Comment

See Claire at http://nomorepissingaround.blogspot.com/2010/11/alcohol-is-not-my-friend.html

And my comment:

Grogger said...
Ah my friend, my non-drinking mentor who in truth inspired my year off the piss, my fellow drinker. The battle between good and evil. The battle between being social, bonding with fellow humans, participating in the rituals of society, letting one's hair down, engaging in debauchery, or just enjoying a drink.... and the negatives that come with it (including depression, weight gain, addiction and time theft).

I guess I have the non-drinking perspective now. You are slowly losing yours. The Year Off The Piss will become a blip for you. A dim memory. The perspective, slowly but surely, will be lost, and replaced with a drinking routine that has every chance of ramping over the next 12 months to exactly what it was. Alcohol is like that. It just seems so so good. Why not just one. And if you can have one, why not another, especially if you are having the time of your life. It wouldn't be fair not to. In fact, it would be rude and anti-social not to.

It is interesting you felt flat after two wines one day and was able to push through with a run the next. I found as I got older (35 now) that even small amounts of alcohol made me feel flat the next day. Larger amounts more so.

I think you hit the nail on the head in your blog post where you identified that being off the piss allowed you to focus on larger things. It did not distract you with the routine of being pissed, hung over, depressed or whatnot. You had some clarity.

There aren't any right answers here. No correct behaviour. It is just how you want to spend your time on the planet before it ends, or before you get so old as to not enjoy it as much. Much pleasure can be found in either route, and it is deeply personal.
December 1, 2010 11:19 AM