Reflections on a year soda free

At some point in July I reached my one year anniversary of giving up soda.  I truly cannot believe it.  My addiction to soda runs strong and deep.  I turned to Coke for everything.  Energy, comfort, pain relief, in times of celebration, in times of sadness Coke and his friends Diet Dr. Pepper and Diet Pepsi were there for me.
It all changed the day I read an article on the Huffington Post about just how bad those sodas are for your body.  I wish I could find the article but my recent searches proved fruitless.  The gist of the article was that 40% lab animals ingesting the equivalent of one or two sodas a day developed tumors.   Whatever it said was exactly what I needed to see.  I quit right then, cold turkey.
Fortunately I had zero physical withdrawal symptoms.  Mentally it was much harder.  Ice cold Coke is still the most delicious beverage on the planet.  I had to learn to order plain old water everywhere we went.  Saves on the bill but, meh, it's water.  I had to learn to tough out bad days and stomach aches without my fizzy friend.  Even looking at the picture I posted at the top of my blog makes me long for a cold drink.
But I did it.
For "fizz" I drink about one glass of seltzer water a day but I'm off the soda completely.  Unfortunately I can't have just one every couple of months.  If I have one I want one the next day and the next.  I accept that about myself and I don't want to go back to drinking soda so I just stay away.
I don't care if the people around me drink Coke.  Heck, I kept Coke in the house for Megan all the time and wasn't even tempted to touch it.  It's not a "judgement" thing like, oh gross, she drinks soda.  Not at all.  I just can't handle it.
Giving up soda was the hardest thing I've ever done.  I measured my success and resolve in days and weeks and now, having made it an entire year, I'm glad that I've done it.