Letter #31: A sip of Courage
April 02, 2026
It's Miss Ing, They say alcohol can give you courage. Well, I can say this is true. Drinking alcohol can give you the courage to do things you wouldn’t usually do when sober.
I grew up without ever tasting alcohol because my father was strict—and I’m actually glad it was that way. I remember my first time drinking it during my fourth year of college, just before graduating. It wasn’t anything strong, just a flavored drink with 3% alcohol. It felt funny because I considered that moment a rite of passage into adulthood.
The first time I drank alcohol stronger than 3% was when I was invited to my former company’s team-building event at a private resort. At that time, I was a little heartbroken. I had a crush on one of my coworkers, and of course, I only shared that with my close friends at work. I never expected that one of those friends was actually being courted by the same guy. I felt betrayed because all that time I was opening up about my feelings for him, something was already going on between them. I avoided her, and because I wanted to forget everything, I drank a lot that day—so much that I ended up vomiting over and over again. It was silly to get drunk over a guy, I know. But I was really hurt at that time. Going back to what I said at the beginning of this entry, that day I did something I wouldn’t usually do when sober. I spoke more harshly than I normally would and made sure she heard it.
Later on, what made it even more ironic was that she drank just as much that night and ended up crying to our friends—as if she were the victim.
Anyway, it’s all water under the bridge now. From what I know, they eventually ended up together and now have a child.
I just remembered that I promised myself I wouldn’t drink again after that—at least, not until today. I had a flavored drink again because it was a coworker’s birthday. Even so, drinking still felt worse.