Something that I tell my kids is “you are the one who has to live with your choices”. It’s no different for adults with their decision to drink or not. It’s time to accept responsibility for your life and stop pointing fingers to blame everything else and everyone else for poor choices. I say this with love. But tough love - because sometimes that’s exactly what we need and nobody else in our life will say it. There is a reason that you joined this experiment and I encourage you to go back to your reasons. Your ‘why.’ As you decide how you will proceed, really examine your reason ‘why’ and see if your perspective has changed after 30 days.

I also want to discuss guardrails, boundaries, drawing a line in the sand - whatever you wish to call it, but the point is - it’s vital to set up some kind of checks and balances with yourself.

Set rules that you are absolutely NOT willing to break. For example, when I decided to quit, I decided that alcohol had robbed me from too many memories. I was no longer going to allow drinking to rob me of moments I couldn’t get back. Fortunately, since then I haven’t had the desire to drink at all, so I have been fully present for years.

If you choose to return to drinking, get mindful about the things that drinking has taken from you and then set down some solid, non-negotiable guardrails. Maybe you’ll decide that you’ll no longer drink to the point of getting sick. Maybe alcohol has cost you the freedom of driving and you will no longer, under ANY circumstance, get behind the wheel after even one drink. Whatever this means for you, spend some going through what this will look like for you, make the decision, and own it. No more blaming your stressful day, your spouse, your kids, or your co-workers for your poor choices. Your choices are yours. Make me proud and make good ones!