The Movement

The last two months have been jam-packed, which is partially one of the reasons why I haven't written in a while. September was mainly spent travelling to familiar places, while October was all about discovering new destinations. My amazing husband gifted me a helicopter tour of our surroundings with a wine tasting included. It was unlike anything I've ever experienced before; such beautiful and unique views of the places we already know and love. It resulted in having a new appreciation for where we live and a reminder to sit back, relax and enjoy where you are. This was about two weeks ago now, and I'm still feeling the need to bring this mentality to other aspects of my day to day life.

   For those of you who know me, or if you've read enough posts that you get the gist; I really enjoy unwinding with a glass of wine. I truly believe that everything is better in moderation and I don't typically drink to get drunk anymore (I'll write about my 20s someday.) In recent years, I've grown a liking towards the different varieties of wine and their unique tastes. However this year especially, has been dubbed by me as the year of the orange wine. Orange wine is not completely new, but it still has a long way to go compared to the mass distribution of whites and reds in your local liquor store. However, in trying a few more orange/skin-fermented/skin-contact whites, I started to notice another perk to them regardless of their unique taste: little to no headaches in the morning. In fact, over my birthday weekend, I had brought two different orange wines to our rental cabin on the lake and both mornings after I felt almost like I didn't drink at all the night before. As you can imagine, this was a miraculous discovery for someone who enjoys wine, but also likes to keep up an active lifestyle. Turns out, many orange wines are low intervention or natural wines which are made with less additives, like sulphites and extra sugars which contribute to your much dreaded wine-hangovers. Sounds like a win-win situation right? Well, natural or low intervention wines tend to cost a bit more. Think of it as comparing fast-fashion to sustainable clothing brands, your money is well spent for a higher quality product but it's defintiely not an item you buy everyday.

Well the reason why I'm writing this today is that I feel like I had a wake up call. With all the travelling and events in the past two months, my husband and I both feel a bit overwhelmed recently - financially, mentally and even physically. November is often associated with slowing down, preparing for cold weather and Christmas, which can be overwhelming enough for some. So my husband and I have made a promise to scale back our alcohol consumption this month, to focus on our mental and physical health, while saving a good portion of money. I know this is also on the rise with a lot of my friends and connections; terms like sober-curious or lower to no ABV alternatives have been popping up more often. We're not committing to a completely dry November, but in a perfect world, I would only drink natural wine going forward; to save it for a more special occasion while reducing the intake of the extra sugars and addidtives that come with your dry sauv-blancs. Part of what led me to this wake up call was having some of those this past week, and not even fully enjoying them. Just like the idea of flying first class for the first time, are you really going to be satisfied going back into economy? Once you buy a king bed, are you really about to book a camping trip in a tent on an air mattress? Fat chance. That's the joke we made when we got out of the helicopter: I'm done driving, we should just fly everywhere now.

So here's to slowing down. Taking time for yourself and as I like to say; cleansing the soul. The holidays can be heavily focused on consumption, both in food & drink, so let's focus on what we can do today to better ourselves for tomorrow and allow for that time to be enjoyed and all worth the ride.

✌🏻