In around 2010 when I was meeting my new doctor he asked me:
How many drinks per week?
Me: zero
Oh, so you don’t drink?
ME: oh, no I drink
So how many per week?
ME: zero
That’s not on the form…
I think that was the first time in my life that I stopped to think about alcohol. You see, I do actually really like alcohol. I like different wines. I love, love, love a good quality tequila or mescal. One of my favorite things in the world is a perfect potato vodka martini, shaken with three olives
But I also don’t really drink very often. And now you’re wondering why I’m writing this. I just bought a bottle of Blue Ice Vodka, a potato from Idaho and it’s the first bottle of hard alcohol I’ve bought in over three years
(not an advertisement, no links to buy, I just like it, you do you)
In September of 2023, I quit drinking. I didn’t mean to quit drinking. I just had my last drink and … stopped… then didn’t start again. I just did not want to drink.
It was kinda a weird time for me. I wasn’t sure if I was ever going to have another drink again. At the time, I decided to just take it one day at a time. If I wanted to drink, I could. I never did
Then one day, I had lunch with some friends and ordered a mule. It wasn’t a big deal. I didn’t make some big event over it. I just went to lunch and had an adult beverage with my enchilada
Since then, I’ve tried to be more thoughtful about my drinking.
It does effect my sleep. It does cause issues with my recovery. I do have more frequent flairs of my rheumatoid arthritis when I consume alcohol. Those things are all true. But I also enjoy it and life is about finding that balance.
All of that being said, we do really normalize it in society. Celebration? Drink. Hard day? Drink. Go out with friends? Drink. I’m not writing this to tell you not to drink. I just had a classic screwdriver.
I’m just thinking tonight about balance. I am thinking about finding the place between living life and being a responsible adult. My grandfather was a teetotaler. My mother was an addict, but she never drank because it was a sin. I’m not them, I don’t believe that one drink turns you into an alcoholic. Yet, I also know that alcohol is the greatest risk for cancer. So lift up a glass, in moderation, sometimes, maybe?
I don’t know. I genuinely don’t. These are just thoughts in a random place as I try to deal with childhood guild, sin, and a love of an adult beverage. I guess I just want other people to think thoughts with me
