No alcohol, no sugar, nothing at all

The 'de-wine' is about to start again! For the second time I participate in IkPas. At the time of writing this, I have not yet started: it is not yet January 1, 2021. Yet I have already put myself mentally on edge. Last year I shot quite a bit in terms of wines at Christmas, this year I kept it very modest in December. Last year I learned that the more you drink in December, the harder you make it for yourself to get through the first week of IkPas. Followed a webinar by devine coach Jacqueline van Lieshout this morning. Last year I discovered this inspiring woman through her free webinars and her book 'Untwine'. I thought that word was hilarious at the time. How to disappear? What's wrong with a nice glass of wine a day? I'm not an alcoholic am I? Jacqueline came up with sobering information that we wine lovers would rather not hear. For example, that small amounts of alcohol already increase the risk of breast and colon cancer, that you sleep much less deeply and that it does not do your immune system any good. While it is so important in this coronat time to raise or keep your resistance up!

Fortunately, other benefits of not drinking were also brought to the table this morning: the feeling of freedom that you experience without drinking, for example. I experienced that myself after half a year alcohol-free after the IkPas month in 2020. Jacqueline's latest book, 'The genie from the bottle' is about the why of drinking alcohol. I can't wait to read it. Because why did I go for the ax after 165 days of not drinking with all its benefits? The first month was super difficult for me. My sleep did not recover so easily, and the longing for a good glass of red wine was still great. I also didn't lose an ounce. But gradually I started to feel much better: happy as a child, rested and freer. I also got better at not drinking. Unfortunately – on a terrace, on a beautiful sunny spring day – it suddenly seemed like a good idea to drink a cool glass of Chardonnay. Would it still taste? Ridiculous idea, I think. Why 'try' again when alcohol-free was so good? Yet I did not immediately become weak in the knees the next day, but a month later. The number of occasions on which I thought a glass would fit, gradually increased again and the best thing was: I noticed that I was looking for opportunities myself or even created them.

Although I was nowhere near the number of wines from last year, I was very disappointed with myself: I had come this far! I wanted to end it again, because I noticed that I was getting further and further down the wrong path. My first step: I immediately signed up for IkPas again. A nice step towards a perhaps radical wine reset, that's how I see the month of January that is just around the corner. I'm going to take it step by step again. That means looking the challenge straight in the face every day. The steps are then small and that is a lot easier than looking up to a mountain whose top is very far away. Who knows, maybe next year I won't have to participate in IkPas anymore, because I've passed an entire year without alcohol and not drinking is no longer an issue for me. How beautiful would that be! For the first IkPas week I will not only stop with wine, but also with sugar-free soft drinks. Which I've embraced as a replacement and I actually drink a lot of it. I have noticed that I still maintain my enormous sugar need, eat a lot of chocolate and logically do not waste. By eliminating these empty sugars, I hope to lose some weight. Good luck fellow Ik Passers with the first week!