Everyone I know is looking for more time. It seems like “I don’t have enough time” is the go-to excuse for all the things.

“We had to have takeout for dinner because I just didn’t have time to go to the grocery store, plan a meal, or cook dinner.”

“I can’t go to the gym because I don’t have time.”

“How do you get 10,000 steps every day? I just don’t have the time.”

“I want to take my kids to do fun stuff, but we just can never find the time to plan something.”

“I haven’t been on a real vacation in two years. I just don’t have the time.”

“I have been wanting to try that new workout class, but I don’t have time to fit in something new.”

“I haven’t gotten my nails done in 6 months. I just don’t have the time to sit there for an hour.”

“Meditate? Journal? Read? I can’t even find the time to take a shower most mornings!”

Let me let you in on a little secret. Drinking alcohol is a time sucker. You may be thinking this doesn’t apply to you because you don’t drink enough for it to make that big of a difference. I am telling you that you are wrong. I knew I wasn’t as productive as I could have been when alcohol was a part of my life, but I had no idea how much time this activity was actually stealing from me until I set it aside. Today I want to talk through four ways sobriety can save you time.

1. No hangovers lead to blissful and productive mornings, every morning. This one sounds obvious, I know. Of course, there is the obvious fact that if you drink too much the night before, you’re probably going to sleep in if you’re able to on the weekends. You may be able to sleep in until 9 or 10 or 11 to sleep off the night before, which seems great, until you wake up and realize that your day is half over and you have nothing to show for it. Lots of people spend their entire week looking forward to the weekend, only to waste half their weekend in bed nursing a hangover. If you don’t drink, you will wake up earlier. Without even trying. Part of this is because you are likely to go to bed earlier if you’re not drinking and part of this is because you are absolutely going to have better quality sleep at night if you’re not drinking.

There are times that I wake up before my kids on a Saturday or Sunday (not often, but it has happened!). When your body is well rested and hasn’t spent the last 7 hours trying to process the poison consumed the night before, you will naturally wake up early and be able to enjoy so much more of your weekend. Korey and I used to trade off who would have to wake up with the boys and who could sleep in when we were drinking. No matter how fair we tried to make it or how many conversations we had before, the person waking up with the kids always ended up resentful of the person sleeping in. That doesn’t end well for anyone – the early riser sitting with resentment, the person sleeping in, feeling underlying guilt for doing so, or the kids who just want a present parent to get on the floor and play Legos or Candyland with them. Now we both typically wake up around the same time. One of us may sleep in, but if we do it’s because we need it and there’s no resentment or guilt or big feelings attached to it.

This doesn’t just apply to weekends either, this applies to weekdays maybe even more so than weekends. I swear on my life, my favorite part of every day are the hours between 5 and 9 am. I go to bed early, I get quality sleep every night, and I wake up ready to tackle the day, every day. Now don’t get me wrong, some days are harder to get up and moving than others, but once I am up, I feel incredible. Between the hours of 5 and 9, I am able to meditate, practice my gratitude, read at least 10 pages of my book, drink my pre-workout drink, drive to the gym, exercise, drive home from the gym, take a shower, tag team breakfast and getting the boys ready with Korey, see Fowler and Korey out the door, get Fischer on the bus, eat my breakfast, drink my coffee, and catch up on my work emails from the night before. By the time I start my workday, I already feel confident, energized, and accomplished as HELL.

Do you know what I used to do before my workday? Wake up, scramble to get the kids breakfast and dressed, and open my computer just in time for my first meeting. That’s it. You do the math on this one.

2. Time you would normally spend drinking. This one sounds obvious too, but let’s actually break it down. Very few people are productive while they are drinking. Some people manage to get some extra work in, read a book, make dinner, or have quality conversations while drinking, but I can pretty much guarantee you that even if you are pretending to be productive while you’re drinking, you’re not being as present or as productive as you could be. When I think back to the time I spent drinking, it was a big fat fucking waste of time. I often think about what I would do with all that time if I could get it back, but I try to actively avoid those thoughts since there’s nothing I can do about it now and there is no use dwelling on the past 😉.

This is especially true for binge drinking or blacking out. Ever wake up and realize that there is a span of 5+ hours that you have no recollection of? You remember taking that tequila shot after dinner at 8 pm and nothing after that. You think maybe you went to bed early but then you check and see you were sending texts all night and you have pictures on your phone of you and your girlfriends posing with your wine glasses at 2 am. There is clear evidence of you being very awake and somewhat coherent for 6 hours, but you have no idea what you did, what you talked about, or when you went to bed. Is there a bigger waste of time than that? Add to that the time wasted the next day on your hangover and you’re literally talking 10+ hours of your time. Gone. And that’s just one night of heavy drinking. Do that on Friday AND Saturday night and it’s doubled.

Even if we’re not talking binge drinking and we’re just talking casual drinking, it’s likely not a good use of your precious time. Before I quit drinking, I spent at least 10 hours a week just watching mindless television and drinking wine. 2-3 hours every single night, dipping into my sleep time or productive time with nothing to show for it other than the extra 1000+ calories consumed and 2-3 episodes further into my show binge.

Here’s a literal picture I found of myself after a blackout.

3. Time spent thinking about or planning your drinking. If you are HONEST with yourself, how much time and brain power and mental energy are you spending thinking about or planning your drinking? “Ok, so I am going out tonight. What do I have the next morning to plan around? Can I afford to go balls-to-the-wall or do I need to be reasonably responsible? If reasonably responsible, when should I try to be home? How much can I drink if I plan to drive home? Could I not drive home and somehow finagle a ride with someone else so I can have a few extra drinks but still sleep in my own bed and not have to pay for an Uber? If not and I have to drive, what should I drink? I can probably get more bang for my buck if I stick to beer. I could have probably 4 beers before driving home where if I had wine, I shouldn’t have more than 2 glasses. Maybe I should just blow it all in one wad and have one really strong martini. If I do plan to go balls-to-the-wall, is there anyone going with me who will be able to party with me? Should we see what other bars are open near the restaurant we’re going to? Should I plan to leave my car downtown tonight? But if I do that, how will I find somewhere to park so I don’t get towed and can get my car the next day? And how will I get to my car the next day? Will I stay at a friend’s house or will I Uber home? Can I have a few drinks before I go since I will be with people I don’t know that well and may feel awkward? How many drinks can I have so I seem loose and fun but not drunk?”

All these thoughts are EXHAUSTING. These thoughts consumed me every time I had plans. No matter what the plans were. A kids birthday party, dinner on a Tuesday with my friends, a date night with my husband, a baseball game with my family. I always had to spend mental energy and brain power and TIME thinking about my drinking strategy for the event. I genuinely had no idea how much time this was taking until I didn’t have to think about it anymore. Going somewhere with the expectation of going, having a good time, and coming home with no thoughts about alcohol or a plan to go with it is such a freedom I didn’t know I was missing.

4. Clear head + more energy = more QUALITY time. While this isn’t giving you any more time, it is making the time you’ve always had more useful and productive. When I was drinking, I was only 50% committed to whatever it was I was doing. If we were having a discussion, I was only half paying attention. If I was playing a game, I was only going through the motions and didn’t actually care about it. If I was hanging out with my kids, I was faking my enthusiasm and attention to whatever it is we were doing. I always had one eye on the task at hand and the other eye on the wine bottle in the fridge. I always knew how much was left, when we would run out, and I was always subconsciously creating a backup plan in my head.

Drinking made me lethargic. I think it does most people. Even if I had big plans to do something productive or important with a glass of wine, it either didn’t get done, or didn’t get done in the way I was hoping. This happened a lot with cooking. I LOVED to cook and drink wine. It always seemed so fancy and luxurious, and it just made me feel important. It always started out well but by the time the dinner was ready, I either wasn’t hungry because the wine zapped my appetite, I made a mess because I was sloshing everything around carelessly, or the meal itself didn’t turn out the way I had hoped because I was only half paying attention. I can think of lots of times I would go outside in the backyard with the boys to play and I would bring a beer or a glass of wine because it was a nice day and it felt appropriate. The problem was, I would end up sitting in the chair, drinking wine, and looking at Facebook rather than actually playing with my kids. Remove alcohol from the equation and I am more present, have more energy, and have more intention with everything I am doing.

Removing alcohol from your life does not give you more hours in your day. You still have the same 24 hours as everyone else. But it does allow you to naturally make more use of the 24 hours that you have. It brings to light these hidden patches of time in your life that you likely can’t even see are there because you’re so accustomed to them being taken up with alcohol or alcohol-related tasks. I urge you to pay attention to your time and your productivity. I mean actually pay attention to what you’re doing and if you’re making the most of every moment. This doesn’t mean filling every moment with activity or productivity, this just means enjoying every moment to its full potential. Are you enjoying your time on the beach and being present or are you distracted by your hangover or going to the grocery store to get more Trulys? If you take a break from alcohol, even if just for a week, notice how your days may be structured slightly differently or how you’re filling your time. Just try to pay attention and be mindful of it and let me know what you find 😉.

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