That wine buzz isn't just from the wine, babe.

That wine buzz isn't just from the wine, babe. It's from the anticipation of the wine. 

When you're drinking, when do you begin to feel your shoulders come out of your ears?  You know what I'm talking about. That "ahhhh" moment where you can mark the end of the day? Where you can wave the white surrender flag and call it quits on mom-ing? 

If you're anything like me, that moment began before you actually drank the wine. It happened when the bottle opened. It happened when you got out of the glass. It happened when you sat down on the couch before you took the first sip. 

Why is this important? Because it shows us how our brain has been wired to expect a dopamine hit at certain hours of the day. It shows how incredibly intricate our brain chemistry is. It also shows us that when we are going to wine for a specific reason of relaxing or relieving anxiety, we experience the temporary outcome of relief partially because it's a deeply ingrained habit. 

Why is this encouraging? Because you can make switches. You can have a mocktail to mark the end of the day in a beautiful glass. You can treat yourself to a bath or a face mask. You can do something to help you relax that won't just last 20 minutes and end in a raging hangover. 

Are you going to get a temporary massive artificial dopamine hit? No. But your body soon unlearns this habit. When you make these substitutes while examining your beliefs about how alcohol is actually helping you, that's when the magic happens. 

Has drinking wine (or whatever it is) every day become a habit? Get curious about when you begin to feel its effects. That habit may be so deeply ingrained that you start to feel the wine buzz before you even drink it.