I never wanted to be a Mocktail Mom

I never wanted to be a Mocktail Mom. That sounded boring. And if I’m being honest, I would have been weirded out a few years back if someone told me they didn’t drink. How could you not drink alcohol? It’s so normalized. Mommy wine nights with the girls while leaving your husband and kids at home. If someone wasn’t drinking, it was because they were pregnant or nursing.

I considered myself a normal drinker. I enjoyed having a couple glasses of wine in the evenings to unwind after a long day. It was a way to relax and temporarily escape the stress of work and life. It never occurred to me that I might be using alcohol as a crutch to cope with daily struggles.

Here’s the thing – you don’t realize how much alcohol is taking from you until you take a break. It wasn’t until I decided to cut back on my drinking that I truly understood the impact it was having on my life. I started to notice that I was relying on alcohol more and more to deal with the challenges I was facing.

If you think I’m crazy for giving up alcohol and are defending your own drinking habits, that’s okay. I would have done the same thing not too long ago. It’s hard to imagine life without alcohol when it has become such a central part of our social interactions and relaxation routines. But, for me, it was a necessary step towards reclaiming my mental and physical health.

Alcohol is powerful. It has the ability to mask our emotions and dull our senses, making it easier to avoid facing difficult truths about ourselves and our lives. But it also has a darker side – it can lead to dependency, addiction, and a host of negative health consequences. I realized that I didn’t want to be controlled by something that was ultimately harming me more than it was helping me.

I don’t need alcohol anymore. I have learned to balance the stress of work, kids, life without relying on a drink to get me through the day. My evenings are now spent sipping on a delicious mocktail – diet ginger beer soda with a splash of sugar-free pink lemonade. It’s refreshing, satisfying, and doesn’t give me the wine belly I used to have. I never thought I would be the type of person to enjoy a mocktail, but I love every minute of it.

Being a mocktail mom isn’t boring – it’s liberating. It’s a choice to prioritize my health and well-being over societal norms and expectations. It’s a decision to live authentically and embrace sobriety as a path to self-discovery and growth. I no longer feel the need to conform to a culture that glorifies alcohol consumption as a way to relax and have fun. I have found joy and fulfillment in the simple pleasures of life – in meaningful connections, in moments of peace and clarity, in the journey of self-improvement.

So, if you’re still on the fence about giving up alcohol, I encourage you to take a closer look at your relationship with drinking. Ask yourself if it’s truly enhancing your life or if it’s holding you back from reaching your full potential. Consider the possibility of embracing sobriety as a way to reclaim your power and live a more authentic, fulfilling life. You may be surprised by how much you gain by letting go of something that was holding you back.