One Month Challenge: Sober, Week 3

In this new series we will be following a different CollegeCandy writer for a month as she takes on a personal challenge. This month we’re following Lauren from University of Michigan. She’s going sober for the month of February and will be sharing her ups and downs with us each Saturday. Last week she tackled the bar scene sober. Let’s see how she handled week numero 3.

By Lauren

Another week.
Another drinkless week.

And it almost wasn’t that way. On Monday my friend’s parents were in town and took us out to a nice dinner. I was looking at the menu deciding between steak and fish (these decisions are incredibly difficult when all you’ve eaten for the past 3 weeks is Easy Mac and Chili) when the waiter began pouring wine around the table.

I was so excited at the prospect of free alcohol that I completely forgot about Sober February. It wasn’t until the cup of wine was at my lips that I woke up and realized what I was doing. Quickly, I put it down, apologized to my friend’s parents for wasting wine and explained my situation.

They, like everyone else I’ve encountered in the past three weeks, applauded my decision. Even bartenders and waitresses don’t give me crap for going sober. In fact, I’ve inspired four of my friends and the hot bartender I met last weekend to follow suit next month!

And it really hasn’t been that hard. Besides that near miss on Monday, I haven’t even really craved a drink, let alone a sloppy, drunken night. And trust me, that shocks me. Whereas I normally spend my Thursdays counting down the minutes until I can let loose and drink away all that stress (because college is stressful…right?), I’ve actually enjoyed spending this week entirely in.

While my friends went out and partied their faces off last night, I stayed home, cooked myself a deeeelicious stir fry dinner, did some laundry, cheered on my fellow Wolverine Ice Dancers (go blue!) then watched a movie (17 Again…I got it for free On Demand – don’t judge!). I caught up on the stack of magazines sitting on my floor and, obviously, spent a little time perusing Facebook photo albums of the weirdos I knew in high school. It was just the de-stresser I needed, only without the copious amounts of alcohol I usually depend on.

And unlike that first weekend where I felt like I was missing out on whatever was happening in my favorite sweaty basement bar, I didn’t even want to be out. Let’s be honest – all of those drunken nights are the same anyway, so I don’t really need to take part in all of them. That is a revelation I never would have come to had I not completely removed myself from the situation, but one I am so, so, so glad I had. It’s not that my friends pressure me in to doing anything – it’s that I always pressure myself and I end up running my body into the ground. Now that I know I can skip out on a few of the “epic party nights” and be OK with it, well, maybe I’ll spend some more time doing “me” things in the future.

Today I’m gonna take my well-rested self on a much needed Target run. It’s been awhile since I’ve been able to drag myself out of bed on a Saturday and engage in some serious retail therapy. (Normally I get there, feel hungover and leave with a Propel.) And with all this money I’ve saved (at least $30 per week!) by not drinking, I am most definitely going to let loose.

Wooo sobriety! It feels so good I almost don’t want it to end.