New thoughts toward alcohol
Over the past few months I have given a lot of thought to drinking. In the past I have not been a huge consumer of alcohol usually about 4 times a year (my birthday, Christmas, and usually 2 parties that I will attend though the year). I didn’t drink through high school - other than one instance with a good friend where we drank sour puss and did vodka shots in the 10th grade. Even once I turned 19 and was in College I didn’t have the erg or excitement to hit the bars.
What I do know about myself is that generally I have a stomach of steel, I can mix varieties until the cows come up, and really have zero hangover the next day.
The only real reason I drink annually on my birthday is for the celebration with friends. This usually consists of my friends feeding me straight shots of whiskey, tequila, vodka and rum, while sipping on some coolers and a beer throughout the night.
Because of the fact that I don’t feel hungover and usually don’t get sick, I tend to drink at a party until I have zero memory the next morning... which actually really freaks me out.
I find it odd that we consume drinks that aren’t good for us, and that can change our personalities and steal our judgment and memories, all to “have fun”. I have that in quotations because there is always some drama that could have been avoided if people were sober.
For my 23rd birthday this year, the plans were big. I went to brunch with D and a good friend of ours, and had many mimosas. This was actually great because the relaxed atmosphere and good food really off-set the champagne. After going home and having a nap, we had a house party. This consisted of me doing the usual as noted above - but obviously going harder than normal and getting some alcohol poisoning and spending 10pm on puking. TEN PM, that’s how early it hit me. The next two days I was nursing a headache and stomach pains. This was 5 weeks ago and I still can’t stand the sight of alcohol.
Not only was this embarrassing, but also really upsetting the next day when I realized that so many of my friends came together to celebrate me and I was out of the game by 10 pm. I wanted to hang out with my friends and take photos, karaoke and play games, instead I have zero memory of what I’ve been told was about 30 mins of karaoke and dancing and a couple quick hours of gibber-gabber.
Now, I know this was one bad experience and that next time just pace myself, don’t mix drinks and it will be fine. But, no. This actually changed how I feel toward drinking completely. Does this mean I will never drink again? Also no, but I am going to drink very differently.
If I go to a restaurant/bar/pub, yes, I will still get a drink if its a special occasion (probably a martini of sorts). When family comes together at Christmas I will still gladly partake in wine, cheese, and the bomb lemon drop martinis my sister-in-law makes. And of course if there is celebration that calls for bubbly, I’ll pop that bottle and have a glass.
This really doesn’t upset me, and isn’t going to be hard. D doesn’t drink much either and we always have much more fun going to a movie, out for a hike, or spending that money on a new multiplayer video game.
Anyway, just thinking out loud. Sometimes it is nice to write thoughts down. On a side note, I had been thinking this all prior to the most recent party, but having that experience just confirmed my feelings.
My best guess is my next drink will be a beer with the first BBQ of the year and with the amount of food I will consume at the same time, I’ll never feel the beer.