Bridget Stangland knew she didn’t love the way alcohol made her feel. But she felt like cutting out drinking had to be an all-or-nothing, Dry January-style challenge.
She managed to go about three months without alcohol but realized she was treating it “like an alcohol diet (rather than) really authentically choosing to take the break,” Stangland, 31, tells TODAY.com.
When she started drinking again, “I don’t like the way I feel, even if it’s a few drinks each weekend,” says Stangland, a Nashville, Tennessee-based tech event strategist, yoga teacher and wellness influencer. “It creates brain fog. I don’t feel as sharp on Monday morning when I start my job.”
Stangland had also started to notice just how ubiquitous alcohol was in her social life, and that drinking was starting to feel like an automatic part of any event. So, when she was trying to find a sustainable way to mindfully cut back on drinking, she started small.
Like many people during the COVID-19 pandemic, Stangland motivated herself to work out by committing to just 10 minutes at a time. And she decided to approach sobriety with the same strategy: by taking just one week off of drinking per month.
Since embarking on this journey a year ago, Stangland has noticed she has less brain fog, she sleeps better and her skin has improved. And she’s not the only one.
Stangland shared a now-viral video on TikTok explaining the method. And today, she’s built a community on social media around the One Week No Booze Method, including people who have ultimately decided to cut alcohol out of their lives entirely.
What is the ‘One Week No Booze Method’?
The method itself is simple: Don’t drink alcohol for one week out of the month. At the end of the year, that adds up to three full months without drinking.
You can pick any week in the month, Stangland says, and you can start at any time. She recommends people set themselves up for success by starting with a week with fewer temptations. But, if you do slip up, there’s no…
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