I got this.

This week on Wednesday, April 25, 2018, I am starting my personal "one year booze snooze".

Why in the world would I do such a thing?

I had two defining moments recently. The first one happened about a month ago when I was scrolling through my selfies album on my phone. I noticed picture after picture had me with a drink in my hand, or I was drinking with my husband, my family and my friends. I decided to count the pictures. There were 122! These pictures included vacations, holidays, date nights, girls night out, restaurants, camping, cooking meals, sightseeing, and just hanging out at home. Many of these pictures included my kids. It became obvious to me in that moment that I must REALLY like drinking socially.

Another moment happened when I was spending time with my sister and we were watching our tween girls playing together. They were laughing, joking, smiling and having genuine fun. My sister and I talked about how we remember the days when we could have a great time with our friends without having a sip of alcohol. What- did I do that? We reminisced about our serious party days in college and how that started the expectation that booze must be part our new found "fun". Of course this whole conversation was taking place while the two of us were downing our fancy cocktails.

These two moments, along with many other reasons I am sure I will blog about this year, is why I have decided I want to make a personal lifestyle change. This week on Wednesday I will stop drinking alcohol for 365 days.

This won't be the first time I have tried a lifestyle change. Let's be real...I've gone through periods where I focus on working out, eating healthy, not biting my nails, washing my face each night, making my bed etc... Rarely do my efforts result in a long term lifestyle change. I do well for awhile, then I lose momentum and ultimately I decide that something else is more important. Some people say it takes 21 days to form a habit, some say it takes 30, some say 60. I decided that I needed to focus on ONE thing for an entire year to see if that had a bigger impact on my habits and to have more time to feel and experience any positive or negative effects. I won't lie, I am sure this is going to be damn hard. Harder than any of the other habits I have worked on in the past.

An influential person in my life has introduced me to a few books and tools over the last few years. I am so grateful that she has encouraged me to read and use these books and tools in my personal life and my professional life. I will talk about them and reference them in future blogs because you may find them useful too! A few things I have learned from these tools are:

1. I must first ask myself the question, "Am I willing?" That question demands an answer. My answer right now is YES.

2. Goals need to be specific and measurable with key motivations, actions steps and a reward. I cannot start my 365 days until I clearly define my habit goal in my next post.

3. Accountability is important. This is why I created this blog and Facebook page. I want friends, family, and complete strangers to know that I am taking this journey. They may choose to support me, they may challenge me, and they may even possibly even join me.

4. I know that I am wired to win. I got this. I embrace the uncertainty. I am not my thoughts; I am what I do. I am relentless. I expect nothing and accept everything.

I have 48 hours to ditch the Coors, Kona big wave, Chardonnay, Cabernet and red beer Chiladas.

I got this.