Beer, I was raised with it. Growing up on the countryside you started to drink beer from a relatively young age. So since I was about 15 years old I have been drinking at least one bottle/glass of beer every month. At least once but most of the times a lot more. I wouldn't call myself an alcoholic but more of a beer lover. Now I am nearing 26 and I have been thinking if I could even do without. So I came up with a challange, 1 Month without a drop of beer, alcohol and soda.
The reasons I want to do it.
- As said in the introduction, purely to see if I can
- Get something off my beer belly
- Improve my stamina
- To see if I can withstand the social pressure
Social pressure
And in the social pressure lies my biggest challenge. It is very easy to grab a beer when all of your friends do. It is the feeling of a “gezellige” evening (gezellig is a dutch word that translate that you have a good and fun time somewhere). You drink a beer, have a few laughs and having something to retreat to. I hang out with my friends a lot and everybody drinks beer. Everybody that is except me.
I am halfway through the challenge now and it goes pretty well. I have not had a single drop of alcohol. Last thursday I had my first football training and my stamina did not disappoint. I even reduced my beer belly a little bit. But those 2 weeks were not easy, this is what I had to overcome.
Challenges I have overcome
- A wedding of my mate, drank water
- Chillaxing at my friends house playing call of duty and FIFA, again I drank water.
- Board game night at an other friend, water is becoming my drink
- Not having a beer while having a nice dinner, had orange juice instead.
- No friday afternoon beer at work
- Saying no to a night of clubbing.
- Having a water at my favorite Pub, here they even said I shouldn’t do it
- Being called crazy by my friends and colleagues.
As you see there are quite a few occasions every week that I drank a beer. As far as i am concerned so far so good and we shall see what the next 2 weeks will bring me.
Right now I am heading to my football team, ADO Den Haag, to see what they are up to. What shall I dink? I guess it will just be coffee.
that would be easy. But if you would say to me I have to stay one day without coffee...
Haha yes coffee is the power drink! At my office job coffee also is the working fluid.
Excellent
Nice, it's a good thing to challenge yourself once in a while. Great job on withstanding the peer pressure, it's definitely the hardest part.
I quit drinking myself last April (on Koningsdag) and I've noticed the same things. Going to a restaurant with my girlfriend and ordering a Coke isn't so bad, but going out in pub night with my colleagues (who drink a lot) can be pretty challenging.
Good luck on the next two weeks, you can do it :)
Oh by the way, if you use the #teamnl tag you might get some extra exposure! There's a bunch of us looking out for each other.
Ah cool, thanks for the reply :)
Good luck with this :)
Thank you :) I will write another blog in 2 weeks. Please follow to be updated.
I do it during Lent just to check if I have a problem. Good luck!
I want to know more, do you know i am your follower @ronaldmcatee