This entry will be a quickie…Five days with no alcohol. Finished the three-day raw foods cleanse.

Being dry has had the opposite effect in the bedroom. Wow! I like not drinking. (I’m clearly in the honeymoon phase with my new life style.) So far, spending my days without the usual consumption habits as freed up my creative energies to write in my blog and it has freed up the romantic energies within.

I have been living with the assumption that alcohol adds to sex drive—a drink or two loosens me up and helps me put the stresses of the day behind me (more stress, the less libido). While that may have been true in my 20’s and 30’s, apparently it does not hold true in my 40’s. If anything, I am finding that the wine or martini that was part of a nightly ritual may have constrained and dampened my sexual energy. For years I have pined for the libido that I once had a decade or more ago. I have tried bio identical hormone treatments, acupuncture, yoga, vitamins and supplements. Discouraged, I chalked it up to age and changes in my body. I never considered dropping the drinks would have this kind of result. I have hope.

The other factor to consider in this shift in energy is the three-day cleanse. I am experiencing a feeling of newness—as if I have a fresh start. I have considered myself a foodie for many years and yet I think now that I have been in a rut. Nourishing my body with new foods is part of awakening creativity. I am preparing meals in ways I have not thought of before: homemade bean burgers, kale salads and fresh fruit spritzers. Last night I cut open a pomegranate for the first time. What a glorious mess! The full experience of all of my senses was extraordinary. I went to bed asking myself “What else have I been missing?”