To me, few things signify leisure time like having a drink. From vacation, to meeting up with friends, to holidays, to nights at home with my husband… alcohol turns up the fun factor.
Alcohol and laughter go hand in hand. Maybe it is because the lack of inhibition makes people funnier. Or maybe the lack of inhibition makes people laugh more readily. Maybe it’s both.
Last month when I challenged myself to the Whole30, one of the things I knew I would miss most was alcohol. I was concerned that a sober July would be a boring July. And if I am being honest, July was hard. Maybe it was the lack of alcohol or maybe it was the lack of carbs. I’m sure it was both. Either way, life lost a lot of its flavor. Here’s what I discovered when I didn’t engage in social drinking… it was the hardest when drinking was the activity. There were times when alcohol only accompanied the activity, such as swimming off the dock or playing yard games. In those situations, I actually got more involved in those physical activities than I typically do. Usually I am fine with observing a fair amount of the action while on a floatie – drink in hand. There were other times, though, when there wasn’t a game to play… when the activity was simply to sit, have a drink, and converse. It’s more fun to solve the world’s problems with a cocktail.
Enter August …Laughter Month. My body definitely had an interesting reaction to the immediate onslaught of food and drink I had been abstaining from. I retained water. My feet and ankles swelled up that first weekend. As for my happiness factor? I feel happier when I get to eat pasta, pizza, and tacos. I also like my pasta with wine, my pizza with beer, and tacos with a margarita. Believe me, a little swelling wasn’t a deterrent. I was happy as a clam.
Now my ankles are back to normal and I have new found respect for all food. I have been enjoying the whole foods I lived on last month, and I have been savoring the flavors and bonding experiences that accompany the foods and drinks I missed last month.
For me, happiness is found in the balance between clean eating and enjoying fun food and drink. I even found a brief article by Dr. Geoff Lowe, PHD, that suggests that moderate drinking increases laughter which leads to a longer life. So, cheers! Cheers to fun and laughter! Cheers to working and playing hard! Cheers to the pursuit of happiness!
