For those of you who have seen the odd #101tokens hashtag on the social medias and are wondering what the kids are up to these days or for those of you who have been out with me recently to find out that I'm not drinking and first wondered if I'm pregnant and secondly wondered what game I'm up to please let me explain. Or for those of you who have no idea what I'm talking about do read on.......
Inspired by the 2016 efforts of a guy I'd met in South America 6 years ago I decided to embark on his crazy new year challenge, 101 beer tokens.
Rules are simple:
1. From 1st January – 31st December (365 days) we have 101 Beer Tokens. That's just under two tokens per week.
2. One sip of anything alcoholic uses a token.
3. A whole night out with many drinks also ONLY uses one token.
4. If a night out goes through and past 7am - that is two tokens.
5. If we go over 101 we have pledged to donate a sum to our favourite charities. We do this via 101 tokens Promise or Pay site.
6. We support each other through the entire year. We are a team to the end.
I've decided to write a blog post for several reasons, firstly Benny blogged about his experiences last year and that was what inspired me to try it out this year. Related to this plenty of people have been asking me about it and showing an interest so I thought this may be off some use. And finally the final motivation to get off my arse and put something together was the simple fact that as the year has gone on it's been getting harder instead of easier to stay the course so I've been thinking of ways to keep motivated.
So to summarise 2017 so far.........
What's been great about 101 Beer tokens:
- My wallet and my waistline are thanking me.
- I've been able to reestablish a routine of yoga and exercise and my mental and physical health thank me.
- Because I'm no longer able to solve feelings of stress and anxiety with a cheeky beer or glass of wine I've had to think a little more about why I'm feeling stressed and what aside from alcohol will help me to chill out after a big day at work etc. An hour's quiet time on the couch with some mind numbing Netflix often does the trick.
What's been shitty about 101 Beer tokens:
- Sometimes you want to just have one drink during the week which is drinking responsibly but you don't want to 'waste a token' and have contemplate going sober at a bigger celebration. Possibly the answer to that is trying going sober at a mate's birthday or other event and see what happens..... am I brave enough? I don't know.
- Having people say "just drink today and don't count it". It's hard enough to try to stick to the rules without other people try to enable you, they come from a loving place but friends please try and be supportive.
- People saying "I could do that easily". Some people who've said that to me could do that and that's wonderful. I'm the first to admit that this experiment isn't for everyone but it's the first thing I've come across that would make a big difference to my life and also be achievable but for me it' still hard work. Then there are other who have said to me that they could do it easily when I'm fairly sure that if they actually analysed their drinking habits they would get a rude shock. For those people I invite them to add up the days you've had a drink for the year it may still be an acceptable amount but it would be over 101.
What I've learned:
While consciously thinking about my drinking I've learned a few very valuable life lessons:
- You can go to the pub with your mates for a drink and or dinner, not drink and still have a good time.
- Being one of the Saturday morning smug joggers is actually pretty nice.
- Despite looking like an absolute weirdo/recovering alcoholic I do get enjoyment out of taking a deep whiff of someone's wine on a taken day off!
- You have to work a little bit harder to organise social events that aren't centered around drinking but when you do they're often just as fulfilling (though nothing ever beats and great loose night out dancing with mates).
- The desperate endless thirst for a beer after a big day at work is not actually endless and if I can get through the first hour once I get home I'm usually OK.
So where am I at now? I just used my 28th token on Friday night for a long overdue night out with the ladies which was tops. Yesterday was a token day off so I nursed my hangover then went to the movies (saw Trainspotting 2 which was fantastic) then had an early night. This meant I woke up today feeling awesome and even managed to sneak in a short run which NEVER used to happen on a Sunday. Later today I'm heading into the city to see a few shows for the comedy festival. Usually this would be a no brainer that a few beers would be involved but now I have to think about whether it's worth the use of a token or not. If I can get though April and be up to around 32-33 token for the year I'm right on track, so far so good. I'm hoping 2017 will be a year of moderation and that I don't have to put myself through a dry month somewhere to catch up. So hopefully tuning in here every now and then helps with my motivation and I can get through this and there's some sort of lasting change going forward whether it's in token form or not.
Inspired by the 2016 efforts of a guy I'd met in South America 6 years ago I decided to embark on his crazy new year challenge, 101 beer tokens.
Rules are simple:
1. From 1st January – 31st December (365 days) we have 101 Beer Tokens. That's just under two tokens per week.
2. One sip of anything alcoholic uses a token.
3. A whole night out with many drinks also ONLY uses one token.
4. If a night out goes through and past 7am - that is two tokens.
5. If we go over 101 we have pledged to donate a sum to our favourite charities. We do this via 101 tokens Promise or Pay site.
6. We support each other through the entire year. We are a team to the end.
I've decided to write a blog post for several reasons, firstly Benny blogged about his experiences last year and that was what inspired me to try it out this year. Related to this plenty of people have been asking me about it and showing an interest so I thought this may be off some use. And finally the final motivation to get off my arse and put something together was the simple fact that as the year has gone on it's been getting harder instead of easier to stay the course so I've been thinking of ways to keep motivated.
So to summarise 2017 so far.........
What's been great about 101 Beer tokens:
- My wallet and my waistline are thanking me.
- I've been able to reestablish a routine of yoga and exercise and my mental and physical health thank me.
- Because I'm no longer able to solve feelings of stress and anxiety with a cheeky beer or glass of wine I've had to think a little more about why I'm feeling stressed and what aside from alcohol will help me to chill out after a big day at work etc. An hour's quiet time on the couch with some mind numbing Netflix often does the trick.
What's been shitty about 101 Beer tokens:
- Sometimes you want to just have one drink during the week which is drinking responsibly but you don't want to 'waste a token' and have contemplate going sober at a bigger celebration. Possibly the answer to that is trying going sober at a mate's birthday or other event and see what happens..... am I brave enough? I don't know.
- Having people say "just drink today and don't count it". It's hard enough to try to stick to the rules without other people try to enable you, they come from a loving place but friends please try and be supportive.
- People saying "I could do that easily". Some people who've said that to me could do that and that's wonderful. I'm the first to admit that this experiment isn't for everyone but it's the first thing I've come across that would make a big difference to my life and also be achievable but for me it' still hard work. Then there are other who have said to me that they could do it easily when I'm fairly sure that if they actually analysed their drinking habits they would get a rude shock. For those people I invite them to add up the days you've had a drink for the year it may still be an acceptable amount but it would be over 101.
What I've learned:
While consciously thinking about my drinking I've learned a few very valuable life lessons:
- You can go to the pub with your mates for a drink and or dinner, not drink and still have a good time.
- Being one of the Saturday morning smug joggers is actually pretty nice.
- Despite looking like an absolute weirdo/recovering alcoholic I do get enjoyment out of taking a deep whiff of someone's wine on a taken day off!
- You have to work a little bit harder to organise social events that aren't centered around drinking but when you do they're often just as fulfilling (though nothing ever beats and great loose night out dancing with mates).
- The desperate endless thirst for a beer after a big day at work is not actually endless and if I can get through the first hour once I get home I'm usually OK.
So where am I at now? I just used my 28th token on Friday night for a long overdue night out with the ladies which was tops. Yesterday was a token day off so I nursed my hangover then went to the movies (saw Trainspotting 2 which was fantastic) then had an early night. This meant I woke up today feeling awesome and even managed to sneak in a short run which NEVER used to happen on a Sunday. Later today I'm heading into the city to see a few shows for the comedy festival. Usually this would be a no brainer that a few beers would be involved but now I have to think about whether it's worth the use of a token or not. If I can get though April and be up to around 32-33 token for the year I'm right on track, so far so good. I'm hoping 2017 will be a year of moderation and that I don't have to put myself through a dry month somewhere to catch up. So hopefully tuning in here every now and then helps with my motivation and I can get through this and there's some sort of lasting change going forward whether it's in token form or not.
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