'I'm three months into 'no beer for a year' - I've noticed one big lifestyle change'

I've been reading a lot about habits in the last three months. I might normally be reading the back of a bottle of the latest craft beer from Aldi, so I suppose dead-scrolling on 'giving up the drink' content is progress - if a little more boring. They reckon it can take up to 200 odd days to break a habit, but most 'experts' settle at around 90.

I've surpassed the 90-day mark now with three months down on this year-long challenge, and truth be told, it has flown by. In the last few weeks, it's been a bit tougher as I attended a few social gatherings where I'd normally beckon the barman to throw on a pint of Guinness and then sit back and admire it as she settles and gets her top up. The Guinness 0.0 filled the void nicely, in fairness to it. I've come to blacklist places that don't sell it; the kind of establishment where staff tell you, "just Heineken Zero" when you enquire about the zero alcohol options. 

That said, I haven't found the three months very difficult, Heineken Zero aside. I have written before about the challenge and said I wasn't a big drinker to begin with, and that is true and helps at this stage. I liked a few cans or bottles of something at home, mostly, a few nights a week, so it wasn't like I was giving up a weekend binge. Drink is linked to every social occasion in Ireland, even going to a match, so that can make it a bit trickier, always explaining why you're not drinking. Yes, people will probe like they've got you across a table in Guantanamo Bay. I've also got a new job as the family taxi man. They call me 'Dessie.'

The one thing I've noticed more than anything is the extra bit of energy you have when not drinking. I always found that even after two or three pints, you'd be a little bit sluggish the next day, maybe with a small bit of a headache too. It's not a nice feeling, especially when you have an eight-month-old daughter who has made it her mission to crawl every inch of your house and attack every kitchen cabinet with gusto. A small headache in that situation can make you that bit more fed up, a little more irritable, and then there you are sighing over small things, taking it out on the people around you.

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Other people tell you about all the money you've saved and work out how many drinks you might have had weekly and how much that has left in your pocket. If that's the case, I must have holes in my pockets because I certainly don't notice the extra few bob floating around. It's a bit like smoke; it goes somewhere and you can't really pin it down. Maybe IKEA this week, Amazon the next, you know yourself. The truth is you must be saving money even if you aren't walking around with €50 notes falling off you like confetti!

I've had friends and colleagues send me different videos and articles on people who have done the same challenge and actor Tom Holland made an interesting point in an interview. He said he started off doing Dry January one year and found it hard, to the point that he forced himself to do February as well. On and on he went until he was six months in. At that point, he started sleeping better, dealing with stressful situations better and his relationships were better. He said after struggling through January, once he had done a year, he knew he would never drink again because he had become "the best version" of himself. 

It was an interesting take and Conor Pope from the Irish Times said something similar in an interview, saying, "the longer I went without booze the more I realised life without alcohol was better." I'm getting to a point in the year where I think my relationship with alcohol, in terms of social events or drinking at home casually, has fundamentally changed. I won't go back to randomly grabbing eight cans of Guinness while doing the shopping on a Thursday evening. That said, I'm not in the Tom Holland camp of never drinking again, and I didn't set out on this 'no beer for a year' challenge to reach that point. 

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When I go to one of my favourite pubs for dinner, Furey's Bar in Moyvalley, Co Meath, I will certainly have a pint of Guinness, a wonderful pint it is too. I think the difference is, I will enjoy it even more if I go next January when I've completed this challenge. It's like Easter coming up and you get your favourite chocolate. If you eat it on Easter Sunday, Monday and half the following week, by the next weekend, if someone dropped off another one, you'd have no interest.

I've learned that what's rare is beautiful, as they say, and a perfect pint of Guinness in a pub is a rare thing for sure!