It’s Sunday morning. You wake up with a dry mouth, a raging headache, and too much anxiety to check your phone.

“Shit. I blew up my ex again,” you groan as you pop another two Advil and pray that it’ll dull your thundering hangover headache.

Another weekend of Sunday Scaries. Another weekend of dreading Monday. Another weekend of regretting what you did last night.

I lived in this constantly draining and anxiety-provoking cycle for years. I always wanted a change, but somehow I kept getting looped back into old habits.

It wasn’t until I discovered what real fomo is that made everything change.

Haven’t we all fallen for the idea that we should live it up while we’re young, missing out if we’re not spending our weekend partying? But the real fomo is missing out on the days following. The days you miss when you can’t get out of bed because a crippling hangover and nausea sends you back to sleep. And the week that follows where your mental clarity is blurred, and your brain stays foggy.

Somehow our definition of “living” has been twisted into the desire for alcohol and substance-induced memory loss of what we even did on the weekend. We wait for the weekend to get our short-lived dopamine high just for the comedown to hit us 40x harder.

But what if you gave “living” a better definition? A definition that’s based on producing natural dopamine and fulfilling your purpose.

THIS is what true living is. And that’s when you’ll discover just how badly a change in your weekend habits is needed.

Get Happy From the Inside Out: The Secrets to Natural Dopamine Production

Dopamine is the body’s “feel-good” neurotransmitter and hormone. Anything that drives pleasure or motivation, like shopping or eating a good meal, produces a surge in dopamine.

Dopamine is involved in many of your daily functions:

Memory
Mood
Sleep, hunger, & sex
Learning & concentration
Movement & exercise
Habits
Reward pathways

(Watson, 2021)

Dopamine is just like receiving a trophy reward but on a chemical level. When we do something that makes us feel good, we release dopamine and crave that feeling over and over again.

Alcohol & Dopamine Production

Alcohol, like many substances, causes the brain to flood with dopamine. We feel euphoric and unstoppable when we’re drunk because our brain is in a pool of pleasure.

When you establish weekend drinking as a regular occurrence, it creates a routine. Your routine is cued by leaving the office at the end of a work week. The routine is drinking with friends all night at the local bars. The reward is the immediate euphoria of a dopamine high.

What you may not realize is that alcohol’s spike on dopamine is pretty short-lived. Just like a roller coaster, your initial drinks boost dopamine levels to the sky, or top of the hill, until the brain adapts to the increased levels, and the roller coaster comes rushing down, causing a “hangover.”

Dopamine is the driver, and your mood is the passenger princess. Where dopamine goes, your mood follows. When dopamine levels plummet, your mood plummets too.

Driven by the craving for that lost high, you unconsciously increase your alcohol intake each weekend. You wait all week for the weekend to hit, take shot after shot to feel those 3-5 hours of euphoria, and get hit with an intense withdrawal that makes you crave the weekend again.

Andrew Huberman, Stanford neuroscientist, discusses the physiological effects that alcohol has on the brain and body over time. Learn about what causes binge drinking, the biology of a hangover, and the damages of low vs high alcohol consumption.

Instant vs Delayed Gratification

Quick-hit pleasures aren’t the same as true happiness when they stem from unhealthy habits (i.e. drinking, junk food, social media).

Your brain prioritizes instant gratification because it’s easy. It’s normal to prefer putting little to no effort into something to get a reward. But the quicker pleasure hits, the quicker it leaves. Focus on things that require effort to bring you long-term and sustainable pleasure.

True happiness stems from natural dopamine producers like:

A morning sunrise
A sweaty workout
A cold plunge
Meditation
Laughter
Cooking
Good music
Dancing
Finishing a project
Being in nature
Reading a good book
Traveling to a new place
Healthy relationships & socializing
Cleaning your space
Working at your passion

Become addicted to real life joys. Embrace the life that is happening right in front of you and all of the opportunities that lie right before your eyes.

Fill Your Cup To Pour From The Overflow

How do you go from draining your cup on the weekends to filling it? It starts with making the conscious decision to choose better. Prioritize the things that nourish your mind, body and soul. What will make you feel good tomorrow and days after?

Just like a garden, you need watering and care too. Use the weekend to weed out negative habits and plant the seeds for a better you.

Your 3-Step Guide: Trade Sunday Scaries for Sunday Success

Set Boundaries: Set Aside Time For Just You

There’s a silly stigma surrounding being “selfish.” But being intentional with your time is necessary when it comes to self-care. As much as you love to show up for others and feel the need to be available, it’s crucial to put time aside to just focus on you.

Why is it that time alone is treated as a luxury? It’s our right to be alone with our thoughts, to find peace of mind, and to come home to ourselves.

Whether it’s 10 minutes or 2 hours, take the time every weekend to find stillness and peace. Decline invitations and schedule “me time” in your calendar. Maybe this is having a cup of coffee and reading a book, or maybe it’s sitting by yourself at the beach with a good podcast.

Check in with yourself. Ask yourself, “How do I feel today? Where are my energy levels? How can I do something kind for myself this weekend?”

When you take the time to see where your head’s at after a busy week, it’s easier to get clarity on what you need from yourself and what areas of your life need a recharge.

Swap Out the Old & Get Moving

Reclaim your weekends as time to fuel your body and mind for the week ahead. Leave behind weekend binges that leave you feeling worse than when you started.

Exercise. Instead of another weekend at the same bar, get to a workout class that you’ve been wanting to try. Play a sport with friends. Join a run club. Explore a new hiking trail. Go for a long walk or hike in a place that you’ve been wanting to explore.

If you’ve been killing to try that reformer Pilates class at your studio close by, Saturday is your time to do so! The incentive to move your body on the weekend will echo through your entire week.

Brain reboot. Imagine your mind is like a race car stuck going at top speed after a week of mental traffic.The weekends are for pit stops after a full five days of overstimulation. Curl up with a new book. Or ditch work emails for lunch with a friend. Or get lost in the flow of journaling in a new coffee shop.

If you take the time to slow down after a hectic week, your body won’t have to start out on overdrive and can take off with a clear mind.

When you work a 9-5 during the week, you probably don’t have much time to get out, explore new places, or try new things during the week. Use the weekend to try something new and get out of your comfort zone when it comes to moving your body and relaxing the mind.

Remember, self-care isn’t selfish, it’s essential. By investing in your physical and mental wellbeing on the weekends, you’re setting yourself up for a week of increased productivity, creativity, and happiness. Your body, mind, and Monday morning self will thank you.

Uncover Your Soul’s Purpose

Do you ever have that feeling that your life is missing something? The free hours of the weekend are meant to explore this part of you.

Ask yourself the big questions: What am I most passionate about? What motivates me to jump out of bed every morning? What makes me feel truly alive?

Your soul’s purpose is the continuous and ongoing pursuit of personal fulfillment. Your purpose is where you find the highest contentment and excitement. When you find it, everything starts making sense.

Your purpose doesn’t have to be ground breaking or grand. Your purpose might be painting or it might be volunteer work. Your purpose is what makes you unique to this world.

Stop confusing your job with joy. Don’t fall into the trap of equating your purpose with your paycheck. A job can be just that – a job. Your job is what you do. Your purpose is who you’re meant to be.

Dedicate at least 1-2 hours every weekend to nurture your personal calling. Do what makes you smile and heals your inner child. Chase the dream of becoming the person that you always wanted to be.

When your week is full of responsibility, do yourself the favor to spend time discovering who you’re meant to be and prioritizing your happiness.

How To Find a Healthier Relationship With Alcohol

As someone in her mid-20s, it has been quite a journey understanding where my relationship with alcohol stands. I have gone from being known as “black out queen” to stone cold sober to finally finding a sweet spot of controlled indulgence.

Here’s the thing: this journey is rarely linear. You might take 10 steps forward then 3 steps back. But that is okay.

Your New Mantra: One Day At A Time

The most important step is to take things one day at a time.

The biggest game changer was ditching the “never-again” attitude that I carried every weekend. I found that when I told myself, “I’ll never drink again,” every weekend, I would without fail wake up with a raging hangover.

Suddenly, the challenge wasn’t this huge beast of sobriety. It was simply not drinking today. Or stopping after 2 drinks tonight. This smaller, digestible goal clicked with my brain. I’m not saying it’s easy, but breaking it down into a smaller goal helps the brain better rationalize your decision. And you get the bonus of gratification from checking off that box and the mini-high of sticking to your promise to yourself.

Go Out Sober

Here’s the truth: alcohol isn’t the gateway to good times.

It’s normalized in society to excessively drink every weekend. Drinking = fun, right? People pair alcohol with fun due to social anxiety or uncertainty of how to exist in a crowd of drunk people.

I had to reprogram myself to see fun as an inherent state of being, independent of any alcoholic beverage. It wasn’t the alcohol that I needed to have a good time. It’s about the people, the vibe, and the energy that you choose to bring.

Challenge yourself to go out totally sober or after stopping at 1-2 drinks. Pick a night where you’re going to an environment that you’re comfortable in, and own your sober fun. It might feel awkward at first. But trust me, your brain and body will prefer a hangover-free day after.

Use A Placebo

The easiest trick in the book: use a placebo when you’re out.

If you feel weird without a cup or don’t like to be questioned as to why you’re not drinking, order a soda or energy drink. Your drink is like your wingman, an ally to keep your hands occupied and your social anxiety at bay.

Some nights might be a Red Bull night to make it until the bar closes at 2 am. And other nights might be a club soda and diet kind of night. Regardless, you still win two jackpots: hangover-free and more money in your pocket!

Final Thoughts

The journey is yours, and it’s about finding what works for you. Remember, setbacks are human, progress is real, and a controlled relationship with the things that fill you rather than drain you is a hell of a lot more fun than chasing a toxic relationship.

Don’t settle to pour from an empty cup come Monday. This weekend, choose to overflow with intentionality and watch your energy ripple through the week.

Cheers to your path of self-discovery and owning your mid-20s like no other, hang-over free!

Sources

https://www.health.harvard.edu/mind-and-mood/dopamine-the-pathway-to-pleasure