As Social Drinks January drew to a close, I started thinking about what, if any, changes I’ll maintain moving forward.

What has been hardest in previous times of alcohol-abstinence has been missing my daily beer. My usual routine is to log off work at 5, grab a beer from the beer fridge, and head upstairs to make dinner. Surprisingly, that part wasn’t so hard this time. Perhaps just the possibility of going out for drinks with friends on the weekend was enough for me to feel like I wasn’t missing out on too much. I had drinks with friends several times during the month, and that was really nice.

Moving forward I might continue to skip that daily dinner-making beer. Outside of the routine, I don’t think it added much to my enjoyment. I can have a drink more intentionally after dinner if I want, and probably enjoy it more. And of course I’ll continue to enjoy grabbing beers with friends.