By Elizabeth Ross Hubbell

Growing up in a small town without a lot of money was a motivator for me—to do better in school, to be the first on my mother’s side to finish college, to seek a new life in a vibrant, diverse city on the other side of the country. I leased a top-floor apartment in a boho neighborhood. I educated myself about wine, bought monogrammed linens, and discovered a love of jazz. I was finally an adult and having a blast!

As my life progressed from single woman to married professional and my disposable income grew, that bon vivant life slowly became intertwined with alcohol. I was the one who brought the good champagne and a carefully selected cheese platter to parties. During my booziest years, I had several wine club subscriptions, visited wineries as a common travel destination, attended barrel tastings, and paired every dinner with a bottle. Even our retirement plans at one point were to move to our state’s wine country, get a few goats, and make our own chèvre to sell at farmer’s markets while working part-time at wineries. This was my identity, and for a long time, I relished it.

As I got older though, that lifestyle started to catch up with me—on my health, my looks, and my finances. I knew, as much as I loved the life I had so carefully curated, I needed to make some changes.

So how does a self-proclaimed wine and cheese aficionado go sober and vegan?

In the summer of 2019, I decided to take a year off from drinking. It started as a Sober Summer, but I felt so good by the first day of Autumn, I kept going. During that year, I came to embrace this powerful new persona. I loved how I felt when I told people, “I don’t drink.” I started enjoying all the wellness benefits (hello, hydrated skin!) and was amazed at how much farther my paycheck stretched each month. During this time, I was also in my first full year of being vegan and enjoying how much lighter I felt. I started learning more about the agriculture industry and the heart-breaking lives of the animals that produce our meat, dairy, and eggs. I began rethinking those retirement plans.

After my year off, I started occasionally drinking again. (You know…now that I had “conquered” alcohol.) To my surprise, I missed the identity of being a non-drinker, even as I sipped a glass of champagne. It’s as though there were two versions of myself struggling to exist. One version, the drinker, was fun, sophisticated (or so she thought), enjoyed summer picnics with friends and a bottle or three of bubbly…but she was also unhealthy, spent too much money, and was easily irritated.

The other version, the non-drinker, was a force! She saved and invested the money she had been throwing away in alcohol. She looked younger, was healthier, and wasn’t afraid of taking a path less traveled. She turned her FOMO into JOMO. Thankfully, the latter version prevailed, and that wine-and-cheese partier gave way to a kombucha-and-veggie yogini who loves her new life.

A couple of months ago, I ordered a bracelet to commemorate my journey. On the inside is engraved the date after my last drink. On the outside, it reads, “Bloom and Grow,” a double entendre to my plant-based life and a firm belief we never lose the ability to evolve into better versions of ourselves.

Follow along with Elizabeth Ross Hubbell in all of the digital spaces and places!

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/6veganingredients/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/erhubbell

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/erhubbell/

Portfolio: https://erhubbell.journoportfolio.com

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