With New Year’s Eve only a day away the issue of alcohol consumption is one that concerns most of us.
But for me it is different as I have not been able to consume any alcoholic drink for some months. As I’m on a mix of oral morphine (a cough mixture like liquid version) and other strong pain killers as well as antibiotics on many occasions, on the few occasions where I have tried to enjoy a glass of beer or wine I have become very nauseous soon after.
Couple that with the difficulties I already have in getting about and the added problems that alcohol may bring mean I have chosen to abstain completely.
Although I was by no means a heavy drinker, I was a typical middle class consumer and would enjoy a glass of wine in the evening and more than a few glasses at weekends.
Abstaining has been fairly easy, I’ve had more than enough issues to contend with and honestly haven’t missed alcohol for the most part. Christmas Day was the only time where I felt left out and would have loved to partake of a glass of Champagne in the morning, a glass or two of red wine with dinner and perhaps a nice single malt in the evening.
New Year’s Eve is a different matter entirely. I’m not going to any parties this year and will be stuck at home. Not being able to drink makes it all seem rather pointless and I’m not even sure I’ll be able to stay awake to midnight! But it has made me think about alcohol and whether I really need it at all?
I’m naturally introvert in normal circumstances but at parties when I have been mixed with alcohol in the right (or wrong) proportions I can become the most outgoing, gregarious person there! So clearly, for me, alcohol is a liquid crutch on which I lean when in social situations and gives me the confidence I lack in normal day to day life.
Could I possibly learn to do without it yet still enjoy a party? The benefits are clear. No more waking up the next morning and having those hazy recollections of last nights antics, no more embarrassing stories from others or worse still – photos! And I wouldn’t need a taxi, I could drive there and back and I wouldn’t awake with the mother of all hangovers!
But the thought of any large social occasion without the assistance of alcohol sends a shiver of fear through my body even though I recognise that if I can do it ‘with’ alcohol then surely I can do it without, it’s just a state of mind after all?
So the question is, should I make 2010 an alcohol free year? I’m not sure I can do the ‘just have one or two drinks’ route, I’m all or nothing! Is alcohol really necessary, does it give me anything that I can’t live without and be more healthy, fitter and happier?
The other option is I make up for all the missed drinking and play catch-up as soon as this frame is off! Feel free to leave comments!
I’ve been a non drinker for a long time now. I no longer miss it, and kind of find it a bit depressing how much other people rely on it.
However, that said, I am a raging extrovert, and alcohol never really made me do anything I wouldn’t do sober: aside from spending £30 in an evening on nothing, and vomiting on pavements; and I don’t really miss them!
I think we are so blessed with an awesome world, great lives and the faculties to enjoy them so thoroughly, that it seems almost wasteful dulling our senses with drugs and alcohol (oromorph an exception, obviously).
So yeh, I’d say go for it!
Teetotal… no problems… Like you said, cheaper nights out… and no need for a taxi… I’d say stay off the alcohol… think of the money you’ll save and it’ll do your waistline the world of good too (not that I’m saying it needs it 🙂 )
My waistline does need it though! Going by the responses on Twitter I think I may be choosing the tee-total option 🙂