What you gain
I’ve noticed that when you tell people that you’ve given up alcoholic beverages for Lent they become defensive. But I have to say that it is very nice to get on the scale this morning and have lost one pound without having changed much else about my lifestyle. Also, I’m sleeping pretty good through the night as sometimes a glass of red wine has the same effect as a cup of coffee for me. Let’s face it, I just overall feel better without having my usual wine or champagne on the weekend, and the occasional wine during the week. I have more energy and more wits about me.
Now I’m not advocating a life of no wine – god no – that I would never propose, but it’s nice sometimes to take a breather from a routine and see what it is like on the other side. As I age, my body tolerates less and less, but it takes me while to register just what it doesn’t like. Well it doesn’t like carbs that come from bread, it doesn’t like red wine without a solid meal accompanying it on the way down, it doesn’t like prolonged days of spirits like vodka as it bloats up my face, it doesn’t like when I don’t stretch and exercise and it hates when I do too much, it doesn’t like when I don’t start my day with a walk, and it doesn’t like when I sit in front of my computer for ten hours.
But what it does like is feeling good and so it’s constantly adjusting this or that to make it all work in harmony. And in the end I gain from these adjustments by reducing the aches and pains associated with aging.