Reasons Wine

The other day I wrote about a super hard situation that Tom and I are going through and how "normally" it would have led us to drink (numb) the night away.

...and it got me thinking of all the reasons I turn to wine on the regular.

Here are some of my "Reasons Wine"...

BORED: I find myself at home alone A LOT and it's not my favorite thing. Two of the kids are away at college, my husband is gone for work quite a bit and my youngest is super social and off with friends most evenings. When I find myself bored I get busy...I clean or watch TV or read and I do it with wine. Wine takes the edge off my boredom.

STRESSED: This year especially has been full of stress. The big kind of stress. The kind of stress that hangs around for awhile. The kind that you can't control. The kind that made me just want to numb. The easiest way for me to "forget" about the stress was glasses of wine.

HAPPY: I LOVE to be happy, as one does, and wine is my happy drink of choice. I'd always thought that the wine would elevate my already happy mood.

CELEBRATE: Job promotion, new client, kid makes the bball team, parents are in town for the week...any and all celebrations have turned into a reason to bust out the wine.

MAD: Someone pisses me off, I get a rude comment on social, the kids do something wrong triggers my rage and I turn to wine to drown out the anger.

ROUTINE: It's just what I do. As I start to make dinner I pop the cork and pour my first glass...and keep the bottle nearby as we eat dinner and relax for the evening.

PEER: The peeps I kick it with drink...and as we know we are more likely to do what our friends do. So I have wine whenever we hang out.

EXPERIENCES: So many experiences that we do include alcohol. Every summer we take the boat out to the lake multiple times a week. I love to and the kids like to tube. We make sure we have a cooler of beer stalked for the trip. Beer and Boating just (seem to) go together.

What I'm realizing is that I've literally made EVERY emotion or situation a reason to have wine...which means drinking on the daily.

And I know better.

Being BORED can lead to creativity.

I have many tools I can use to handle STRESS.

The first glass of wine may increase HAPPINESS but the second surely doesn't.

I can CELEBRATE sober.

When I'm MAD I make better decisions without wine.

It's fun and exciting to find different ROUTINES.

My FRIENDS love me with and without.

I get to have new EXPERIENCES and really experience it all.

What are your "Reasons Wine"?

XO,

Mari