My Alcohol Experiment: Day 7

Day 7 of The Alcohol Experiment: alcohol and your senses.Ack! I wish I had read this entry this morning instead of tonight, because I feel like I could have spent my day today really appreciating my senses and how finely tuned they are without alcohol and I could have written something really great. Sorry folks! I’ll do my best!The lesson today discusses how alcohol numbs all five of our senses by slowing down neurotransmitters, which move information between our body and our brain. When we drink, we numb ourselves to everything, including pleasure, happiness, and the ability to create wonderful memories. There are many (many, many) blurry nights in my past and that makes me feel embarrassed and ashamed. But also proud of myself for doing this experiment now, ensuring that I will have many (many, many) clear nights and wonderful memories ahead of me.As Annie says, “Your senses are what make you feel alive. Treat them with respect.”I would love to hear from those of you who have spent time, whether it’s today or some other day recently, focusing on your senses sans booze. What have you noticed? What have you especially appreciated?Almost every morning, I am woken by my 4-year-old son (and his stuffed dog lovey) climbing into bed with me. He is warm and his jammies are soft and he is a snuggle master. He’ll often start talking or singing quietly (or not quietly), his face pressed up against my face. I usually have my eyes closed, clinging to the last moments of precious sleep before the day begins. I can hear his sweet voice and how he still pronounces his L’s like W’s. I can feel his increasingly strong and solid limbs and what’s left of his baby belly. I can smell his morning breath, which is a little stinky but still sweet to me. These first moments of my day are so precious, it pains me to think of how many of them were thrown away with hangovers. One day he will stop coming into our room to snuggle. And that will break my heart. So until then, I will drink in these moments and relish the exquisite sounds and snuggles and smells. And I will try to remember to appreciate how darn lucky I am to be able to do just that.The video today focuses on the relationship between alcohol and depression, another very informative piece of this puzzle that I highly recommend viewing. “Alcohol is only giving back what it has taken away” - a good takeaway for us all, I think![The Alcohol Experiment is a free, interactive 30-day program designed by Annie Grace, author of This Naked Mind. For more information: www.alcoholexperiment.com. If you would like to be tagged in my posts please let me know in comments!]