Hello Sunday Morning | Dave

TIME TO REFLECT: PART 7 – WHERE TO FROM HERE? (DAVE BUTLER)
13/05/10 • 2 Comments

So, this is it; May 13, the official end of my Hello Sunday Morning. I could have had a drink today. I didn’t. I’m saving that first drink for when I’m with my best friends. One thing one of my best mates said to me the other day was that he’d missed having a drink with me. For whatever reason there is something about having a beer or similar with someone you care about that is just different from having a soft drink or sharing a meal. I don’t know what it is, but there’s something different about it. I am looking forward to being able to share a drink with those people and it was nice to know that those people had missed being able to have a drink with me. So yes, I will be having a drink tomorrow night. And with that then the ultimate question arises: [...]

After exactly six months of being completely without it, I thought I’d weigh in with some thoughts about that which sparked this whole Hello Sunday Morning thing: alcohol. Let’s start with alcohol and me. First off, when I started HSM, I didn’t have an alcohol problem. I wasn’t addicted to it, I wasn’t dependant on it. I drank alcohol to be social. I drank because everyone does. I drank because it’s fun sometimes to get drunk. I drank for the confidence it gave me and for its ability to let me switch off for a little while. Before I stumbled across www.hellosundaymorning.com.au I hadn’t given any thought whatsoever to the role of alcohol in my life. It was something that was there and I didn’t have a problem with it. I’ve covered why I did HSM in previous posts so I won’t repeat myself. But essentially after reading Chris’ posts [...]

When you reach the end of something like Hello Sunday Morning it’s pretty difficult not to ask yourself, was it all worth it? Did I get out of it what I wanted to? Was it what I expected? Being involved in a project for six months is a fairly long time and so obviously I want the answer to be “yes”. But I don’t want to say “yes” because that’s what I want to hear. I want to say “yes” because it’s the honest answer. Let’s get honest! When I started, below are the things I said I wanted to do. Achieving or not achieving these things doesn’t necessarily make it worth it or not worth it but it’s somewhere to start. I want to meet new people and remember their names and who they are; oftentimes when I meet new people it’s out or at a gig. Every time [...]

TIME TO REFLECT: PART 4 – CONSEQUENCES (DAVE BUTLER)
08/05/10 • 0 Comments

One of the biggest things people wonder about Hello Sunday Morning is, “What do you miss out on?” To be truthful it was one of the biggest thoughts lingering in my mind when I was deciding whether or not to jump in and quit booze for six months. A lot of people who I’ve spoken to have asked something along the lines of “Are you going to be a hermit for six months?” or in retrospect, “Have you been a hermit for six months?” I think a common misconception is that by removing booze you remove the ability to go out on Friday and Saturday nights. I think this stems from a generally accepted posit that when you don’t drink on a night out you’re choosing to do so because: you’re planning to have a quiet one; you have to work really early the next day; you don’t really feel [...]

When chatting to people about Hello Sunday Morning one of the first things a lot of people say is, “Wow, I wouldn’t be able to do that.” Along the same sort of lines is “Has it been hard not drinking?” I liken it to getting a tattoo; it’s not as painful as most people think it will be, it can be more annoying than anything else at times, and by the end you hardly really notice the pain at all. When I first started HSM the hardest part of not drinking was being uncomfortable – feeling awkward being out and not having a drink in my hand; feeling self-conscious being sober amidst a slew of drunk people; feeling disconnected from people come 11pm because I wasn’t drunk and they were; feeling like I was being judged by other people. Mid-way through the hardest part was missing the social aspect of [...]