So, what have I accomplished? Great question due to the fact that I myself cannot answer that in full. I made an oath to myself to attempt to endeavour in my sport as well as my studies and attempt to find some sort of financial stability. I feel I have achieved the first two by playing my first 3 games of senior football and achieving higher grades thus far at Uni (still have exams to go. eek). However, the whole finances part hasn’t gone as well as I planned. My aim was to be able to purchase a new laptop and I have missed the mark, but with the help of a little thing I like to call tax return I should be well on my way to a new Apple Macbook haha.

The last month or so has surprisingly been the hardest I think. This is due to the fact that I started questioning myself more and more rather than accepting my actions- not only with my drinking habits but with other decision making aspects of my life. I think was worrying what people think about me too much and it affected my HSM as a whole. It kind of got to the point where (in my mind) people thought I was not being as active or as sociable because I didn’t have alcohol. In actuality, my life has been hectic the past few months which makes me feel like I’m purposely leaving people out of my life. Not true but I still feel bad about the situation I’m left with…

Regardless of the results of these past few months or so, it’s near impossible to say anything negative about it. I feel confident about myself and the choices I make, (and my reasoning behind them) regardless of how often those choices may be questioned. I’ve decided that I will drink in the future, however, I feel comfortable in picking and choosing when those occasions may take place. My reasons for drinking lie at the fact that I feel as though I have learned all I’m going to learn about myself personally. However, I am definitely not looking forward to having a hangover any time soon so I doubt I will be hitting it too hard – sorry folks

Looking forward to letting you all know how the next few weeks pans out!

I leave you with a photo of me being awesome and drinking a can of COKE at Hayleys 21st. Hoppa on the other hand, was not as sober as me

Cheers, BK

Today marks the 49th day of my Hello Sunday Morning. Also, it marks 90days since I had my last drink. Writing this blog today is actually the first time I have thought about the statistics… When I am finished my Hello Sunday Morning would have constituted 92 days in total. Also, because I stopped drinking  just before HSM it would be 3168 hours sober! I have 41 more days to reach my Hello Sunday Morning goals – although I think I have achieved much more than that already

Over the past couple of weeks it seems that a lot has changed in terms of how I feel I’m progressing with my HSM. I feel as though I’m learning more and more about myself every day, however, at the same time I feel as though I could be learning the most about myself post HSM. Its like I feel that I have achieved what I wanted to know about myself as a non-drinker. That is, now I know how to make the choice not to drink. The only problem is that I now feel as though I have to learn what values should drive my choice TO drink again. In some senses its like I’m encapsulated in a world where drinking isn’t an option and I’m wondering what happens when AND IF I get to the point where I do drink.

This whole non-drinking thing makes you think A LOT…

In terms of reaching my personal HSM goals… I feel a lot fitter since non-drinking and I even got up at 6.00am on Sunday and worked at my sisters property, something that I could not have done in the past!.. So HSM is helping me financially as well. Further still, I would be saving about $50 a week that would normally be spent on a few schooners at the pub.

Socially, I think its a different type of interaction then to before. More 21st’s have past and I really enjoyed them all and was able to cut loose and just have fun in a worry-free environment. One thing I did not expect from my experience is the fact that life without alcohol has actually become easier and simpler. In many situations I have found myself more independent due to the fact that I can drive all the time, I don’t have to stay at someones house if I drink and I don’t need to find an ATM every time its my shout.

If this blog makes me seem at all tired or over HSM that is probably because I’m really looking forward to the end. Not because I can drink but because I think the reflection part will tell me most about what I have achieved through HSM.

Cheers, BK

In my first post Chris set me the personal challenge to just cut loose and enjoy myself like I would if I was drinking. I set off to a good friends 21st with that in mind and it really helped me to grasp more of an idea as to why I am doing HSM. Also the positive mindset allowed me to have fun and run wild with the camera and took some good snaps and some pretty funny ones.

Like any decent party there was rowdiness with the drink and I’m kinda glad there was because it made me able to see a drunken night from a sober persons perspective. Normally when I’m sober in a situation like this I just assume that everyone is on a different planet to me and there is no point trying to converse with them. However, the past weekend I did the oppisite and it was a really good experience. I found that I was able to see the reasoning behind not needing to drink on a personal level, but at the same time see why people do it. I’m starting to see a happy medium between drinking and not drinking, where as before it was more about; you WILL have fun if you drink or you WON’T have fun if you don’t drink.

A few of the boys carving it up with “I don’t wanna miss a thing” by Aerosmith! Balky is using an ice cream scoop for a microphone. This was one of the funniest parts of the night, stoked to be a part of it and had to get a shot!

Finally, this weekend allowed me to see events such as someones 21st for what they really are which is a celebration of life with family and friends. I’m so excited now to be a part of special occasions like this one in the future.

Starting to get comfortable with what I’m doing… only problem is, what happens when my HSM is over?? I really can’t answer that now, hopefully in another post though.

Cheers, BK

So, I’ve been partaking in my Hello Sunday Morning for a couple of weeks now and it has been great! The urge to drink has been there and its been tough but it has felt good to overcome this urge. However, I have come across the one thing I didn’t even think of before starting this. It has felt as though I have been letting HSM be my “excuse” or reason for not drinking in certain situations. If someone would ask why I wasn’t drinking it was almost as though the answer I gave them made HSM the reason and not few times have I replied “because I have chosen not to drink tonght”. The scariest part of all this is that it wasn’t even myself that came to realise this, it happened to be my girlfriend Hayley who pointed it out to me. For her doing this and talking to me about my HSM from an outsiders perspective I am grateful and it has completely changed the way I have looked at the past few weeks. I’ve made a vow to think more about my reaction to the question “Ben, why aren’t you drinking?” (which doesn’t mean I can’t tell others about HSM) but means I’m giving MY answer. Also, I think its equally about not having to justify myself to others which I think I’m starting to grasp the concept of!

I guess what I’m trying to say is that I am just so happy with the support I have been receivingfrom those around me even after only a short period of time. There has been very few to stand back and ridicule which I think is a positive result from my HSM so far. It is important to have people close to you to talk about things and I feel like I am in a good head space right about now.

Big test this weekend! Yet another 21st/going away of one of my close friends. Going to pull my socks up and just have as much fun as possible! Looking forward to it and I’ll try and get some good snaps for a post on Sunday!

Cheers BK!

Like many others I often spend Saturday nights drinking with friends in order to partake in an activity of socialisation. My HSM journey may differ slightly to that of others as my initial plan was to not drink for just one month, but half way through it felt as though I wasn’t making the most of my sobriety. I had heard about this thing called Hello Sunday Morning and wanted to learn more about the concept. So here I am taking the plunge for another 3months or maybe longer but this time it’ll be done properly!

My biggest challenge: Footy season usually calls for drinks after the game with some of the boys and the changing of my post-game activities will be one of the most challenging experiences of HSM. The other challenge for my three- month stint will be the copious amount of 21sts that take place in my circle of friends for this year. My own will be at the end of this year, but still there will be plenty of situations where I will most likely be one of few people not drinking. For me, I think these challenges just add to the experience of HSM and will help me to learn more about the concept of real choice and about myself. When the process is over I want to be able to say that I’m drinking because it is MY CHOICE not because I feel obliged because everyone else is.

My other main goals of this process are financial and fitness based. Being a university student most people understand that I have next to no money and eliminating alcohol from the equation… well that’ll help a lot! I’m going to attempt to track how much money I’d spend each weekend if I was drinking alcohol. To do this I will take into account the money I used to spend (on average around $50 a session) and also how often this would take place such as Uni nights, Friday, Saturday and Sunday sessions. Also, I need a target savings goal. At the moment I am in dire need of a new laptop as I have nothing to take to uni so I want to save up around $1500 to purchase that. Finally, I want to be able to become much fitter and be able to match it with better competitors. My starting point for this goal will be attempting to knock at least 10-15seconds off 3km time trial.

I can’t wait to see how these next few months will go and seeing how I can adapt to the environment around me without the use of alcohol!