoric highs of super fun, wild and rambunctious drinking adventures, followed by deep troughs of self-doubt, paranoia, anxiety, self-loathing and ‘The Fear’. I thought my sister Victoria and I invented this term, however, digging deeper, it can be defined as follows:

“The Fear” – The feeling the morning after the night before when you were so scuttered that you can’t remember chunks of the night and have an unnerving sense that you managed to offend at least two of your friends and probably embarrassed yourself while trying to order a kebab from a cash machine.

The Ultimate Irish Slang Guide

For me, the older I got, the worse ‘The Fear’ would become, largely because my memory-loss after drinking had become consistent and significant. My hangovers started to last longer and longer, stretching up to two days, while my wellness days were so few and far between before I hit the booze again that I would become very blue, very often.

Here’s how my week used to look (pre-kids):

• Thursday is the new Friday 🍷
• Friday Night, start the weekend off right 🍸
• Saturday Night, Party Night 💃🏻
• Sunday Blues – Hangover Day 1 😱
• Monday Monday – Hangover Day 2 🫖
• Fresh Faced Tuesday – Wellness Day #1 💪🏻
• Wednesday Hump Day – Wellness Day #2 🤸🏻‍♂️
• Thursday is the new Friday 🍷
• Friday Night, start the weekend off right 🍸
• Saturday Night, Party Night 💃🏻
• and so on…
• and so forth…

More recently, even though I wouldn’t drink so often, I always drank to excess and would wake up after a drinking occasion and need to ask my husband if I ‘did alright’ the night before, checking in with him on who I had offended or how my behavior might have impacted our children or my health.

Thankfully, I have not had an alcoholic drink for 388 days which means I have not had a hangover or ‘The Fear’ in well over a year and I can confidently say that my anxiety, depression, mood swings and overall blues have significantly reduced. The impact on my overall well-being from not drinking alcohol is so holistic not just because of what I have given up but also because of what I have taken up and the non-alcoholic wellness drinks that have replaced the toxic alcoholic drinks I used to survive on. This particular one here contains spirulina which is a potent source of nutrients and known to have antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and brain-protective properties. Sacred Life raw kombucha by GT’s Synergy is made with raw coconut water and silky blue spirulina finished with fresh-pressed ginger. It is absolutely delicious and when topped with sparkling water, creates a cider-like hydrating wellness mocktail which is bright blue in color. Here, I’ve used dusty purple glassware to accentuate the blue and make it extra fancy. These glasses were a birthday gift but these ones here look equally fabulous. The rose-shaped ice cubes are a nice finishing touch.

Enjoy and stay strong!