Alcohol was hiding a whole side of me

It could be doing the same to you

Photo by Alex Iby on Unsplash

An alcohol free life has given me a lot

I used to believe that alcohol gave me a lot.

It made me relax, gave conversations a free flowing ridiculousness to them. However, that was a temporary lure.

I lost hours. I lost them to shopping, trips to the toilet and the head banging recovery period when alcohol packed its bags in the morning.

When this time loss started eating into more than the fun part of drinking I decided it was time for change. What could I gain from not drinking?

I decided to experiment.

Oh and boy oh boy, my brain rewarded me tenfold.

Your brain has hidden superpowers

Photo by Esteban Lopez on Unsplash

They say you lose it if you don’t use it.

Well they weren’t kidding.

When I stopped drinking I had a lot of spare time on my hands. So, not wanting to dwell in existential crisis I picked up some old hobbies instead.

These hobbies happened to give me a lot more down time with my brain so when it came to facing an issue I started hearing this old familiar voice.

Mr. Creative was back in town.

Stop buying all your solutions

I remember Mr. Creative. You might remember him too, most likely from when you were a kid.

Mr. Creative would come up with imaginary characters or lands. Dream jobs and question every thing they could think to ask.

I would never have pinned myself as creative but when Mr. Creative came back I realized alcohol had been killing this fantastic part of me.

I’m not talking about fantastic solutions to solve world hunger or an idea for the next best novel. I’m talking about simple stuff like below:

Cable storage solution

Hooks in the side of an Ikea cabinet meant we could see what cables we had and where they were

Shaky webcam solution

The webcam was prone to shaking while balanced on my monitor, so this solution was birthed (also rental friendly, no drilling)

Some tape and a washer (you can just about see under the tape) as a weight to work as a privacy flap

(I also hang all my bras from a coat hanger so I can see them all at once but I’m not uploading a picture of that).

Credit to my partner who is much more handier than me and put these solutions into practice and kept perfecting them.

This is just the start. The brain is so much like a muscle, maybe I will come up with an idea for the next best novel!

Be excited about your brain

Photo by R.D. Smith on Unsplash

We can use alcohol, cigarettes and other external substances to excite us but I think too often this leaves the excitable, curious, child-like version of us in a fog.

Try letting your brain breathe and you might be pleasantly surprised by the ideas, solutions or jokes it comes up with in a quieter frame of mind.

Takeaway

I think life should be an experiment. Never stop trying different things because you might just find it fits you better than what you’re doing now.

Throw alcohol to the sidelines and give your brain the space to flex.

Let me know what your brain surprises you with.

Welcome back Mr. Creative.