Advent Calendar 20

I have never considered myself an alcoholic. I have always controlled my drinking, never acted out, never overdid it, and mostly drank good wine, BUT... this year I wanted to pause, take a timeout, and run an experiment on myself: to give up alcohol until I meet one very difficult condition. As of now, I have been abstaining from any amount of any alcohol for 156 days.

By the way, I have run a similar experiment before — once I abstained for half a year, maybe even longer, but without setting any conditions. In fact, because there was no condition attached, I broke my abstinence pretty quickly in Venice, Italy. This time the conditions are very strict, so please do not even offer.

To sum it up, I consider this one of the standout events of 2025.