A Year Without Alcohol: The Second Temptation

I managed the first temptation to abandon my experiment with sobriety by opting out of the situation all together. I was invited to a live concert at a favorite nearby music venue, and though the draw was considerable, I simply chose not to go and instead spend a quiet night at home.

The second temptation afforded me no such option. The 49ers were facing the Chiefs in the Super Bowl and we had a small family gathering planned. Opportunities to get together with my mom and my sister, brother-in-law, and nieces are harder and harder to come by, and the passings of my dad and older sister in the past few years bring an increased appreciation and humility for their genuine rarity.

I was committed to going. I was looking forward to it. 

However, beer and football tend to go hand-in-hand, of course, and that wasn't lost on me.  But, I was surprisingly unencumbered by the thought of it. The absence of even the mildest of after-effects from alcohol have been overwhelmingly relieving and imbue a crisper sense of reality that, though not without its challenges, is a definite step up in quality of life.

It wasn't until Sunday morning Game Day that my confidence in a sober Super Bowl decayed. It came out of nowhere. Like a coiled snake startled into a fight-or-flight response, and slithering away was no option.

I texted a good buddy of mine for reassurance. "I'm committed, but it's not going to be easy to get through the game without cracking a beer," I confessed. It was a realization materializing even as I typed it into my phone.  I had a challenge ahead of me.

Independent of my own foray into sobriety, and for different reasons, he was also on the wagon. 

His response gave me the answer I was looking for: "I bought some NAs just in case."

I'll buy some non-alcholic beer! It seemed a little simple. Maybe too simple, but certainly worth giving a try. If I'm tempted to drink, I'll just fool myself and drink a beer without alcohol.

The coiled snake vanished. Problem solved. Truly. The challenge evaporated and in retrospect, was definitively solved in that instant.

The head games we play with ourselves are flabbergasting. It's such a weird phenomenon to observe. It's just conversations in our head. 

What will I do...?  How will I ever...?  What if....?  What ifn't..."

So there we were on our way to watch the game, and yes, we stopped for beer, and I grabbed a six pack of NAs.

In the end, I didn't even drink them.