Blogger’s note: Please see our updated views based on reference to Rachel Hollis.

Can you believe it’s been a year?

I think that question could apply to so very many things but for Lowi and I it’s in reference to participating in the Hollis Co. Last 90 Days Challenge that began October 1, 2019. 

To be honest, in an effort to write this blog as authentically as possible I didn’t yet go back and read what I promised I would do or not do. But one thing is crystal clear. On October 1, 2019 I committed to giving up Diet Pepsi for good, like forever. And as of Thursday, October 1, 2020, I have not had a single sip of Diet Pepsi. This, I believe, is quite the accomplishment for 2 reasons:

1. I clearly have an addictive relationship with it. How else do you explain my long standing love affair and the fact that nearly every single day, even now, I ponder drinking it.
2. During this period of, shall we call it sobriety, it has been in my house ever single stinking day. That’s right, friends, my husband is still drinking it daily. It sits in my refrigerator mocking me, calling my name, tempting me, tricking me with every opening of the refrigerator door.

But friends I have made it. I have arrived at the year mark and it feels good. It also is a profound reminder that a commitment made in the last 90 days of the year can be maintained. We can end a year strong. We can do, as Glennon promises, hard things.

And this has been hard. I am not even remotely joking when I say that at some point almost every day I contemplate, just a sip of Diet Pepsi. Some days it’s a fleeting thought but others it feels like I need to call Lowi and have her be my sponsor to keep me on the wagon.

I have never been in a 12-step program but, and I do not mean this lightly, I have a newfound appreciation for sobriety and the commitment it must take. I feel fairly confident that Diet Pepsi does not have the same addictive properties as other drugs and yet this has been, at times, a genuine struggle. I say “as other drugs” because I now classify Diet Pepsi as a drug in my own mind. The premise of giving up a food etc for 30-90 days is so it loses its power over you and then you can interact with it more “normally”

I am here to tell you that I know, from experience and also simply a knowing, that this is not a relationship I will ever have with Diet Pepsi. But here we are at 366 days and I am still on the wagon. I feel proud and a tiny bit silly. I feel proud that I made this commitment to myself and every day chose to keep the promise. I feel silly that a drink that fizzes and likely also doubles as some sort of engine cleaner has this kind of hold on me.

But here I am. It reminds me that taking life one day at a time, or 90 days at a time, can be transformative. So here we sit on October 2. Don’t let the date mess with your head or be an excuse to wait till November 1. It’s like waiting until Monday. I promise nothing magical happens on Monday ever except a snow day. So what are you going to make happen in the next 90 day and beyond… for you?

Sunshine & Sarcasm,
Lowi & G