Month: February 2022

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I Stopped Drinking for ‘Dry February’ and This Is What I Learned

I chose to participate in the Canadian Cancer Society’s Fundraiser ‘Dry February’ – the rules are simple, don’t drink alcohol for the month of February (or as long as you can). You can insert your own joke about it being the shortest month of the year, but the truth is, I could still use a donation or two to get to my goal, so if you have the means please click on this link to donate.

I have every confidence I’ll make it through to the end, but I’ve been observing when the urge to have a drink creeps up, and it hasn’t been what I expected.

What I Expected

I thought it would be when I’ve had a tough and stressful day that I would want to use alcohol to ‘”settle my nerves”. I’ve had plenty of those sorts of days in February, but having to abstain from having a drink hasn’t felt like much of a sacrifice. That’s the good news.

The Unexpected Times I Found Myself Wanting a Drink

  • Food Pairing: Some kinds of foods I most often like to have a beer with – burgers and pizza are notable examples. For steak and some pastas (especially tomato-based sauces) a glass of red wine would have been nice. Instead I found myself with water (or maybe milk) – which are certainly healthier, but it made the meal feel like less of an indulgence
  • Restaurants: Beyond the obvious correlation to the above, where if I’m treating myself to a night out and the food is good, I want to pair it with the right libation, I find there’s a lot of suggestion in restaurants. From my table, I can see what kinds of beers are on tap, signature cocktails get their own featured menu, as do the wine lists. Those signature cocktails catch the eye when you see one being brought to another table.
  • Television: Right now we’re watching Inventing Anna where most of the action takes place within the world of the ultra-rich so you see a lot of partying and luxury. We also watch a British series Cuckoo and there’s a fair bit of drinking on that show too, with the added bonus of making me nostalgic for my late 20s in Grad School at Leeds University. Anytime there’s a scene of people celebrating, or having one of those “settle the nerves” drinks after a tough day, there’s a pang I feel like a voice asking me “wouldn’t that be nice?”

I don’t have regular access to a bathroom scale, so I haven’t been able to measure any weight loss, and frankly, that didn’t interest me at the moment anyway. It’s possible I’m a little more trim and fitting into my clothes is a little easier, but on the other hand, my desire to ‘treat myself’ has translated into a stronger sweet tooth, and I find myself indulging in sweet foods maybe more than I should. I haven’t had all good nights for sleep, but at least none of them have been due to the way alcohol disturbs your circadian rhythms.

Whether it’s for a good cause, health benefits or simply to discover your own patterns, I think doing a dry month (or even a couple of weeks) is a worthwhile endeavour.

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Our Favourite Hikes in British Columbia (So Far)

Hiking is one of our favourite things to do as a family. Whether at home in the suburbs of Mississauga, in Muskoka, or on vacations, it’s something we can all enjoy regardless of the length of our legs and doesn’t take much extra planning or equipment when we keep the hikes reasonably short. Given BC’s legendary beauty, we knew we’d find some extraordinary places to hike. Here are some of the ones we’ve enjoyed so far

Golden Ears

This was the first provincial park we tried once we had settled in. We go over the beautiful Golden Ears bridge (which shows off statues of Golden Eagles, and I once saw a real one perched on a pole too) and through Maple Ridge.

A park of this size always has more trails than you can hope to completely discover, but the Spirea trail was good for our moms who have some mobility issues. The Mike Lake trail was a little more challenging, terrain-wise. I love the moss-covered vegetation, which makes the whole forest look enchanted, especially when the light comes through.

Othello Tunnels

We made it out to this unique attraction a week before the floods would have made the routes to Hope, BC unuseable. In fact, as of this writing, the Coquihalla Canyon Provincial Park which encompasses the Othello Tunnels is still closed. The tunnels were created to support rail transport of crude ore from mines in the area. Kids love tunnels, and the trail is flat and easy to walk or even ride a bike along. It goes along the Nicolum river and the views are gorgeous. It’s an out and back, and we didn’t complete it but you can keep your hike under 3km and see all the tunnels.

Rolley Lake

Rolley Lake Provincial Park

This park gave us Ontarians a glimpse of how big the BC trees (and their leaves) can get. It’s always nice to walk along a shoreline – this is a pretty lake that I nearly took a cold-water swim in.

Honourable Mention: Abbotsford (Discovery Walk and More)

The best places to walk are in your own backyard (I have it on my to-do list to write an ‘Ode to the Suburbs’ post, stay tuned). Abbotsford has a network of trails called the Discovery Walk, and on our first outing (on bikes) we saw a pair of Beavers before we had gotten more than 100 feet from the car. The trail network pretty much spans the town from East to West and comprises nearly 30km of mixed use paths traversing forests, wetlands, and meadows.

Some of the bodies of water that have dedicated parks in Abbotsford are the Mill Lake park, which is a beautiful spot for a bike ride, and the Albert Dyck Memorial park – a former quarry which hosts a waterski club and a swimming area. If I can get myself together enough, I might try a cold water swim there.