+ Yay! It’s the last post of the month which means a new monthly habit and a recap of last month’s. These monthly experiments help me build healthy habits, break unhealthy ones or just learn more about myself so I can figure out what’s really essential!

September's habit is going to stay in line with the "to feel better" theme that we've had going on. When my life gets a little more stressful, I find it even more important to focus on healthy habits and create space for self-care. I don't take the best care of myself when I'm drinking and for Greg, it's a trigger for other unhealthy habits like overeating and staying up too late.

No Drinking or Sobertember!
Our goal is to not drink any alcohol this month! However, there are one or two exceptions where we are giving ourselves a "free pass". Our anniversary is this month, and Greg might be teaching a class on whisky. We think both of these occasions would be lessened if we completely abstained, so we're setting our intention now that we can drink on those—and only those—occasions this month.

+ Drinking tends to be a trigger for other unhealthy habits.
+ We want to eat better, sleep better, and save money, and this is a high-impact way of doing all of that.
+ Alcohol can be an addictive substance and since we use it regularly, it seems healthy to occasionally test how difficult abstinence is.

Making this habit easier to adopt is the fact that we've already reduced our socializing for last month's habit. So, continuing to be this square will reduce the number of tempting situations. And another key for habit success is to have a substitute... if we're cooking something festive and crave a cocktail, we've decided we'll make virgin versions, like shrubs, ades, or sodas!

Reflections on my August Habit: In Bed by 10:
This habit was very successful for me. I was in bed by 10 every single night but two! One night was a predetermined concert that didn't start until after bedtime, and the other was a football game I wanted to stay up to watch live.

The habit did affect our social lives. Like I hardly went out at all!! That's okay, the priority was sleep. We enjoyed allowing ourselves to sleep more. I can't honestly say we really felt the difference, but Greg generally got up more easily in the morning at least, and we know that 1-2 hours more sleep can only help. :)

Overall the month wasn't as "fun" but it was restorative. We spent more time at home and in bed, and I think the rest has done us some good.