SUNDAY 14TH AUGUST 2022
Not my best week. It has been so hot, which is nice when you don’t have much to do but awful when you’re trying to work in an office at 33 degrees. Other frustrations at work, a puncture and subsequent 8 hour wait for roadside recovery and all against the backdrop of my dad’s 87th birthday that he didn’t live to see. It has been emotional. If ever I was going to give in and have a drink, it would have been on Friday but I didn’t really want one and that is a positive I have to take from this week – my knee-jerk reaction of wanting to soothe difficult times with alcohol seems to have gone. Another positive is that I went with my sisters to watch the sun rise from a local hill on dad’s birthday and I’m not sure I’d have had the inspiration to suggest that if I’d still been drinking. It was a beautiful experience and it was lovely to share it with them.
MY WHY
Last Sunday, before my week started to degenerate, we were invited to a barbecue by friends in our town and it seemed like a nice way to round off our holiday. All very pleasant and normal – food, drink, music, hot tub, kids playing – what made it slightly unusual was that both the hosts were alcohol free. The hostess (incidentally the person who introduced me to This Naked Mind) decided to go booze-free for 2001 and, just a few months in, declared herself to be off it for good. Her husband set out to do Dry January this year and has just kept going because he feels better for it and sees the benefits for both himself and his family. There was also another guest who just doesn’t drink because she “doesn’t like the way it makes her feel”. So, I was in great sober company – how refreshing! It totally reinforced the notion that the tide is turning against alcohol. I smoked on and off for many years and liked nothing better than smoking and drinking pints in a pub of an afternoon or evening. It wasn’t long before the smoking ban came into effect that I gave up the cigarettes for good and, as the smokers were all forced outside and made to stand in huddles like social lepers, I was glad not to be among them. A lot of comparisons have been drawn between nicotine and alcohol – both perfectly legal addictive substances, both huge money-spinners for those who produce them. Big Tobacco was all powerful, convincing the population that smoking was cool and sexy and people bought into it….. until they didn’t. Eventually it couldn’t compete against all the science pointing to the fact that smoking is really bad for our health and finally the governments, probably reluctant to give up the tax revenue, had no option but to step in and impose advertising restrictions and ban it in public places, leaving those still desperately clinging to their habit quite literally out in the cold. I was completely unaware of it until 2 years ago but it definitely seems to me that there is a Sober Revolution in the air and I’d rather be a revolutionary trail blazer than cling to the bottle until the bitter end – coz it’s a-coming!
Theme Tune: Children of the Revolution by T-Rex