I have noticed over the years that a lot of people in the so called ‘spiritual community’ don’t drink and I used to spend a lot of time wondering why that was. Was it because they wanted to keep their systems pure? Was it because alcohol is a drug and they class it as ‘bad’? Was it because they are down-right boring and don’t like to have fun?!

Interestingly in my 20s, I never ever in a million years thought that I would be one of those “sober people”. I LOVED to party, loved a drink (or many) at the end of a long, stressful week, loved a dance, and most of all, I loved to just let go and have lots of fun. To be honest, I thought people that didn’t drink were really really boring, they just weren’t the kind of people that I would have wanted to hang out with.

However, fast forward into my 30s, as I was progressing on my own spiritual journey, I realised that my love of alcohol was slowing fading away. I realised that the more inner work I was been doing, the more self-awareness I was gaining, and I was beginning to analyse every thought, behaviour, and emotion that I was feeling. I was becoming more conscious, to the point where it was very obvious just how damn unconscious I had been living my life previously.

Every time I would feel a ‘negative’ emotion, I would learn to not bury it under the carpet, to not have a drink and go out and numb it. I would learn to really feel it, question where the hell it had come from, figure out what the root cause was. I learned and accepted that my triggers were actually a gift, showing me where I still needed to do some inner work and indicating what subconscious beliefs I may have had looping. The gift being that I then had the awareness to move through and it and live a more fulfilled life on the other side of it.

At the same time that I was drinking, I was also experiencing a myriad of health issues, but if I am really honest with myself, it’s not the health issues that led me to give up alcohol, even though they should have been the biggest driver for me. I sometimes tell people that my health issues are the reason I don’t drink if I don’t have the time to really explain the reason why. The biggest driver of becoming alcohol-free was my increased self awareness and rise in consciousness.

Before long on my healing journey, I fully understood WHY I was reaching for alcohol. It wasn’t purely to have fun and have a laugh with my mates, I was using alcohol to numb and to escape reality. I wasn’t consciously aware of this at the time, but sometimes the little and large pains and stresses of life often got too much, and rather than feel my feelings, release my traumas and rewire my brain, I would reach for espresso martinis and rose wine to cover them up and push them down even deeper. I would get so excited to jump into a new reality at the end of the working week, a reality where the discomfort and the stress would just dissipate rapidly. For me, alcohol was like taking a magic potion and I would vanish into a fun video game.

However, as soon as my self-awareness increased, my need for alcohol rapidly diminished. I actually started to feel really really repulsed by alcohol and any craving for it just completely went away. To this day, I really do not miss it whatsoever. I have to admit that the only thing I do miss is the bonding and deepening of relationships that alcohol brings, but I now try and bring those more deep and meaningful connections into my life over a coffee or a brunch.

I can now say that I think I understand why many spiritual people don’t drink. It’s true what they say, as your consciousness rises, you really will not feel a pull towards alcohol like you used to. You will naturally not be so drawn to numbing substances such as sugar, alcohol and drugs, as you’re equipped to go straight into the darkness as and when it emerges, and you know how to navigate your way through it with courage, as hard as it still may. Of course many spiritual people still do want a clear vessel and they are conscious of what they are putting into their body, as well as the impacts of alcohol on your aura and energetic protection, but I believe that if they are like me, self-awareness may also have been the biggest driver to a sober life.

Just to be clear, I don’t think there’s anything wrong with anyone having a few drinks and I certainly don’t have any judgement towards it, especially given my party-girl history. However, I do think that it’s better to get to a place where you can be truly conscious with alcohol and have a clear intention around drinking it e.g. you are genuinely drinking the glass of wine because it fully lights you up and you love the experience. I think as long as it comes from a place of joy and intention, then it can’t be bad.

I am not going to rule out ever having a drink again but for now it’s safe to say that my body still has a strong aversion to it and I will continue to listen to my intuition and follow my Human Design sacral authority… the gut still says no.