Monday, January 27, 2014

Sober Day #90: Neuroplasticity and Alcohol, Again

I went to a small, last minute dinner gathering last night.  A kind friend who knows about me doing the 100 day challenge brought (non-alcoholic) ginger beer for me.  As I sat sipping it, she later asked me discretely if it was difficult for me, gesturing to the wine glasses the others were drinking from.  I answered, "Oh, no!"-  and really meant it.  It did not bother me to see others drinking wine at the table, or even to smell the wine.  (Of course they were drinking red, and my personal demon is more of a white wine kinda guy, lol!).

Thinking about it this morning, I am astounded that it really was not hard.  What a transformation in my experience!  Four months ago, if you'd mentioned someone doing what I did, I would have pictured them taking deep breaths, chewing on their fingernails and generally being miserable.  Ha!

So once again I am learning;  Not only about the great neuroplasticity of human brains, but also how quickly some of these changes can take place.  How very encouraging for the next set, and the next, of changes I am intending to explore!


8 comments:

  1. The wondorous power of our brains :)

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  2. I've been reading lots about habits and brain plasticity lately, too. It's starting to make sense to me. Deciding to do something has only a small amount of power, but making it a daily practice gives the decision the strength it needs to stick, and with that, you actually make changes in yourself. So it's not really a big dose of willpower that's driving the change, but more like small, incremental habitual changes. I hope that makes some sense. Anyway, it's really neat to see how that's playing out for you. Congrats on day 90!

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    1. That's it exactly! The baby steps eventually add up to huge changes- but we don't have to tackle the big steps all at once- which would seem impossibly hard to me. I just have to focus on today, and possibly tomorrow. The astounding power of baby steps, repeated and repeated! Just for today...

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  3. Instead of counting up, we're counting down!!!!! You've done great - here's to more of the same :)

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    1. I have to admit I'm a little nervous. I'd put these 100 days more or less on autopilot- and soon I - and you- will have to make more decisions.

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  4. I experience the same thing in my body when I do a daily yoga practice. Little by little my body gets stronger and more flexible -- and then one day I find myself holding up strong in a posture that used to totally kill me, and I'm thinking "hey, check me out!" Not very yogic, I know, but you know what I mean. Little changes, consistently practiced = huge changes in the long run.

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    1. You nailed it again! Yoga is a perfect parallel. For me, my passion is weight-lifting. And the same things happens. The encouraging/scary take-away is that all those minute decisions I make every day? They matter! They add up to defining our lives, more than the big, life-changing decisions we agonize over. And yoga? I think I've gotta try it!

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I'd love to hear about your journey, and hear your take on my journey. Comments are very welcome!!