No doubt you have searched and found this grog blog because you are curious about your own drinking. Well, I'm not going to lecture you about that. At least not now. I love alcohol, but I don't consider myself an alcoholic. I can have a couple of glasses of wine at dinner. I can have a beer, ("a" beer), or a couple of beers, or 4 beers, or 10 beers, depending on how I'm feeling. I like the taste, I think about what I'm drinking. I'm not a mindless consumer, I don't party until 3 in the morning and stay in bed the next day vomiting.
What I do do though is enjoy having long lunches, and sometimes get a bit pissed after work. I can not do this, I don't think I suffer withdrawals if I don't, and I used to drink a lot more, in my 20s.
I'm 35 now.
So why am I doing this? Well, to be honest, it's for my health. I'm overweight. I don't look good. Nice clothes are hard for me to buy. I can feel a bit depressed every now and then, especially after drinking. I want to look like one of those fit guys that walk past. You know the type. Not the gym wanker, but the guy who looks as though he spends his weekends kyacking and searching for the Stinson. Not the guy who pisses it up all weekend.
Not that I'm that guy, as I said. My Saturdays are not spent in a hung over haze. Not all of them. I used to be that guy (in my mid 20s), but now it is just every now and then (perhaps once every 2 weeks?). I think it is just enough to move focus away from fitness, and health, which is where I want to be.
Take this weekend for example. I visited my brother, a great guy, really got his shit sorted, lives in a paradise mountain type situation in the bush with his fantastic wife. I flew down to visit him on Saturday morning (not hung over thanks, only had a couple of drinks the Friday), helped him with moving wood during the day, and then at about 2 started on the beers. Why not, it was a party, drank with the bonfire with my family. Just what alcohol was invented for. Was pleasantly pissed, and finished with a few wines, then in bed by 9.
No getting really pissed. No embarrassing behaviour. Didn't have splitting headache the next day. Buut, I was flat the next day. No way I could have done more chores, or gone for a two hour walk in the bush. I didn't say much. I wasn't terribly hungover, just flat. And tired. Not only did I not exercise, but I ate a meat pie for lunch, and more crap when I got home (including a pizza for dinner as I was too tired to go and shop and it sounded, and was, just what my hungover body wanted). Dehydrated.
So if I consider the drinking and non-drinking version of the weekend, I think I would be one step closer to being my fit, lean looking self with nice clothes and a fun, outdoors lifestyle if I had not drunk.
In summary, I think I am a moderate to heavy, non-alcoholic drinker, who could clean up his act fitness and weight wise (not could, needs to), and alcohol is a barrier to this. It's also a barrier to me enjoying a full outdoor lifestyle. I only get two days off a week, and I want to spend them walking through rainforest, going for swims, kayaking and doing other cool stuff. Not being hungover and watching TV.
I'm going to give it a go.
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