“One day at a time and I AM HAPPY” – Eva Einarsdottir

“I thought I had a wine habit. Turns out, I had a life waiting underneath it.”

From “wine girl” to habit change

It started with a Facebook ad.Some group called OYNB kept popping up in my feed. I brushed it off at first – I didn’t drink beer, I was a “wine girl”. But one word in the headline wouldn’t let me go:

Habits.

I’d already spent the last year trying to build healthier habits, so I clicked. I read. And I signed up for a 28-Day Challenge to finally do something about my nightly “wine o’clock”.

When “girls’ night” becomes every night

I never labelled my drinking as a problem.Everyone has a drink to unwind, right?

But when I look back, the pattern is obvious:

• After trauma and living in constant fight/flight, alcohol became my escape route.

• “Flight” meant opening a bottle of wine so I didn’t have to feel.

• It became the only time my ex and I would “talk”.

Then came girls’ nights:

• First once a week on my best friend’s back deck – wine, cheese, venting, tears.

• Then twice a week. Then three.

• Eventually the girls didn’t even need to be there – I was opening the bottle anyway.

I was a single working mum, running my own business, dealing with an ex who was an alcoholic with bipolar, trying to hold everything together for my 7- and 11-year-old.

I told myself I deserved that wine.Underneath, I was:

• exhausted

• overweight

• constantly tired

• in debt

• lying to everyone – especially myself

Saying yes to a different kind of challenge

When I finally signed up to One Year No Beer, my expectations were low.All I hoped for was a break from what had quietly become a daily, destructive, expensive habit.

What I got instead was:

• a tribe of people from all over the world who “got it”

• a framework that helped me see my behaviour clearly

• the realisation that…

I don’t even like the taste of alcohol.

I haven’t had a drop since June 17, 2019.

What changed when the wine went

Since starting my alcohol-free challenge:

• I’ve set a huge fitness goal and committed to a full year AF.

• I feel vibrant, healthy, patient and grounded.

• I hike every day and my body is getting stronger.

• My resistance to daily meditation is shrinking.

• I’m dropping weight and fitting into clothes I was about to give away.

• I’m sleeping well, eating nourishing food and building friendships based on lifting each other up, not drinking each other under the table.

One of my biggest whys was money:I wanted to become debt free.Without wine, I’m already seeing real movement towards that goal.

Life hasn’t magically turned into a rose-petal-strewn path. Hard things still happen. But now I meet them with a clear head and a different belief:

I’ve got this. I can handle life without falling apart.

One day at a time…

And I am happy.