So my Dry 2018 has met the big Kahuna: a break-up!
As I mentioned in Month 1, I’m not a huge drinker, but when this time of life comes around, your girlfriends (and sisters or guy friends, etc.) will no doubt hit you with “You need a drink” or “You can let that not drinking thing go now, right”? Well, not exactly.
The advantage to being 36 and a yogi is that I don’t actually want to drown my sorrows. I actually want to feel them.
I want to fully experience my feelings and learn from them. I want to sit with them and see how I’ve helped create my current situation and how I can create something different next time. Mild drinking or smoking a joint or shopping or staying busy are all relatively acceptable forms of escapism in some yogi circles, but you reach a point in your life where you realize you either deal with it now, or deal with it later.
As my teacher Dharma Mittra reminds us, we can either learn our lessons now, or we can learn them later. As an overachiever, I always pick now. So at this time in my life, break up or not, I want to be present.
It helped that shortly after this occasion, I was whisked off to teach on a vegan cruise through the Caribbean for 11 days. Synchonicity, I think so! So cruising I went, with my best friend as my roommate and security blanket and about 2,000 vegans to support healthy choices. Full transparency: I did have a few sips of champagne but not even half a glass. I still consider this a win.
By Anna Farkas
Anna is a Brooklyn based yoga teacher and writer. She loves looking at all the sides of the health and wellness industry and shedding some playful light on tough issues. Her favorite hobby is buying plane tickets and she leads retreats internationally. She is AcroVinyasa certified and pursuing her 500 hr certification with Dharma Mitra. She will eat all the avocados in the sunshine.
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