Sober? Curious.
My journey to sober(ish)
A couple of weeks ago, I decided to detox for Reasons. I stopped drinking alcohol, and stopped taking the gummies I was taking to help me sleep. (I had been alternating between 5 mg THC gummies and CBD/CBN gummies, 25 mg/10 mg.)
I am not giving up caffeine, don’t even suggest it.
Am I excited about the results of my detox? I am not. And I have a lot of questions about alcohol-free living, and sobriety in general. Let’s get into it.
Practical-tee-total
First off, let’s establish that I am not an alcoholic. (Probably.) I have struggled with dependency on alcohol, and I have also had periods of over-indulging (pandemic, anyone?). I kicked off this year with dry(ish) January, and it did me a world of good. I have cut my drinking by about 70 percent.
I do not intend to completely stop drinking alcohol for one simple reason: I like the taste. I enjoy a craft beer with a veggie burger. A good glass of wine elevates a meal. And a well-made cocktail is a thing of delicious beauty. However, since my frequency and amount of alcohol has dropped, so, accordingly, has my tolerance.
Also, while I don’t drink to get buzzed, I do recognize that an alcoholic beverage does provide a certain social lubrication in situations where an introvert like myself could use it.
TH-C U L8R
I’m a terrible sleeper. Always have been, at least as an adult. Anxiety means my thoughts are spinning (medication helps with this); perimenopause means hot flushes and insomnia are par for the course (different medication helps with this); and I’m a light sleeper (my husband using a CPAP and losing weight has helped with this — less loud snoring).
When certain forms of THC and CBD became legal and over-the-counter (as it were) in my state, I experimented. CBD tinctures and gummies helped, and THC gummies really helped. A nightly 5mg Delta 8 or Delta 9 gummy helped me fall asleep easily, and even when I woke up, they helped me fall back to sleep.
Unfortunately, due to the nature of my work, sometimes I need to get (and pass) a drug test. And so I have to quit taking my gummies, and just suffer. It’s not a good time.
However, cutting back on alcohol, balancing my hormones, and vitamin D supplements have also helped improve my sleep, though not as consistently as a gummy. Finally, for the record, I do notice that I sleep better on days when I exercise.
Alcohol alternatives
I am curious about alcohol alternatives that claim to give you a relaxed, buzzy feeling, but don’t give you a hangover (although not curious enough to spend a lot of money on them). And one of the questions I have for people who do drink these because they don’t drink alcohol is: Why?
This is a no-judgement zone, so if you tell me you drink THC seltzers because you like the buzz and the taste, that’s fine. If you abstain from alcohol, and instead drink an alternative with adaptogens (I’m not 100 percent sure what adaptogens are) or ashwagandha, I will wonder about it. It seems to me that it’s just switching one kind of substance for another. (Which again is fine, but why choose to get buzzed at all?)
To be fair, I don’t really like being completely alcohol and THC free. It’s been hell on my ability to sleep, even though other things have helped me. And, of course, there’s always coffee. As I quipped to friends recently, “Who needs sleep when there’s coffee?” It’s even been more difficult to unwind at night; maybe some ashwagandha tea would be a good substitute for a nightcap, I don’t know.
My goal vis-a-vis alcohol for now is to abstain more nights than I drink, and when I drink, to only drink one drink. I am consistently hitting that goal.
So, if you drink, don’t drink, drink or consume other relaxing substances, do you think about this stuff? What has worked for you? What would you suggest, and why?
