Healthy Living

Friday, November 27, 2009

Nap time is not the new happy hour: Thank you, Rachael Brownell

by Stefanie Wilder-Taylor (Make Mine A Double)

On May 22nd I made the humbling and, hopefully, permanent decision to give up the hooch. Up until fairly recently, I really liked to drink. Scratch that – loved to drink. My favorite sound? The cork popping out of a bottle of chilled pinot grigio signaling my day coming to a close. But like a junior high school BFF, alcohol turned on me and we became bitter frenemies forcing me to avoid it at parties and not return its phone calls. I didn’t want it to end that way, but alcohol was negatively affecting my overall happiness and standing in the way of my ability to parent my children and be the best wife I could be.

A few days after coming to my decision, I blogged about it publically and received lots of support which was great but more importantly, many of you came forward with worries of your own about your drinking habits. Imagine my surprise when Amy, yes fabulous Mommytrackd founder Amy, told me about a book written by Rachael Brownell called Mommy Doesn’t Drink Here Anymore: Getting Through the First Year of Sobriety. I knew I had to read it immediately and I fell in love.

From page one it was like the author, Rachael Brownell, crawled inside my brain and scrawled out in vivid detail a raw, moving, brutally honest memoir, chronicling the insidious nature of her drinking, her decision to quit and her experience making it to that first year mark without a drop. And I should mention that she has seven-year-old twin girls and a four-year-old daughter to boot. Sound like someone you know?

Speaking to her only further cemented my girl crush so I pinned her down for an interview of sorts:

“Can you tell me when you first began to suspect you had a problem?”

“I definitely was a bingy drinker in my twenties. But weekend debauchery was followed by weeks of not drinking so I could write it off as normal.”

“Right,” I said. “Doesn’t everyone drink like a fish in college? Oh wait, I didn’t go to college. Never mind.”

Read More...

---
Stefanie on Drinking:
My Sobering Secret
Hair of the Dog

A Shot Glass of Truth
---

Raising preemie twin girls plus a sassy preschooler while trying to make a book deadline isn't for wussies. In her  Mommy Track'd column, Make Mine a Double, Stefanie Wilder-Taylor takes imperfect parenting to an art form. Each week she breaks the pristine laws of the mommy manuals as she reveals how she attempts to parent her three children through instinct, intelligence, and a lot of trial and error.  She is the author of Sippy Cups Are Not for Chardonnay, Naptime Is the New Happy Hour, and It's Not Me, It's You: Subjective Recollections from a Terminally Optimistic, Chronically Sarcastic and Occasionally Inebriated Woman. She’s appeared numerous times on The Today Show, is a member of the Us Weekly Fashion Police and writes on her blog, Baby On Bored.

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From the Community…

Comments 1-3 of 3
  • simfelicity's Avatar
    Posted by simfelicity Thu Jul 30, 2009 8:04pm PDT

    actually i'd like to take some rest now.. sorry... i will see u later.....ok?

    Report Abuse
  • princess's Avatar
    Posted by princess Fri Jul 31, 2009 11:21pm PDT

    Hey Stephanie - I know exactly how you feel. I was a HUGE clubber and pounded 5 - 7 nights a week until my kids were 1.4 and 2.6 years old. I had to make a decision: kids and my looks or partying? I also had to deal with all the men in my life who were mean drunks so I said that's it, I've had enough and its over! That was in January of 1991. Now, twice a year I'll have a couple glasses of wine and get totally looped. My kids love the fact that this is the only time I drink and they get a kick out of me being "tipsy" once or twice a year, if that. It's a lot more fun now, but I waited until they were 15 and 17 before I started doing this. Now they are 18 and 20 and because of me neither one drinks or wants anything to do with it (I also pointed out the difference in the men from sober to not, that helped also). :) Hang in there, your definitely not alone!

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  • Trudy's Avatar
    Posted by Trudy Sat Aug 1, 2009 5:15pm PDT

    Check this Web site

    ardysslife.com/beforeandafter01

    I knoow you want to look and feel good as you look

    Hello, my friend. Another Tankism to brighten your week. Hope it helps

    Look at life from the perspective of what you have NOW, what you are grateful for NOW. If you continue to look into the PAST as to what you have lost, when you open your PRESENT, you will not like what you get. However, by focusing firmly on where you are directing your FUTURE by thinking on those things which are good and pure and what you do want to happen, as you unfold your PRESENT, you will find the gift that you know you really want. And, it really is that simple. As a wise person once said: If you believe you can't, you're rightif yet if you believe you CAN, you're right. What do you believe? :)Hello, my friend. Another Tankism to brighten your week. Hope it helps :)

    Look at life from the perspective of what you have NOW, what you are grateful for NOW. If you continue to look into the PAST as to what you have lost, when you open your PRESENT, you will not like what you get. However, by focusing firmly on where you are directing your FUTURE by thinking on those things which are good and pure and what you do want to happen, as you unfold your PRESENT, you will find the gift that you know you really want. And, it really is that simple. As a wise person once said: If you believe you can't, you're rightif yet if you believe you CAN, you're right. What do you believe? :)

    Report Abuse
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