Sober, Sobering

So, it's been rolling around in my mind for a while....niggling, scratching, tickling..... but I haven't wanted to do anything about it.  I like to drink.  Surely, I can cut back, right?

It hit me on Sunday, hard. I wasn't looking for it.  In fact, I was feeling a little smug because I could actually remember all of the party on Saturday night. Couldn't be that bad, right?  I can dial it back when I need to...

Then I saw the review of Ann Dowsett Johnston's book "Drink:  The Intimate Relationship Between Women and Alcohol," and the jig was up.  Here as another woman, talking about "topping off" before a party, or wondering if anyone would notice if she refilled her glass first, or if she took the most.  I saw myself in that description.  The review went on to say that drinking more than three alcoholic beverages three times in a month constituted "binge drinking."

Whoa, I thought.  Three drinks on three occasions in a month?  How about in one week - with more on the weekends? I easily outdid that.  I've always been an overachiever.

So I stopped. Just for that day.  I didn't open the obligatory bottle of wine with dinner. Instead, I bought the book.  Did you know that women who binge drink are four times more likely to have coronary disease - and that their risk of colorectal cancer is highly elevated?  If you don't destroy your liver, or wrap your car around a tree - you have that to look forward to.

So here I am - Day Three - reading blogs, writing things down, trying to wrap my head around my decision to stop drinking.  All I know is that it feels right.  And that niggling, scratching, tickling has stopped.
Wish me luck.

So far, I have found inspiration on these two blogs:
http://tiredofthinkingaboutdrinking.wordpress.com
http://byebyebeer.wordpress.com

I'd love some more suggestions!