Day 181?: 6 months tonight......

Tonight, at about 11.30, it will be 6 months since I was last pissed (apart from that dessert I had which doesn't count). 6 months since I had a drink. 6 months since I was standing, drunk, with embers dangerously close to my hair, as I stood in front of the bonfire.

I did enjoy the pissed bit, although it was the hangovers that really killed me. 6 months ago tomorrow it was a beautiful morning on a beautiful mountain, with my family, and I just sat there, feeling like crap, looking like crap, 1 foot in the grave and not wanting to participate in anything around me.

I have to say it is fucking incredible I made 6 months. I guess you take it for granted because this is a "year off the grog" blog but believe me there were no guarantees. Even though like everyone else who writes about it, "I wasn't an alco", alcohol was a huge part of my life. It still is to be honest - I just don't drink it!! Just last week I was sent a free mixed six pack from a major brewery, unsolicited. It just arrived as I was sitting there. A couple of months earlier another brewery sent me a beer worth $90, beautifully presented as though it was the world's finest bottle of wine.

It is still sitting on my desk.

Just last week I was invited to a craft beer afternoon with the brewer in the Brisbane CBD. I'm going, but someone else is coming with me to do the 'tasting'.

Grog was a massive part of my life. I'm not saying a grog free life is the right thing, but if you think it is the right thing for you, and seems impossible because of all the social and habitual uses of it you have, well, if I can not have a drink for 6 months then anyone can.

That wouldn't apply to any poor sods who have a real medical addiction or whatnot, but if you are a normal drinker who wants to give it a rest then let me tell you it is possible, even if socially you think it is suicide, or if you think your sophisticated or needy habits are too much - they aren't.

Drinking habits can change. And you feel better within 2 weeks. I used to drink most days at home - generally 1, or perhaps 2. I might have more on a weekend - perhaps 3 or 4 on a Friday night at home, more if at the pub. My greatest weakness was a fancy lunch during the week - thinking i was all sophisticated and all. What a load of bullshit. You are just a pisshead, getting pissed, and you don't look sophisticated, you look like a middle aged, overweight lush that young people fear becoming.

And socially? Unless you are with a real young, immature crowd that thinks a good time is going out and getting pissed at a night club every week, then no one gives a shit. You might think they do, but really, like every other aspect of your life, no one gives a shit. Think about it, if someone in your group or at work said they weren't drinking for health reasons, would you really care? You'd just get pissed around them wouldn't you. You might even look up to them, or wonder how they do it. Ultimately, no one cares.

So forget that excuse.

This doesn't mean you turn into a borning, non-drinker. You're not a non-drinker. You're an ex-drinker. You still like a good time. You'd still shag one of the girls on 30 seconds notice if you could. You just had your share sooner than everyone else.

But really, noone gives a shit, unless your peer group is immature (if you are younger), or frankly, a bunch of deadshits you'd be better off ditching (if you are older).

I can't imagine being hungover now. I'd be scared of it. And looking at drinkers around me, they spend their whole time either being pissed, being hungover, or planning to get pissed. Let's not forget alcohol is a drug, and these people are just planning their next hit!!! That's all they do, some of them, although they dress it up in all sorts of cultural bullshit (typically mateship if young or poor or sophistication if well off) to justify it.

How the hell did this happen to every fucking person in my country? Almost.

As for benefits, I'm pretty sure my health/weight has been slowly but surely improving over this 6 month period. I'm probably about 14k down, and even though it has slowed, I'm in a pretty good routine with the exercise and some good has to be coming from it. It makes me feel better if nothing else, and not drinking has let me get in a good routine that way.

On the whole my diet is also better not being pissed or hungover.

I also have a heap more time.

At the moment I can honestly say my life is better without piss.