Why Now is the Time to Rethink Your Relationship with Alcohol
- Feb 21, 2025
- 5 min read
Rosanna Shillolo is a certified yoga instructor, personal trainer, and nutrition coach. She runs a lakeside hot yoga studio in Ontario, Canada, which also offers stand-up paddle board (SUP) yoga classes and guided tours and has produced a 3 part vinyasa yoga video series available online.
If you partook in ‘dry January ‘or any other sober month (I once did NO-vember), you may have come out the other side with a new perspective and relationship to alcohol. I know of a few people who stayed on the sober train long after the month ended, while others rode the momentum even years later to the present day. There has been a decrease in alcohol sales and consumption across Canada for the last few years and a rising trend toward sobriety or varying degrees of sober lifestyles.
A month without alcohol may offer the realization that abstinence can feel better than the instant gratification of alcohol tastes. It can also provide an opportunity to recognize the triggers that might normally influence your decision to drink. When we choose to work through past triggering moments, it clarifies in retrospect the underlying motivators, i.e., habit, boredom, stress, or social expectation, to name a few.
If you’re used to quenching your thirst with a boozy bevy after a stressful work day or while cooking/eating dinner, it will require some behaviour modification to break the pattern. If you can substitute an enjoyable non-alcoholic beverage for the usual ‘go to’ drink, you can allow for the initial urge to pass. Initially, it can be quite challenging and require conscious effort not to succumb to knee-jerk inclinations, but once the willpower muscles are flexed a few times, our resolve strengthens, and new habits can form.
In moments of stress, rather than seeking to numb discomfort with alcohol, we can open ourselves to the opportunity to ‘feel and heal’ instead. While not easy, our increased awareness that the long-term reward of better health, both physically and mentally, is motivating. ‘Booze blues’ is a term that refers to feelings of shame or depression that accompany a hangover.
When we make the connection that alcohol is the culprit, we gain wisdom, and the thought of avoiding reoccurring scenarios gains appeal.
Even if long-term total sobriety isn’t your goal, you can still adopt a more balanced approach to alcohol where binge drinking is out, and a more budgeted approach is in. It is not necessarily the financial kind of budgeting, although that is a very realistic factor for reducing intake given the rising costs of living, but more in terms of limiting how many alcoholic beverages are consumed per day or in a given week. We know there is no safe amount of alcohol recommended, however you may try to keep within a certain self-imposed limit to minimize negative affects that go beyond a hangover. We know now that alcohol is a neurotoxin and carcinogenic linked to 7 preventable types of cancer. These recently publicized facts are likely one of many sobering reasons behind the emerging counterculture to hard partying.
Having personally eliminated alcohol for a month or longer and having listened to the experiences of others who’ve done similarly, there seems to be a common revelation that arises throughout a dry period. We gain wisdom and insight into past patterns and the notion that we previously drank without as much consideration of the negative implications. Increased awareness makes one more cognizant to weigh the perceived worthiness of an alcoholic indulgence. As a result, we may ask ourselves more often if the calories, sleep disruption, or potential hangover outweighs the enjoyment of drinking.
Alcohol budgeting reflects a rising trend known as the ‘semi-sober’ lifestyle. It might mean only imbibing on occasions deemed worthy, or it might look like alternating non-alcoholic beverages with spirited drinks to curb consumption on a given night out. There’s been a big shift in the societal acceptance of sobriety reflected by the emergence of a dry social scene. Dry bars offer more than just soda and typical non-alcoholic bevies. They feature specialty zero-proof mocktails curated by mixologists using botanicals and other quality ingredients that promote well-being, such as magnesium, turmeric, and medicinal herbs.
The last few years have shown a decrease in alcohol sales across Canada and a notable decline in consumption amongst the younger Gen Z demographic. There are likely several factors, including rising costs, more health warnings, societal acceptance of abstinence, and the legalization of cannabis. The growing use of alcohol alternatives including cannabis and psilocybin, the active ingredient in ‘magic mushrooms’. While the latter is not yet commercially legal, healthcare practitioners in Canada can prescribe psilocybin and even MDMA, the active ingredients in ‘ecstasy’ for the purpose of psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy.
Some therapeutic practitioners are promoting meditation, dance, yoga, breath work, and sound healing experiences that include micro-dosing psychedelics to heal trauma and improve mental well-being. Government-granted research has shown both psilocybin and MDMA can rewire the brain to help those suffering from PTSD and other mental health disorders such as medication-resistant anxiety and depression.
Recreationally speaking, products containing these active ingredients can easily be purchased online, underground or in the case of psilocybin, at proudly displayed, law defying brick and mortar storefronts. I’m not advocating the use of any such substances; even the socially acceptable and widespread cannabis use isn’t without health implications, i.e., impaired thinking, memory loss, and mental health impact, but the trend toward recreational micro dosing such substances is increasing and notable. So, while people may be steering away from alcohol due to the now-known negative implications, they may be steering toward alternatives with lesser-known implications. Perhaps for now, this leaves people in the comfort of the ‘unknown’ as was the case with the glorification of alcohol until recently. Additional research is ongoing and certainly required.
Further fuelling the booze-free movement, what seems like droves of public figures are openly and candidly discussing their sobriety journeys, such as Ann Hathaway, Brad Pitt, Jason Bateman, Tom Holland, Adele, Dax Sheppard, Drew Barrymore, and Bradley Cooper, to name a few, This supports the masses on a similar path and inspires others thinking of starting on it.
Podcasts are providing plenty of content on the subject matter which shows there’s an increasing appetite for it. It’s human nature to want to learn, evolve, and improve our way of life, and perhaps collectively, we’re doing just that. Changed behaviour as a result of new insight or information is the very definition of learning. Maybe this article will give you pause to rethink your relationship with alcohol, or maybe it just offers some brain food for thought. Ultimately, we all must make decisions that best benefit our overall health and happiness.
If you or anyone you know is struggling with alcohol or substance abuse disorder, there is help. Services available in Ontario, Canada:
Visit here.
Click here, or 1-800-565-8603
For those 20 years and younger, Kids Help Phone: 1-800-668-6868 or Visit here,
Worldwide, you can access Alcoholics Anonymous here.
Read more from Rosanna Shillolo
Rosanna Shillolo, Yoga Instructor, Wellness Coach. Entrepreneur
Rosanna graduated from The University of Guelph with a bachelor of arts degree in psychology. She personally experienced the positive impact of exercise and good nutrition both mentally and physically and wanted to help others do the same. She first became certified as a CanFitPro Personal Trainer. Years later, due to injury, she sought out yoga to heal her body and discovered it also helped balance a busy family life raising three children. Living on the lake inspired Rosanna to take her yoga practice to the water and naturally to a Paddle Canada certification as a stand-up paddle board (SUP) instructor to offer SUP yoga classes. Most recently, she was certified as a Precision Nutrition Coach so that she can offer a wide range of wellness services.
