SUNDAY 2ND APRIL 2023
Spring is definitely here – it had better be, the Easter holidays are upon us already! I could bemoan the fact that the year is flying by but I’m just so glad to be moving on from the dark and the cold. Interesting that I should’ve felt it as keenly this winter as any other – I guess I can’t blame alcohol for all my woes!
MY WHY
We had a big family meal last Sunday and having various conversations throughout the evening made me think of other such occasions where I’ve done the sociable thing, catching up with people individually at a large gathering. In the past, those conversations would’ve taken place several glasses of wine in and the gist of them, if not their entirety, would’ve been lost. In particular, I remember being deep in conversation with someone I hadn’t seen in years at a social event shortly before lockdown. I know we were talking about issues his oldest son had had at school but beyond that, I am clueless. To make matters worse, I know he was sober and I always feel a bit ashamed when I reflect back on that. Maybe that one sticks in my mind more because it was probably the last such experience I had but there have been countless over the years. Heart to hearts at the end of the night when alcohol loosened the inhibitions and friends revealed their innermost thoughts, which fell into my drunk ears. All lost. To be fair, it was probably drunken ramblings most of the time, that they’d rather I forget anyway but still…. Then there are the other conversations, the ones where, for whatever reason, I got the bit between my teeth and argued in a way that I would never do when sober – I’m just not that argumentative. I’ve heard it said that a person’s true self comes out when they’re drunk and I always just went along with that theory but I don’t agree with it now. Thinking before you speak and measuring the effect that your words might have before they come out of your mouth is something we learn to do and it’s part of what makes us sensitive, reasonable human beings – those filters are important and part of who we are. Alcohol removes those filters and that’s not a good thing – it’s a terrible thing. These days, I’d far rather be present and authentic in any conversation than let a toxic substance cloud my judgement and/or forget the conversation entirely.
Theme Tune: Talking Loud and Clear by OMD