After quivering my way yesterday through what has been officially my worst hang-over to date, I have decided that it is either time to re-educate myself about alcohol, or stop drinking altogether.
I’m leaning towards the latter.
A popular misconception about me throughout my twenties was that I was a vegetarian, non-smoking teetotaller. I’m not sure how people arrived at this conclusion given that at the time I was very much all the opposite, I must look angelic. Although I can have one or two drinks and call it quits, on mad nights out with friends (we called them ‘benders’), we would drink vodka like there was a possibility of Russia running dry. None of us ever thankfully came a cropper, more out of luck than planning, as we used London as a giant after-hours playground, bouncing from pubs to clubs in a very merry fashion. My proudest moment was getting on a Night Bus with no money and asking the driver if he would just mind pulling up at the nearest cash point. It seemed perfectly reasonable at the time…!
However, I decided to stop smoking when I hit 30. I had never wanted to be a smoker, so it was something of a shock to realise that I had been a socially chuffing away for 15 years. So it was a good birthday present to myself to finally make that decision, and to stick with it. So non-smoking is now correct…
I don’t drink as often and like I used to in my twenties, but I have noticed that if I do have a few drinks and go above what appears to be an ever-decreasing limit, then the next day I suffer for it. This will mean a full day of being physically ill, and being about as energetic as a pillow. Even the day after that I will be aching and not quite on the ball, and I just don’t like alcohol enough to keep doing this to myself. I appear to be inadequate to judging amounts of alcohol if I go out for a large night, probably because of the binge drinking education I put myself through when younger, so I think it might be better to just stop. And you know what? I am really happy with that decision. I’m making no big promises, but am fully prepared to start exploring the soft drink option.
So all that is left is vegetarianism, it seems. I can just imagine J’s face if I tell him I've seen the future and it is a nut roast dinner...
2 comments:
Re the not drinking option - this sounds like the drink (or rather the hangover, talking). I'll give it a couple of weeks before the call of the Chardonney is too strong.
I've never smoked so your decision seems a good one.
Actually the answer to all these vices is to have children. The result of this is:
a) you have no money to buy drink/cigs/anything
b) you never go out ever again
Seems a bit drastic I know but it does seem to work!
Hahaha yes, perhaps I should continue to enjoy these vices while I can! Although life is much nicer without hangovers, maybe a nice long detox instead will do the trick :)
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