Ange Chappel.
Sober curious – I guess that was technically the camp I was in when I decided to overhaul my drinking. I wasn’t focused on the sober part though, more so the curious.
I was curious as to what my life would look like with less alcohol, and if I’m being honest, if I could even successfully achieve a month of actively tracking what I was drinking.
I’d never entertained the thought of one of those promoted dry months before, and I would openly say things like “I’d rather just donate to the charity, why do I have to give up booze to do that”?
The part I wasn’t saying out loud was that I didn’t think I could actually go a full month without alcohol. That thought unnerved me a little, but my drinking was considered ‘normal’ in my circle, so I suppressed it.
That was until I attended a long lunch, which turned into a massive night. It started with a civilised cocktail on arrival and wine with my meal, but escalated to multiple glasses of wine, margaritas at a bar, roadies in the Uber, and a gin and tonic at a friend’s house before calling it a night. The next morning, I woke up with the most overwhelming case of hangxiety I had ever experienced.
The fact was, I didn’t do or say anything particularly wild to justify the overwhelming loop playing in my head, but I was overcome with a desire to change. I had felt the need for change before, so this wasn’t a new feeling but something was different this particular morning. I was resolute – I told myself I will never be hungover again!
How I started tracking my drinking
I started by downloading a mindful drinking app. Having this element of privacy was important to me, as I didn’t want to make a big proclamation to anyone. It was just something I wanted to do at my own pace and in my own way.
Once I started tracking my drinks, I immediately realised I had been grossly underestimating my consumption. I was considering my two margaritas and two glasses of red wine as four drinks. Once I entered them into the standard drinks calculator, I quickly realised they were in fact 9.2 standard drinks! Which, in Australia, is nearly the weekly recommendation polished off in one night.
I used to justify my weekend drinks as balanced (given I didn’t drink mid-week), but I soon realised that my version of ‘balanced’ was actually close to three times over the recommended limit.
The other standout realisation was the way alcohol was making me feel. I’d always consumed it on autopilot, at after-work drinks, Friday nights, birthdays, dinners, it was just what you did. I never really paused to ask myself why I was drinking, or whether I even genuinely wanted to. It was a habit, and it was my default setting.
Once I started tracking my drinking, I also began journalling a few lines each day. I documented what I drank, why I was allocating a drink, and how I felt afterwards. That’s when things started to click.
What I noticed when I paid attention to my drinking habits
I noticed that the nights I drank to ‘wind down’ often left me feeling more anxious the next morning. The social occasions where I drank to feel more connected, I was actually more in my head and less present. And the nights I didn’t drink at all or only had one, I woke up clear, calm, and quietly proud (okay smug, I felt smug!)
That little pause, that question of ‘do I actually want this?’ started to change everything – not overnight, but gradually. I wasn’t just reaching for a drink because it was there, I was becoming more conscious of my choices.
I was hoping for blissful sleep and clearer skin but unfortunately, that didn’t seem to be the case for me inside those four weeks. I kept waiting for the glow-up I’d heard so much about – the radiant complexion, the deep, uninterrupted sleep, but for me, those benefits didn’t arrive on schedule.
What I did notice, though, was something quieter but still significant: I wasn’t waking up with that gnawing sense of regret. My mind felt less foggy, my mood was more stable, and I had far fewer moments of overthinking what I said or did the night before.
It wasn’t a dramatic transformation, but it was a start. And it reminded me that some of the biggest shifts happen internally.
Getting honest with myself
On week four I thought tracking might be unnecessary and went to a farewell party without a plan – no allocated drinks, no journal note, nothing. Just a ‘see how it goes’ kind of night. Spoiler: it didn’t go great.
Without even realising it, I slipped straight back into old habits. The next morning, I couldn’t actually remember how many drinks I’d had, and I felt off. Not just physically, but mentally. That familiar wave of ‘why did I do that?’ crept back in.
It was a reminder that the act of tracking wasn’t about being strict or perfect, it was about staying mindful. Having a plan, even a loose one, had made all the difference in how I felt the next day. Without it, I was straight back to autopilot.
For anyone thinking about drinking less and wondering if this might be for them, I’d say don’t overthink it, just start.
You don’t need to have a big ‘why’ or a rock-bottom moment. You don’t need to declare anything to the world. You don’t even need to know what you’re hoping to find. Just start!
For me, tracking my drinking wasn’t about cutting out alcohol completely, it was about getting honest with myself. It was about identifying the patterns, the triggers and the moments where I was drinking out of habit instead of choice. Once I had that clarity, everything shifted. Not overnight, but enough to feel like I wanted to continue this experiment for more than just four weeks.
You don’t have to go all in. You don’t have to do it perfectly. But if something inside you is wondering ‘what if I drank a little less?’, that’s probably reason enough to give it a go.
