Are you Stumbling on your Sober Curious Journey Because you can’t let go of that 5pm Wine O’Clock Ritual? I get it. It can feel like an integral part of the day. A time of day where we celebrate the opening of the evening. Where we draw a line between work and play. The elegant […]
Are you Stumbling on your Sober Curious Journey Because you can’t let go of that 5pm Wine O’Clock Ritual?
I get it. It can feel like an integral part of the day. A time of day where we celebrate the opening of the evening. Where we draw a line between work and play. The elegant glass, the mellifluous sounds of music as you wind down after work. It’s what keeps us going right?
“I heart Wine O’Clock”
What if I told you that you can still have this in sobriety? Would you believe me?
You see, the reason why wine o’clock can be so special is usually rooted in ceremony. It often has little to do with what is actually in the glass. Yes, alcohol is highly addictive and there are dopamine pathways that cause us to have cravings etc. But these are surprisingly mild when compared to the strong emotional pull we might feel towards that feeling of celebration that comes from the ritual of calling the day closed.
We know this because we often feel relaxed and ‘better’ as soon as we pour our drink or as soon as we take our first sip. Therefore, its not the alcohol that is actually doing anything: according to numerous studies, alcohol takes 10 minutes to take effect:
https://www.healthline.com/health/how-long-does-it-take-for-alcohol-to-kick-in
Therefore, that first 10 minutes of pleasure is created completely by you and how you are viewing the pleasure of the whole ritual.
“Why Wine O’Clock is Still Important to me”
Alcohol-Free Drinks Can Be a Game Changer
This is why:
– Alcohol-Free Drinks create the placebo effect, activating your own inner pharmacy of feel good neurotransmitters (which were always produced by you and never the alcohol).
– They taste great.
– They placate our inner toddler, and allow us to feel a part of the tribe when everyone has a drink in their hand.
It was never the alcohol and always the company
“Why Wine O’Clock is Still Important to me.”
I remember being at a dinner party in Dubai. It was January and 80% of the people at the party were doing Dry January. We were all drinking alcohol free gin. Half-way through the dinner party, one of the guests said to me: “I can’t believe it. It feels like I’m getting on it. I feel amazing and there is no alcohol in my glass.”
To which I replied: “you see- it was never the alcohol.”
Once we remove the feelings of FOMO and placate our inner toddler with an alcohol shaped glass, with the ceremony of ‘shall we all have a drink?’ and ‘go on, I’ll have another’ coupled with the warm atmosphere of friends and banter, we can start to see that we were always giving alcohol way too much credit. It was never the alcohol that was making us feel good. It was the company and the ritual of it all.
“Keep The Ritual, Change the Ingredients”- Janey Lee Grace
“Why Wine O’Clock is Still Important to me.”
This is what led one of my mentors: Janey Lee Grace to coin the phrase: “Keep the ritual, change the ingredients”. When ‘Wine O’Clock’ comes along, this is literally all we need to do! Adopting this approach can be powerful and be the difference between white knuckling it and giving in versus adopting an abundance mindset and really enjoying the whole beautiful process of becoming alcohol-free.
https://imperfectlynatural.com/keep-the-ritual-change-the-ingredients-sober-lockdown/
Want to give it a try? Re-claim Wine O’Clock and build your Alcohol-Free ritual using one of the amazing alcohol-free drinks out there.
There are literally HUNDREDS of amazing alcohol-free options on the market now. Try out one of my UK based affiliate links below:
– Wise bar tender are a real fav of mine having met the owners of this family run business at The Mindful Drinking festival in Brighton:
https://wisebartender.co.uk/?ref=annekareece
And Lyres have literally changed the AF sprits market, making basically anything you could possibly want from AF Aperol Spritz to AF Baileys:
https://coachingbyanneka.co.uk/coaching/
Or, if you would like to get your place locked in on the next round of Sober and SoulFULL then click the below link to learn more about it and to apply for your spot:
https://coachingbyanneka.co.uk/sign-up-for-an-immersive-6-week-course/
