lesson i learned from a bachelorette party

one of my best friends is getting married, and over the weekend, we had her bachelorette party. compared to others', it was pretty tame and at home. a few people drank, but my best friend and i did not. we were actually both sick but we still wanted to show up for our friend (our friend did NOT want us to stay home sick).

due to the circumstances i was feeling rather run-down and not energetic like usual. it has been almost 2 1/2 months, and for the first time in a while i had that thought.... wouldn't it be nice if i had a few drinks for some energy? it wasn't even an urge, just a thought, which really stressed me out, because i haven't even had the mere thought. i was confused on why it would even cross my mind when i don't want to drink, however, there was not an urge or craving.

after some reflection, i realized that in that moment, what i really wanted was to just feel more energetic, to not feel sick. and in the past, if i had to attend an event but wasn't feeling well, i would just drink drink drink in order to feel better and put on that image of always being high energy. what i really needed was rest, not alcohol. but that was what my brain went to, because that's what i used to do.

if you have the thought, ask yourself in that moment, what you REALLY need. what might you have been using alcohol to achieve in the past? this can prevent it from even turning into a craving, as well as prevent beating yourself up for old thought patterns resurfacing.