"La première quinzaine" ... or should that strictly be "quatorzaine"?

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I'm at the end of two weeks teetotalism at midnight tonight ... this is the longest in a LONG time that I've gone without any alcohol of some sort.

I've always liked to think of myself as a "low input" social drinker, and have even thought of myself as being teetotal in the past, but I've always kidded myself into believing myself.

But now the reality of actually making it to the end of the year is beginning to make its presence felt, and talking to colleagues today I actually said - with a modicum of truth as it happens - that I feel like I've "woken up", that the general "fug" that has been my head - particularly in the mornings - is beginning to lift. Maybe it's all in my head, if you'll excuse the pun, but I really feel like Father Jack in the Father Ted Episode 'Alcohol, Cigarettes & Rollerblading', all the alcohol finally having left my system.

Luckily I've not had to shout "Don't tell me I'm still on that feckin' island!"

Biting off more than I can chew ... ?

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I absolutely adore beer and find the process of brewing fascinating. Dark beers, IPAs, stouts, wheat beers, white beers ... you name it, I love it. Unless of course you mention American light beers, because they're like drinking flavoured water …

I'm not a drunk, I hasten to add. I don't drink in the mornings, I don't get the shakes if I go without, but I do adore the flavour, aroma and 'social lubrication' that beer brings. It's been a big part of my life since I was a teenager, and will continue to be.

Of late, however, I've found I do have a love/hate relationship with beer, principally because it takes me what feels like the equivalent of the half-life of plutonium to get over major drinking sessions (the last one, at the beginning of December 2010, took me too long to mention).

In recent months, therefore, I have been considering a number of important questions:

1. could I realistically give up alcohol for a period of time?;
2. could I overcome my own (weak) willpower - the hardest battle?;
3. could I find (legal) alternatives to beer?;
4. could I craft something useful – a realistic goal (or goals) - out of abstaining from beer, such as giving to charity / health benefits / savings, etc.?; and
5. if I give to charity, which charity should benefit?

Besides these questions, I needed compelling reasons for abstention. These are based I have to be honest around fears / my neuroses, and are as follows:

1. the condition of my liver – my father died of cryptogenic (i.e. cause unknown) liver disease in 2008, so it makes me wonder, do I have an inherited liver weakness and do I want to aggravate it if so?;
2. why I consume alcohol in the first place – I rarely get paralytic, but I do use it as a social lubricant, as a combat against stress and to simply relax; question is, are there alternatives?;
3. the cost of alcohol – I spend quite a lot on it, I must've spent £500+ during 2010 alone (and compared to some people, that's not a lot at all);
4. how much I want to carry on drinking beer – in order to abstain, I have to abstain 100%, there can be no half-measures (excuse the deliberate pun);
5. calorie intake – for the amount of exercise I do (clearly not enough) I at best cancel out the alcohol calorie intake; how much better could I feel by continuing / upping exercise and yet stopping alcohol?; and
6. "drunkenfreude" - the sense of needing to enjoy a little joyful observation of drunks in action.

After much deliberation, therefore, I have decided to go for "no beer for one whole year" during 2011. Friends and colleagues I have mooted my idea to have branded me anywhere between "brave" and "tw*t" ... in fact, sat in The Brewery Tap bar at The National Brewery Centre yesterday, supping my beloved Worthington's White Shield, I did begin to seriously doubt myself. Could I do it? Am I just being stupid? Do I crave attention? (don't know where that one came from) ...

If I am to successfully abstain for the whole of 2011, I need goals. I also need structure. The structure will be as follows:

1. January – March: probationary period, settling in, invitation to others to see my progress at this blog before ever having to sponsor me, proof-of-concept, teetotaller acceptance (i.e. can and will I actually do it?);
2. March – June: invitation to others to sponsor me (proof that I can abstain proven by 1) above) + SurveyMonkey tickboxes for sponsors to choose which charity I should give to (I can't decide myself) in a year's time;
3. June – December: establishment of a JustGiving charity page once I know which charity to give to; and
4. January – December: weekly reports on this blog of my thoughts / difficulties / benefits / triumphs, etc.

I just hope I can manage this now ...