Friday. I get out of bed at 5:30 a.m. The night before, I went to sleep close to 11:00 p.m. because I had several things to take care of before I could rest. Total hours of sleep? Less than seven. The result? My mind collapsed. I got my daughter ready, prepared her breakfast, and made an extra snack for midmorning. I got dressed, kissed her on the forehead after dropping her off at school, and began my routine, joyless and painfully boring commute to work.
About an hour and a half each way. This time, the spring morning in March offered me a beautiful sunrise. The unremarkable streets of my neighborhood looked unusually beautiful. It was the light of a Friday morning, and the first rays of sunlight were beginning to appear, slowly pushing away the darkness of dawn. A show that lasts only a few minutes and that, this time, I chose to observe carefully. There I was, at the bus stop, watching a new day being born, while thinking about what I would do once the sun went down and I headed to the bar.
Is there a need to go out and drink beers? I think yes, and at the same time, no. I do not aim to drink too much alcohol, but there is no denying something about nightlife. Night definitely looks different, feels different when you are in a karaoke bar, watching people lose their stiffness and begin to release the tension stored in their shoulders. Smiles, relief, pink cheeks from makeup but also from the effects of alcohol on the body. Sometimes we need a bit of fun, a bit of hedonistic pleasure, to give some meaning to existence and to please our soul.
I have no certainties, but I also have no doubts. At 10:00 p.m. on Friday, I did not feel the exhaustion, boredom, or apathy that had accompanied me when I woke up that same day, just a few hours earlier. This is by no means an ode to alcohol, but it is an acknowledgment of beer and how I use it to have a good time. I needed to go out and have fun, and since I did not want wine but beer, that is what I did. I felt great doing it. And while worries and problems are not solved by drinking Pilsners, it is no less true that sometimes what helps us most is to disconnect for a while and try to be, quite simply, happier. A few beers help in that process. I can attest to it.
