What does mindful drinking mean?

We're not going to tell you you need to stop drinking, we're not even going to bombard you with facts about why it might be right for you to drink less; we can all do a google search and come up with statistics to scare us into a panic attack easily enough but there is some confusion about what mindful drinking actually is.

The number one common misconception about mindful drinking is that we need to meditate our way through as we clump together mindfulness and meditation and to be fair, we often see the two words used together. For those of us who are not familiar with meditation it can put us off considering a mindful drinking approach.

So lets bust that myth.

Mindful drinking is making everyday choices about what, where, why, how much and who we drink with.  It's about making a conscious. decision and taking control of our lives and the relationship alcohol gets to share with us.

For many of us, it's crept in more and more frequently without us really realising and well and truly got it's feet under the table as a regular visitor,  sometimes perhaps more than we would like, maybe even brought round it's slippers and put it's toothbrush in the bathroom!

Being mindful is not about giving up booze forever by any means, it's more about you choosing when alcohol is a part of your life, releasing the habit and putting enjoyment in it's place.

My mindful drinking story isn’t so different from many others.  In my 20’s, how much I drank was very much kerbed by my finances. I had two young children, money was tight.  I went out once a week or less.  

As I headed into my 30’s I was more affluent, had a bit more disposable income, we drank more and worried less about finances.  

As I headed into my 40’s we had a comfortable amount of disposable income.  We definitely drank more and cared less, the financial cost wasn’t considered, especially when we started brewing our own beer and wine the attitude very much became ‘open another bottle’. Friends popped round when they ran out, we always had a full wine rack.
What I didn’t consider was the cost to my health.  Ailments could always be explained away as something else and as like minded individuals me and my friends backed each other up, telling the same stories to ourselves over and over again.  Other than the obvious symptoms of a hangover, alcohol was never suggested as a cause for our niggly pains and illnesses.

Eventually I had to admit that I needed to be more mindful about the choices I was making for myself, my long term health and for the good of my family and other relationships too.

For some, meditation can help with giving you the thinking space, the time out, the clarity and the peace and tranquillity you might need to consider your drinking choices.  It can supplement the process for those that are familiar with it BUT it is absolutely NOT necessary for you to be able to consider mindful drinking as a technique to help with re-framing making new drinking choices so you can improve your health and happiness.

Don't forget you can download our ebook 8 Easy ways to conquer Wine O'Clock for hints and tips.

As always, any questions or comments, give me a shout.  I'd love to hear your opinions and thoughts.

Claire XO