Last week, in a change from my usual reading fare, I downloaded a short book on Kindle Unlimited called “Being Sober on a Drunk Planet” and read it in a few hours.
Very easy read and reinforced my own habit of sobriety which is now in its 7th year – with not one lapse since I gave up for good in December 2016. I do actually find sobriety enjoyable and that surprises many.
Because.
Being sober means no hangovers. It means no loss of impulse control. No morose thoughts, even depression, when you’ve reached a tipping point of melancholia. Sobriety gives me freedom – no soya milk at 10 pm for breakfast the next day? I can pop out in my car, cycle or walk. Not that the soya milk situation arises but you get my drift.
I think the title “Drunk Planet” is a bit overstating it – with 1 billion Muslims in the world surely Islamic countries aren’t drunk? Closer to home, when we’ve holidayed in France, there is the wine culture yes but getting pissed in a bar is not really a common thing I’d argue.
No, the drunk planet is really the UK and is there any wonder with the state this country is in?
We’ve seen that blonde POS Boris Johnson removed for “misleading parliament” – he and his staffers were regularly getting drunk, lest we forget, under stringent lockdown conditions and wheeling booze in suitcases from the local Whitehall Bargain Booze to Downing Street, with the police clearly turning a blind eye.
This afternoon, I walked to Home Mcr, a bougie corner of the city to the cinema there and Pizza Express, and was asked on arrival if I’d like a large cold Peroni. “No, I’m teetotal” I explained to raised eyebrows.
Now don’t get me wrong. My relationship with alcohol was unhealthy. Peter Barlow unhealthy. I’ve been to AA (once) and admitted to alcoholism as I couldn’t stop after one drink.
Tonight, if I could have just one glass of wine with pizza and stop I would; but I can’t – and from what I see in friends, strangers and people I meet randomly, many millions of people don’t have a STOP BUTTON with drinking.
I didn’t. I accepted that and gave up for good almost 7 years ago.
What I would advocate to anyone who lives for the weekend, looks forward to a bottle of wine, 4 pints a night is to make an effort to give up. Not an half-arsed one of trying a few days, a night, a month, but try it permanently.
You know, I know, it’s a poison. It is addictive. It ruins mental and physical health and ends up for many of us in a spiral of dependency.
Look this weekend at your relationship with alcohol and ask if you can give up and reap the many benefits of long-term sobriety.
Today, I’ve worked on two websites, swum 32 lengths, written 2 blog posts and walked 25,000 steps.
Pats myself on the back.
I’m 58 too not 28 and my mental and physical health are excellent.
Why?
Because I’m permanently sober in a drunk country.
