Trying to Retain My Water

I've been struggling to remember to drink 8 cups of water a day. My trusty blue (BPA-free) Nalgene sits next to my computer at work, its 32 ounce capacity filled with ice water every morning. And yet I still haven't hit my goal of 8 cups - not even one day!

Today I discovered a little secret, though. I only drink when around others. I'm a social (water) drinker. I had two meetings this morning, each an hour long. My Nalgene tucked under my arm and a yellow notepad and pen in hand, I trotted off to each one intent on the topic being presented. And at both meetings, I drank 2 cups of water. That's 4 cups of water in 3 hours. Which is a lot of water for my pathetic bladder. At the first meeting, I paced myself at least, consuming the 2 cups over the entire course of the hour. At the second, I foolishly finished off the bottle in 40 minutes and spent the last 10 minutes of the meeting nervously checking my watch and praying that I didn't disgrace myself by urinating all over the uncomfortable conference room chair I was perched on. Things got so bad, I started clutching my hands together in silent supplication to the Bladder Gods - please, please don't let me lose bladder control at the tender age of 30 in front of my boss, a project manager and a bunch of IT guys and gals. I considered walking out and running to the bathroom, but I kept telling myself that there were only a few more minutes left. Thankfully, the meeting adjourned on time, and I was able to race down the hall (goodness knows what my coworkers thought!) to the ladies room (located, inconveniently enough, on the other side of the building) for sweet bladder relief. It's been over an hour and I haven't had a sip of water since. It's like I'm broken!

Well, I managed to get 4 cups out of the way before noon, so I just have to buckle down and repeat the exercise this afternoon...Unfortunately, I'm meeting free and on my own. Wish me luck!

P.S. Mission accomplished! 8 cups of water consumed during the day and evening. Now to repeat the feat tomorrow and the next day and the next...