One of the only downsides I have in my life is my alcohol consumption. This is quite common in the expat communities that exist in all the places I have lived in Asia and all of the expat communities that I have heard about that exist all around the world: We all tend to be a bunch of drunks.
It is really the only "bad" aspect of my existence because other than this I am quite healthy. I exercise regularly, get plenty of sleep, eat reasonably well, and even read books and crap. The booze is basically my only downfall and after talking to a friend of mine that completely stopped drinking alcohol I thought I would do some notion of that in my own life. I didn't think I was going to quit because it is not something I find to be terribly detrimental to my overall life and in many ways I think it enhances my existence. The problem is that I do it all too often and it has become too much of a part of my life. It is an addiction and I haven't yet gotten to the point where I can go and hang out where people are drinking and not do so myself. I've done it a few times but I needed an exit strategy so that I wouldn't have that first sip. One of my friends says that "one is too many and 15 isn't enough." And I think he is correct about that.
I am part of a group of people that refer to ourselves as functioning alcoholics in that we drink a LOT but it hasn't ruined any aspects of our lives. We don't get into fights, it doesn't destroy our relationships, and we don't get into trouble either with finances or with the law. We just kind of slide through life in a bit of a haze.
My last post detailed the downsides of stopping drinking for a functioning alcoholic and now I would like to focus on the good things or the "pros."
Pro number 1: I'm eating more
One of the things about being a functional alcoholic is that food stops being terribly relevant in your life. I would eat for sustenance and didn't really care all that much about what any of it tasted like. Now that I have only been drinking one day out of the last 14 I actually put a bit of effort into getting food that I really am looking forward to and chasing it down not with wine or beer, but with some other drink like soda water with lemon.
I am eating as much as I should eat whereas before I was just eating "whatever" as a sponge to soak up the booze. I don't know how many days I have spent satiating my hunger with beers and then eventually getting something like a large pizza to scarf down on when I got home but it was a lot of them. Some of these days I wake up the following day and look in the fridge so that I can remember what it is that I ate the night before.
If you haven't see the drunk David Hasselhoff eating Hardees at home you should see it. It is both depressing and hilarious at the same time.
Pro number 2: I remember stuff
I have a terrible memory in all aspects of my life. There are multiple whiteboards in my condo right now to help accommodate for this terrible memory. In these past 3 weeks of seriously diminished alcohol intake I have noticed that I am remembering everything a lot better and I think that this is mainly because I am not formatting my brain with booze every single day. This is a huge benefit because well, we all need to remember stuff right? Plus it isn't cool running into someone for the 8th time and you STILL don't remember their name but now you have to pretend that you do by calling them "dude" or "buddy" or "pal."
Pro number 3: Mornings are far more bearable
This one should be obvious. Without alcohol, you don't have a hangover. I've lived the past near 30 years of my life having a hangover almost every day. Even on the occasions where I didn't even drink the night before I woke up feeling like I had a hangover probably because of the residual effects of large amounts of alcohol that was still swilling around my system.
I've heard that it takes 3 days for the booze to fully work its way out but I think that for someone like me that it actually takes a lot longer than this. I am so accustomed to feeling terrible in the morning that it is just my default state. Lately, I still feel a bit crap first thing in the morning but after about 30 minutes of being awake and possibly going on a doggy walk, i feel fine and am a lot more productive with the rest of my day.
I read an article not long ago about how "hangovers get worse as you get older" and I am living proof of this. I suppose it seems obvious and people like to attribute it to things like your body not being able to process the toxins as well but I think we also need to look at the fact that as many people get older, they actually have to consume more alcohol in order to get drunk. That's been the case with me but I don't really want to get scientific about it. The fact of the matter is that any hangover sucks and not having one just feels fantastic.
Pro number 4: I'm losing weight
I'm not fat but like anyone in their 40's that doesn't run marathons daily, I got a few lbs on me that I would rather not have. This of course is in the least desirable areas such as my belly.
I have never been an overeater. Actually my family is blessed with a rather magical metabolism even if I was. The problem is that on days that I drink I tend to drink full-flavored lager and these are 120-150 calories each. I will drink 12 of them as well. So therefore I am getting nearly all the calories someone my age should have OVERALL just from the booze. Now once we add actual food into the equation I am well over the amount of calories that I should be eating.
The way that I look at my non drinking days (which has been most of them lately) is that for every day that I don't go out drinking, this is the same as if I had went jogging for 90 minutes AND ALSO went out drinking.
While in 20 days or so the weight loss hasn't been extreme, i can already see it in my face and noticed it on a scale. If I can carry on with this, who knows where it could lead? I've always been somewhat athletic and maybe this could become a new passion for me.
All in all I am quite happy that I decided to do this although there are downsides of course. I have less fun because I know that almost all of my friends only do one thing when they get together and that is to drink. I am not trying to blame anything on them because at the end of the day we are all master and commander of the ship of life that we are steering. It probably wouldn't be a terrible thing if I was to make an effort to hang out with some people that don't drink all the time though. That might end up being the next step.