Howdy strangers!

My apologies if you’ve been wondering what the hell happened to Dipsomaniac Ben but since finishing my year of living sober I’ve been living life large. My silly season drinking didn’t get out of hand or anything but I have been enjoying drinking alcohol again. Very much! In fact my wife reckons I might be in a ‘Honeymoon’ period of enjoying booze during the holidays, especially since it’s summer down under at the mo’. And yes, beer sure tastes good when it’s hot outside!

But something else besides my re-acquaintance with alcohol has happened to me post-YOLS. I’ve been overcome by total focus on my new project, something I’ve named my ‘Year of Comedy’!

If Year of Living Sober taught me anything—apart from simply the comforting knowledge I could go a whole year without a single alcoholic drink—it was that good things come when you focus. Making a simple decision (to abstain from booze for a year) and sticking to it helped me become a better blogger (and perhaps writer in general) and it helped me appreciate something about myself I maybe hadn’t valued enough before: when I set my mind on something I get it done.

Now my mind is set on doing something I have always dreamt of but never had the nerve to try. No, not a triple-loop roller-coaster (done that) but something else with twists, tight turns, dips, dives and climbs towards the giddy heights: stand-up comedy.

Though I have acted on-and-off since I was a teenager, and though I have performed on many stages around the world as a singer-songwriter I have never done the one thing that scares me (or used to) most. To stand on a stage and make people laugh. It sounds simple but since most people are less afraid of death than public speaking, maybe I’m not alone in having felt trepidation at the thought of going mono-a-mono with a comedy club crowd.

But now I am ready. And maybe my year of living sober helped get me there.

Since celebrating my YOLS completion with a beer (or two) and putting together The Little Booze Joke Book (featuring the best Little Booze Jokes from this blog) then doing a radio interview with a Canadian Radio Station (DNTO on CBC radio) I’ve been flat out writing material for my comedy debut. I’ve been standing in my study delivering gag after gag to my nonplussed pussy (not a Benny Hill joke about my wife but rather a reference to our cat) and I’ve booked myself in for an open-mic slot at a Melbourne comedy club.

The future looks bright. Fun, exciting, challenging and bright. I am literally counting down the days to my first stand-up gig ever.

But that is my future, what of my past? Has my drinking habit returned the same as it was before my YOLS or am I drinking less now than before or more?

Truth is it’s not an easy answer.

Since returning to drinking I have had nights when I’ve drunk more than the two stubbies of beer and a bottle of wine I was drinking regularly pre-YOLS and nights when I have drunk less. A few times I’ve left bottles of wine unfinished (though they don’t last more than two days!) and a few times I’ve gone to bed worried there has been no change in my fondness for getting a bit more sloshed than might be good for me.

But here’s the big thing that’s changed: I’m okay with all of it. I feel good that I accomplished my goal of going a year without a drink and though I might have returned pretty much to my pre-YOLS drinking patterns that’s as it is. I am what I am.

As I have said many times in the last year “I am a dipsomaniac”.

But I’m also a lot more. I’m a husband and father; I’m a writer, a musician, an actor and soon to be stand-up comedian. For a year I was a non-drinking dipsomaniac and now I am a drinking one again.

Cool.

Would part of me have liked to come back here and blogged about how I have lost my taste for liquor and have no need to get a bit tipsy anymore? Sure. But that part is just a bit of a show off, I reckon. That part chooses to forget that my main goal for Year of Living Sober was to see if I could do it. And I did. It’s done.

Despite having many ideas for more posts about the life/booze balance, I have decided to put all my focus on my comedy. This YOLS blog has been my most successful since I started blogging a few years ago and I am going to take what I learned and apply it to my Year of Comedy blog at www.bgmitchell.com.

Do drop by. I’d love to share that journey with you too!

Cheers,

Ben

PS. For a limited time I’m making The Little Booze Joke Book available from Amazon for FREE. You can download your copy from January 1st 2013 until the 5th (inclusive). Hope you get a laugh or two and maybe find some jokes you missed reading on the blog.

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Year Of Living Sober - When a year off is on

There’s some big hair in there.

Regular readers of Year of Living Sober will know why I’m a funny guy.

And it’s not just because I’m only too happy to share Twitter pics of me with troll hair for the whole world to laugh at, or because I love making hilarious memes like this one…

And this one…

“Is that a bottle in your hand or am I just happy to see you?”

or this one…

I also like a good joke.

And not just sharing them but writing them too.

During the course of my year of living sober I’ve grown especially fond of a good ‘Little Booze Joke’. With every post over my year off booze I included a ‘Little Booze Joke’. Now, with my YOLS being under my slightly looser belt (thanks to being about 12 kgs lighter!) I wanted to have a record of the best of those little beauties so many of you seemed to have enjoyed so much (if comments about which ones where your favourites is anything to go by).

So I made a book of ‘em.

‘The Little Booze Joke Book’ is currently only available as an ebook (from Amazon HERE) and though I may one day get around to putting out a paperback version too, if you haven’t yet got into the ebook revolution what better way to start than with a joke book with over 100 jokes for less than one buck.

Less than one cent per joke!

That’s right, I’m selling ‘The Little Booze Joke Book’ for a mere 99 cents! That’s less than one cent per joke.

So if you’d like to have over 100 Little Booze Jokes at your finger tips, the best selected from over 142 new and/or improved bar and alcohol themed jokes, and if you are willing to spend $0.99 cents for some of that good, cleanish (‘f’ bomb dropped only once) fun, then head over to Amazon HERE.

Whether you’re drinking alcohol or not you might get a laugh or two. Maybe three.

At the very least you’ll have proof that something can come from nothing: just because I wasn’t drinking alcohol for a year didn’t mean I couldn’t have fun with it. And share some of that fun too.

Cheers!

Ben
(Self-confessed dipsomaniac and ‘Year of Living Sober’ success story!)

PS. Stay tuned for a new post about what it’s been like to be drinking again after a year off booze. Tomorrow it will be three weeks since I jumped off the wagon and basically I’m really enjoying booze again. In moderation. Mostly. But more on that soon…

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Year Of Living Sober - When a year off is on

Okay, it should really say “Sparkling wine?”

Today’s post is all about my ‘first alcoholic drink for one year’, my FADFOY. What it was, why I chose it and how it felt to drink it after taking a year long break from drinking every night. In this post I will address the following postscripts from the previous post:

PS. Tune in for the lowdown (next post) on what it was like to have my FADFOY. I’m sure I’ll have more juicy stuff to share. Hopefully it won’t involve recalling the sight of undigested carrots, bile and other stomach contents puked on the bathroom floor after a belated booze binge.

PSS. I’m pretty sure it won’t!

PSSS. But anything’s possible.

Anything IS possible.

This is proved by the fact I went most of the day after my year of living sober was up WITHOUT A DRINK. I mean, technically I could have risen at one minute past midnight and downed a champagne breakfast (talk about breaking a fast!) before the sun rose on 12th November.

But I didn’t.

Nor did I take an alcoholic drink with lunch whilst out celebrating with my family for my mother-in-law’s birthday (and wouldn’t THAT have been a perfect time to dull the son-in-law senses?).

No. I waited. Even until after we’d all gone back home to share the beautiful cake my wife had arranged to be made especially to mark the completion of my YOLS. There was a perfectly good bottle of chilled champagne ready to go in the fridge, but I felt like coffee with my cake, so the FADFOY moment had to wait even longer.

“It’s gluten-free too!”

I guess I could have popped open a beer before bathing our baby girls. I mean pre-YOLS I used to juggle my first beer and drying off our eldest before getting into making dinner for everybody, but I didn’t. I waited.

Then, once the girls where in bed, and my wife and I had the lounge-room to ourselves I decided it was time: I was ready to have my first alcoholic drink for one year.

So what would it be?

It was a question my friend had asked me a couple of weeks before the end of my year of living sober. We met up in the city and walked around a bit while he filmed me on my HD camera. I think now is the perfect time to look back on how I answered that question of what drink I would choose to break the drought.

Here’s the video.

So, as you can see (if you watched the vid) it looked like red wine was the front runner for my FADFOY. But, and since we know ‘anything is possible’, as it turned out, being ‘in the moment’ meant in the end I decided on a…drum roll please…a…BEER.

A good ol’ frothy-top ale.

And it was AWESOME! I mean, just great. Cold, full flavoured lovely.

So, the answers to: what my FADFOY was, why I chose it and how did it feel are:

What did I choose for my first alcoholic drink in over a year?

Beer*.

* I’d love to tell you the brand but doing so without getting a cash-kickback seems like a waste—hey, I used to do Television commercials for a living (partly!) and I’m not about to do a beer ad for nadda now! N.B. If anyone from Carlton United Breweries is reading this I do have some footage of one of your products being savoured as my first drink post YOLS. In HD too!

Why did I choose it?

It was a hot day and I was thirsty. Plus I love beer.

How did it feel?

Bloody terrific.

Just. Great.

So Where To From Here For YOLS?

I may have reached my goal of a year off booze but I’m going to keep posting about my experience with drinking alcohol again (in moderation and sophistication) after one year of temporary teetotalism.

I’d also like to see this blog become a resource for other big drinker’s who’d like to take a break for a while (remember WOLS=Week of Living Sober, MOLS=Month of Living Sober and if a YOLS is too much to consider why not start off with a DOLS=a ‘Day of Living Sober’).

The ‘Year of Living Sober’ Television Show

At my friend’s suggestion I ended my YOLS by keeping a video journal for the last 14 days. My wife also filmed me drinking my first beer in a year (and, as I said, in High Definition) and so now my plan is to use that footage, combined with the 140 blog posts and hundreds of photos and graphic images Year of Living Sober inspired, to pitch a couple of  ’Year of Living Sober’ ideas to TV and film producers.

Maybe this YOLS thing has got some legs? I know there are all those MOLS orgs like Feb Fast, Dry July, Ocsober and Hello Sunday Morning, which each seem to be growing in popularity every year. So I’m certainly not alone in thinking taking a break from alcohol can be really good for you.

And fun too!

My name is Ben and I’m a dipsomaniac and a ‘Year of Living Sober’ survivor!

☆

Little Booze Joke

Big Foot walks into an exclusive bar in New York and orders a $30 Martini. Mesmerized by the strange sight of Big Foot at his bar the barman manages to keep it together as he pours Big Foot his drink and presents it to him. “There you go,” says the barman. “And sorry for staring but you’re quite an unusual sight in a place like this. We don’t get many Sasquatches in here.” Big Foot sips his Martini before replying gruffly, “At your prices I’m not surprised.”

How about you? What do you think your FADFOY of choice would be? Love to get your comment.

Year Of Living Sober - When a year off is on

Done and dusted. And polished!

Is a year of living sober worth celebrating? Bloody oath, mate!

I made it!

As of today I have officially survived (and thrived in) one whole year without taking a drop of da dacks dropping demon drink.

But so what?

I mean really.

“Just get on with life and chalk your YOLS up to experience, Ben. Why ya’ gotta make a big deal about it?”

Sure it means a lot to me but in the proverbial great scheme of things is a year of living sober really worth celebrating? And if so, how? By writing myself off by drinking half (or even one-hundedth) of what I missed out on during my year off booze? I reckon I’ll get pissed on one glass of beer; wine might blow my sober mind.

Also, who should I celebrate my year of temporary teetotalism with? My friends? My family?

Alone?

Thank You

One way I am celebrating is by sharing this day with you, my reader, my blog buddy, my long-distant champion of this ozzie guy’s goal to go twelve months sober.

Thank you for sharing this journey. It really means a lot to me to know my ramblings have made a connection with like-minded (and some not so like-minded) souls around the world.

And thanks to you, and your comments, messages and emails (not to mention re-tweets, oh how a RT validates my writer-aint-a-writer-without-a-reader self) I love blogging and tweeting heaps more than I did before YOLS.

So Much To Celebrate

Besides rejoicing in my return to the ranks of the moderately drinking I also think it is good to celebrate in order to take a moment and reflect on the other benefits my year of living sober brought me. I covered many of them in ‘12 Months of Sober Living‘ but the big ‘uns are:

- I’ve been super productive: releasing my second novel, acting in an indie film and blogging or tweeting everyday for the whole year

- I’ve saved money. (Yesterday, in order to be prepared with a variety of drinks to choose from (for my FADFOY) I bought a six-pack of beer and a bottle of champagne. Even though they were both on special I was acutely aware that the plonk in my hands was a pure luxury item, or items, which could in no way be recycled to provide nappy protection or soft-toy comfort to either of my baby girls. Daddy got the guilts!)

- I’ve become a better blogger (you may or may not agree with that claim but YOLS is definitely the most popular blog I’ve ever done)

- I’ve made friends with people I haven’t met (when YOU share OTHERS share too)

- I’ve learned I’m not alone in thinking there is a murky zone somewhere between being an alcoholic or constant binge drinker and a total abstainer or teetotaller: it’s good to know I am not alone in sometimes swimming those murky waters (where not much water is drunk)

- I only had one migraine, of lesser intensity that normal too, in a period where I normally could have expected many more

- My light-sensitivity is much better: my wife noticed I don’t wear my sunglasses when making love anymore

My wife had this especially made. I love my wife.

So, considering the little victory my year off booze represents in a world in seemingly constant and ever-increasing turmoil, is a year of living sober worth celebrating? Well, as we say down under…

Bloody oath mate.

And I’m celebrating with everyone: my friends, my family (blogging, blood and marriage!) and my self.

So cheers to me.

And cheers to you.

Whatever you think, wherever you are may you always remember to celebrate the little victories.

Whether you choose to drink or not.

My name is Ben and I’m a dipsomaniac.

A proud dipsomaniac.

☆

Little Booze Joke

A man walks into a bar with a lump of tarmac under his arm and the barman says, “What would you like?”. The man sits down, puts him lump of tarmac on a bar stool next to him and says, “A pint of beer for me and one for the road.”

PS. Tune in for the lowdown (next post) on what it was like to have my FADFOY. I’m sure I’ll have more juicy stuff to share. Hopefully it won’t involve recalling the sight of undigested carrots, bile and other stomach contents puked on the bathroom floor after a belated booze binge.

PSS. I’m pretty sure it won’t!

PSSS. But anything’s possible.

How about you? Do you think completing a YOLS is worth celebrating? Love to get your comment.

Year Of Living Sober - When a year off is on

“Or maybe the next.”

What is a YOLS?

The answer to the question, “What is a YOLS?” is this: YOLS is an acronym for ‘Year of Living Sober’.

A YOLS is a year of living sober.

If one was to say something like, “No wine for me thanks, I’m on a YOLS.” we could understand that to mean the person is normally a drinker but for the period of twelve straight months they will be refraining from drinking as an experience in self-discipline designed to provide possible results including:

- The KNOWLEDGE said YOLSer can go a year without booze

- The EXPERIENCE of 52 weeks without a hangover

- The increased HEALTH BENEFITS (less of your favourite ‘poison’ is good for you; exercise is easier without a hangover too)

- Saving MONEY

- Saving FACE (getting off your face sometimes leads to you trying to get off with people who would rather you ‘f’-off)

And more (check ‘10 Reasons To Give Up Alcohol For A Year‘).

So, YOLS is an acronym for this personal project to give up drinking alcohol for one year but YOLS is more than just a hashtag friendly four letter way to communicate four words. YOLS could also be the name of something you might like to try.

1 day until FADFOY (First Alcoholic Drink For One Year)! Wow. I mean, really. Wow! I made it. Almost #photo #fun twitter.com/YearOffBooze/s…

— Year of Living Sober (@YearOffBooze) November 9, 2012

#YOLS

Today is the final day of my YOLS.

As I come to the end of my YOLS I would love to see it live on in any way that serves a useful purpose to others interested in trying on the teetotal life—for a little while.

Or a long while. Whatever works for you.

And since a bunch of my bloggin’ buddies and twitter chums have taken to using the YOLS shorthand I imagine one way YOLS might live on is as a simple—perhaps fun; possibly even ‘cool’—way to describe a year of living sober.

While I’m definitely not the first big drinker to take a year-long break, nor am I the first to blog about the experience, it is still a first for me. Until my YOLS I’d never gone a year without a drink. Well, not since I was barely a teenager anyway.

YOLS is a Breakthrough

Doing a YOLS was a personal breakthrough for me. And I’ve learnt a lot. Not just about what it feels like to be the seemingly only one sober in a rowdy pub (a bit boring). This YOLS has helped me become more open, vulnerable and self-accepting.

My personal YOLS has encouraged me to share my conflicting thoughts about alcohol (I love it and I loathe myself sometimes for drinking too much of it) and it has also taught me how to communicate better, more effectively, in this modern era of online open-source sharing (where each of us bloggers, twitterers and facebookers are the source).

The focus of this blog has helped me understand what makes a good blog. A CLEAR subject or theme. So while YOLS is a blog, the name of an exercise in self-discipline and a shorthand way of describing what more and more people seem to be drawn to experiencing for themselves, it is also, at the most basic level, an IDEA.

What’s the YOLS idea?

The idea of YOLS hat someone might choose to give up alcohol, not because they are an alcoholic but because they love themselves as much as they love drinking and they want to give their self a NEW experience of life without booze.

So, if one day you happen to be at a party and over-hear someone say, “No beer for me, thanks, I’m on a YOLS.” You’ll know exactly what’s going down.

No booze.

For 365 days.

Straight.

My name is Ben and I’m a dipsomaniac.

Today is Day 366 of my year of living sober.

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Little Booze Joke

A man walks into a bar and orders six whiskies. He lines them up in a row and knocks back the first, third, and fifth glasses. As he gets up to leave the barman asks him, “Don’t you want the others?. You’ve only had three of your six whiskies.” The man shakes his head and replies, “Best not. My doctor said I should only have the odd drink.”

PS. As long as I don’t get overwhelmed by an urge to get out of bed at 12:01 am tonight to have a glass of wine I intend on doing a short post tomorrow morning, before I have my FADFOY (First Alcoholic Drink For One Year). Do tune in.

How about you? Have you ever taken a YOLS or two? Is it a challenge that intrigues you in any way? Love to get your comment.

Year Of Living Sober - When a year off is on

With 3 days to go on my year of living sober I thought it would be a good time to recap my 12 months of sober living.

Today’s post is a quick-ish look back over my shoulder at some of the sober highlights of my YOLS as well as some of the stuff I normally would have done with a drink in my hand and a couple already in my belly.

And maybe with another one in my sights!

But, and as you’ll know from reading any of the previous 137 posts on how I’ve experienced and coped with a year off booze, I made a commitment to myself to do everything I’d normally do in a life which had for over twenty years included alcohol almost every week (and immediately pre-YOLS, every night) without a drop of booze.

And, I am happy to say I have—so far—kept that commitment.

Not a drop of alcohol in 363 days.

So now, let’s get into…

12 Months of Sober Living: A Big Drinker’s Year Off Booze

Month 1

After an excruciating and blinding (literally) migraine following a boozy family wedding I made the vow to myself not to drink any alcohol for a year. My wife was surprised but supportive. As she was seven months pregnant and not drinking herself I thought it would be a good time to do something good for my health and maybe my family too.

- K.D. Lang concert. YOLS bonus: enjoyed awesome show from one of my favourite singers and didn’t have to line up at the public toilets to relieve myself of any beer, wine or spirits purchased at the bar.

- Flew to Sydney to promote my first novel (The Last Great Day) on national morning television show, Sunrise. Would have normally been tempted by hotel bar-fridge but spent down-time writing instead (did first NANO, during which I completed a draft of a yet unpublished novel in one month). YOLS bonus: more productive.

Month 2

- Public reading in support of foreward I wrote for creative writing compilation book. Free booze but none for me. YOLS bonus: drove home happy to be pulled over and breath-tested for driving under the influence. Wasn’t.
- Christmas. Didn’t drink but still probably ate more than I needed to. YOLS bonus: would probably have pigged out worse if I’d been drinking too.

Month 3

- Daughter born! My wife Pauli, and my then not yet two-year-old daughter, Honey, welcomed our second child, Cherry, into our family. YOLS bonus: being stone cold sober may have given more confidence to my wife I was ready to drive her to hospital should our plan for a home-birth not play out. It didn’t. I drove us to the hospital. (N.B. The emergency C-section went perfectly fine and everyone is healthy and happy).

Month 4

- Exercise. My calendar for this month is FULL of exercise entries. Running, biking, push-uppering. YOLS bonus: on 29th of that month I did 25 push ups. Room for improvement but it was a start.

Month 5

- Quit TVC acting. Twenty-something years ago I was a kid with a dream of becoming a movie star. Somewhere along the way the acting part of my creative output ended up being auditioning for one television commercial after the other. Not only have the rates of pay not gone up for actors appearing in television commercials (not even in line with inflation) but I had become increasingly bored with the way many directors treat actors like cattle. And I had become resentful of being made to wait for an hour to humiliate myself miming eating junk food for a director who’s only direction often is something like ‘I’m not sure what I want from you but do something different this time.’ YOLS bonus: solution to my angst was clear, simply tell the agencies not to call you for commercials anymore.

Month 6

- New novel. Besides blogging about my YOLS and extending our family (!) much of this year has been about me finishing and publishing my second novel, Zippin Pippin. YOLS bonus: no hangovers=more writing. More clarity too.

Month 7

- Emerging Writers’ Festival ‘Structure’ seminar. As an official blogger for Melbourne’s Emerging Writers’ Festival I was also very happy when they asked me to present one of the seminars for emerging writers. YOLS bonus: spent night before seminar preparing notes instead of polishing off a bottle of wine, no doubt reaping rewards of the smooth presentation the following day.

Month 8

- Birthday. Generally on my birthday I’ll have a few drinks. At least some champagne. But this year, nothing. YOLS bonus: focussed on family fun instead of sloshing self. Go big daddy, go!

Month 9

- Final edits, formatting and packaging for Zippin Pippin: there’s a lot to be done as an independent author! YOLS bonus: even get some work done AFTER dinner.

Month 10

- Zippin Pippin published and promoted, cast to act in indie film with mate (Chocolate, Strawberry, Vanilla coming to a screen near you in 2013!), and Honey turns two. YOLS bonus: fit quite a bit into Month 10.

Month 11

- Continued healing. Over the year I’d been having a treatment about once a month of kinesiology/reiki. I really feel these sessions, combined with my year off booze, have helped liberate more energy and focus my attention on a new, positive future of me manifesting all I want with life by bringing more awareness to everything I think, say and do. YOLS bonus: saving money on booze meant I could happily spend it on investing in my health.

Month 12

- Goal in sight. Perhaps the most significant thing to happen in the final month of my year of living sober is that I will complete it. With three days to go I’m quietly confident I won’t lose my resolve now. YOLS bonus: knowledge I can accomplish something I never have before.

My name is Ben and I’m a dipsomaniac.

Today is Day 364 of my year of living sober.

☆

Little Booze Joke

A penguin walks into a bar and says to the barman, “Have you seen my brother?’ The barman says, “I don’t know. What does he look like?”

How about you? Have you accomplished some positive stuff in the past year? Love to get your comment.

Year Of Living Sober - When a year off is on

Before I began my year off booze I didn’t really know what to expect when giving up alcohol. Now I’m almost at the end of my temporary teetotal journey I’ve learned a few things about what happens when a big drinker swaps a bottle of wine a night for a soda water, ginger beer, non-alcoholic beer and a couple cups of tea.

He still has to ‘pass water’ but his aim is that much better.

And don’t being a straight shooter make the wife that little happier when she follows her hubby into the loo too.

So apart from laser-wee-eye what else can you expect when giving up alcohol? Well, as this blog is part journal, part community service—if it’s at all possible I’d love it if my self-inflicted year long alcohol abstinence could have SOME positive effect on others who might be considering trying a week (WOLS), month (MOLS) or even the full year of living sober (YOLS) themselves—I thought what better way to serve the community of readers who’ve sort out the YOLS blog than by answering the very questions that drive many interneters here.

That’s why today I decided to answer some of the questions which have google-search led web surfers to the YOLS blog, questions that have popped up in my search engine terms.

So, here goes. I hope you enjoy…

10 Questions for Sober Living

1. How does it feel after eight days of alcohol free?
To be honest, I can’t quite remember. A lot different that after eight days of free alcohol. Luckily I wrote this post on the eight day of my year of living sober to remind me what my first week or so was like.

2. Can real men go sober?
It depends who you think a ‘real man’ is. Bruce Lee? Bruce Willis? Samuel L. Jackson? Eddie Murphy? Australian football legend and octogenarian fitness guru, Tom Hafey? All these dudes don’t drink. I reckon the answer is ‘bloody oath’, real men can go sober.

4. What is the great thing about giving up booze?
Not having to go to the toilet as often. Maybe it’s just ‘cause I used to drink quite a bit of beer. Still, I reckon less piss-stops is THE great thing about giving up booze. Maybe not the GREATEST thing, but pretty high up the list.

5. What to expect when giving up alcohol?
Everyone is an individual (except me) so who knows exactly what YOU can expect but it might include withdrawal symptoms like headaches (I had a few in the early days of YOLS), general restlessness and cravings for a drink.

You can also expect friends, family and even casual acquaintances to have an opinion on your ‘giving up alcohol’. Some will be supportive, many will not: not everyone likes to be reminded (aren’t we all mirrors of each other?) of the fact they too could probably go a little easier on the sauce.

6. What are ten reasons to give up drinking?
Covered that back on this post for Day 32 sober (also on the PAGE above).

7. How to give up alcohol for a month?
Just say no. Even to your self. If you need help you can join up with one of the many temporary teetotaller organisations/community groups which have evolved over the last few years to include:
Feb – FebFast
July – Dry July
October – Ocsober
All year – Hello Sunday Morning
At any of these websites you can connect with and find strength from other like-minded folk who want to take a MOLS (Month of Living Sober, remember) AND raise money for good causes.

8. What are some affirmations to cut back on drinking?
“I enjoy being sober.”
“I love myself exactly as I am.”
“I accept myself whether I drink alcohol or not.”
“I release the need for alcohol, hangovers, and spending twenty-five dollars a pop on cocktails.”

Also check ‘What’s Your Next Step In Healing’.

9. I’ve given up alcohol, why can’t I stop farting.*
The beans! Stop eating the beans!
* Seriously, someone googled this and got to YOLS.

10. How to give up alcohol for non alcoholics.
What can I say to that one? I think that’s kind of the whole vibe of this blog. So, if searching for answers to Q 10. I guess you can just click on a random post (though the ‘12 Dipsomaniac Declarations‘ might be a good starting point) and hopefully you’ll get some words of encouragement or at least an honest account of how I’ve found the experience.

I may not be an alcoholic but I do love my booze. Or I did. And I might again.

My name is Ben and I’m a dipsomaniac.

Today is Day 362 of my year of living sober.

☆

Little Booze Joke

A group of fonts walk into a bar and the barman yells, “Get out of my pub!” . Courier ‘W’, garamond ‘H’, helvetica ‘Y’ and verdana ‘?’ get in line to ask the question, “WHY?” to which the barman replies, “We don’t serve your type in here.”

How about you? Do you have any sober living questions (or answers)? Love to get your comment.

Year Of Living Sober - When a year off is on

Why is today special?

Well, you know how they say ‘everyday is special’. Like that. And, maybe just waking up with a chance to do something you’ve never done before is enough to make today special for all of us.

All I can say is today is special for me. And whether you go for that kind of positive thinking angle or not hopefully today is special for you too.

Whatever you are doing (or have done—I know I’m not the only one who checks blogs before going to bed sometimes) I hope it is something you acknowledge as enjoyable, momentous or even just simply fun.

Fun is good. I like fun. And today I had fun taking my picture of the day for YOLS, tweeting it and taking a moment to say, “Yeah, today is kind of cool.”

Special.

51 sober weeks down, 1 to go!

Today I’m closer than I’ve ever been before to achieving something I never have before and may never again. Today marks the beginning of the final week of my 52 weeks of living sober, my year of living sober. And with only 7 days to go now I am feeling a mixed bag (as opposed to mixed-drink) of emotions.

I’m happy, excited and full of anticipation for the possibilities of enjoying alcoholic drinks again.

I’m trepidatious, prematurely nostalgic (for what has been a great project/experience/blog during which I’ve made heaps of blog buddies) and strangely self-conscious about how I’ll approach drinking again.

“What if I go back to my old habit of a few beers and a bottle of wine a night?” I say to myself (in my head, mostly). “With my tendency to be all transparent, open and sharing about my relationship with alcohol I’ll just have to blog about it in the post-YOLS updates and then everyone will think I’m a loser for not changing my habit. Even after a whole year off booze!”

But then I tell myself not to worry.

“Don’t worry, Ben.”

See.

I also add stuff like…

“Because, Ben, the most important thing is how you did what you set out to do. You took a year off booze; you completed your year of living sober.”

Then I tell myself not to get ahead of myself.

“Hey, Ben you haven’t got there yet. Still got seven days to go. That’s a whole week. A lot can happen in a week. Temptation lies around every corner. There’s a public holiday BBQ on Tuesday and you know all your mates will be hittin’ the sauce. What if someone spikes your soda water? What if someone you don’t know gives you a glass of orange juice AND VODKA!!! And you take a SIP. Accident my ARSE!!”

So then I tell myself to calm down.

Thankfully I eventually listen to myself and the dueling Gemini mind of a non-drinking big-drinker (dipsomaniac) is quiet for a while.

Until the next time I think about how close I am now and what it will mean to finish my year of living sober.

A lot?

Not much in the greater scheme of world affairs?

Perhaps somewhere in the middle, somewhere us mere human beings grapple with mortality, and finding a balance between embracing the rich and sensuous nature of all life offers—at every chance we get—and learning to have some self control.

Maybe what I’ll take away from my year of living sober is life doesn’t have to be all or nothing or either or.

Maybe I’ll be changed by my experience and maybe I won’t.

Maybe I will have simply done what I said I would: not drink any alcohol for one year.

My name is Ben and I’m a dipsomaniac.

Today is Day 360 of my year of living sober.

☆

Little Booze Joke

A fifties rocker dude walks into a bar called the ‘Bar Bar Bar’ bar and asks the barman for the old guy who used to give haircuts in between his bar duties. “Oh, you mean Al?” says the barman. “Thing is old Al got himself into some trouble with the bookies. It seems he owed ‘em more than he could pay back so they put a hit out on him. “Oh, man that’s terrible,” says the fifties rocker dude. “That old Al was a real cool guy. So do you know what happened? Did the bookies get Al and rough him up or did he get away?” The barman gives a wink and replies, “Don’t worry. He’s fine. The Bar Bar Bar bar barber ran.

How about you? Is today a special day for you? Love to get your comment.

Year Of Living Sober - When a year off is on

“This stuff really rattles my bones.”

What’s your poison?

It’s the question we sometimes ask when politely offering an alcoholic drink to a friend or guest (err, are you sure Ben? Maybe if the ‘we’ is a gold prospector from the nineteenth century!).

We might also ask this question of a new acquaintance, when trying to discern our drinking compatibility: according to that great booze-themed film, Sideways, some wine connoisseurs simply refuse to co-sip with Merlot lovers.

But, and as someone who believes there are no coincidences, and that when it comes to casual sayings and colloquialisms (we often speak without giving a second thought to) there is a reason certain clichés enter the vernacular, I reckon there is some truth in that one.
Because it is true.

Alcohol is a poison.

If you drink too much alcohol you can cark it. Even a little can make you sick. Some people, like true Alcoholics, have a physical reaction at even the smell of alcohol.

So why on earth would anyone drink poison willingly?

There are lots of reasons. Alcohol can help us relax; alcohol can help us form meaningful relationships with the opposite sex (sometimes lasting longer than one night); alcohol helps us blow of psychological steam. And, though you might find it difficult to believe, I’ve even heard of some people who drink alcohol because they simply like the taste.

Yes, that’s right.

To those who appreciate a nice drop of plonk, alcohol is simply part of the great degustation experience provided to us by a bountiful earth, a sensuous environment abundant with grape varieties, hops, corn and potatoes and whatever other raw ingredients mix with the distilling genius of wine makers, beer makers and good ol’ boy bourbon distillers.

To some, alcohol is not a poison to be avoided but a nectar to be savoured. And when my year of living sober is up, in just 10 days (!), I will say farewell to temporary teetotalism and hello to my old friend, booze.

Proof. 90%.

Bourbon, beer or a bloody good wine?

So, on that day I rejoin the ranks of the drinking, what will my poison be?

For a while I was considering a sweet bourbon as the front runner in my potential FADFOY (First Alcoholic Drink For One Year). And since my daughters, Honey and Cherry, share the name of two varieties of Jim Beam bourbon I thought maybe one of those dark spirit varieties would be a good choice.

But then I decided it would probably be a bit much for my well-rested liver to jump back in the drinking game with a straight spirit. I could have mixed the Honey bourbon or Cherry bourbon with coke or something but I think that might have kind of spoilt it for me.

As of today then, and though I don’t want to lock myself into anything which would stop me from being ‘in the moment’ and choosing whatever feels right on the day (there is always the chance, say 1-3% chance, even after my YOLS is all done I will NOT have an alcoholic drink ever again) I am currently considering from the following list of candidates.

They are also some of my favourite tipples before I embarked on my year of living sober.

1) Red wine (Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Shiraz)
2) Beer (Carlton Draught, Corona, Budweiser)
3) Champagne (Lindauer—we had this great New Zealand sparkling at our wedding, Moet—when I’m feeling flush with cash, Yellowglen—when I’m not).
4) White wine (Sauvignon Blanc)

All I Want For Christmas is BOOZE!

And if I change my mind and opt for a spirit…

5) Scotch (on ice)
6) Vodka (Stolinchnaya on ice with a dash of lime cordial, fresh lime or fresh lemon)
7) Bourbon (Jim Beam, generally with coke)
8) Gin and tonic (not often but more as I get older)

I should also say there could be a wild-card too. Like say, if I happen to get a hankering for some sangria. Or maybe, if it is a particularly warm day, I might go for a wine-spritzer? Not your typical Ozzie Male Alcoholic Drink, I know, but it is very refreshing.

And low in poison too!

My name is Ben and I’m a dipsomaniac.

Today is Day 357 of my year of living sober.

☆

Little Booze Joke

A golf club walks into a bar and asks for a whisky but the barman flatly refuses to serve him. “Why?” asks the infuriated golf club. “Because,” replies the barman, “I know you’re going to be driving later!”

How about you? What’s YOUR poison? Love to get your comment.

Year Of Living Sober - When a year off is on

Artwork for ‘What Are You Drinking?’ by Benjamin Grant Mitchell.

In the last YOLS post I talked about how music and booze have always gone together for me, especially when I was gigging regularly. In that post (The Free Alcohol Musician Blues) I included a new song I wrote recently, one which I reckon’ might be a pretty good theme song for the ‘Year of Living Sober’ blog.

As such I thought some of you guys and gals might like to have a copy of the lyrics, you know, in case you want to sing along with ‘Year of Living Sober’.

So here they are:

What Are You Drinking?

By Benjamin Grant Mitchell (performing as ‘Casa de Seunos’)

© 2012

When you’re young you think everything you do is brand new
No one’s ever drunk before, least not as much as you
You gather with your friends to decide who’s buyin’ the booze
Only then you realize you don’t know what to choose
Should you go for beer or wine
Maybe something more refined

What are you thinking?
What are you drinking?

You get a little older and discover your own taste
So much so you never let a good drop go to waste
You take your stash under your arm near everywhere you go
The last thing you want’s to be caught out sober don’t you know
And when that there bottle is done
There’s always more where that came from

What are you thinking?
What are you drinking?

Started out on beer
Moved on to the wine
Spirits dark and clear

What was I thinking?
What are you drinking?

Then one night it comes to you that booze ain’t always cool
The thought occurs around the time you’re sick on your own shoes
You make a vow to never touch the demon drink again
By next week you’re back together just like old best friends
Leaving your mistakes behind
Looking to your next good time

What are you thinking?
What are you drinking?

REPEAT CHORUS

When I can figure out a bandwidth-friendly way of giving away mp3s of ‘What Are You Drinking?’ I will. Until then I guess you’ll just have to drop back and press play whenever you want to sing along with YOLS!

You all come back now, ya’ hear!

My name is Ben and I’m a dipsomaniac.

Today is Day 349 of my year of living sober.

☆

Little Booze Joke

A cartoon elephant walks into a ba-bar.

What do you think? Is this a good drinking song? Or should I say a good ‘not-drinking’ song? Love to get your comment.

Year Of Living Sober - When a year off is on