30 Days Of Sobriety

Let it be known that I was never a raging alcoholic and I don’t plan to become one.

Here is an account of going 30 something days without drinking alcohol of any kind

• Drinking six glasses of water in the same time that you would take to drink six beers, doesn’t feel nice
• The number of times I got asked (please note : with noticeable concern in their voice) “You are not drinking?” As if, my lever would suffer severe consequences if I took it off its staple diet of beer and whiskey
• My upstairs neighbors party really hard and late
• 90% of my social interactions involved saying “Cheers”
• Some of us have dropped those F-bombs with additional qualifiers after one too many drinks and have those “I love you Man” moments, I did not have those in the past 30 days
• Waking up at 7 on Saturdays wasn’t half as bad, and sailing crew acknowledged – “you are showing up awfully early for weekend races”
• I ran 10K under an hour
• Received messages to the effect of “Hey man, thank you so much for getting me home last night.”
• After a long crazy Saturday night on town and four ginger ales later, I walked away with a tab of $3 ( Slice of pizza costs more )

I could go on. However, on a more serious note, the conversations were engaging, I didn’t second guess myself next morning, I enjoyed people-watching at bar, saved some money. Spent a bunch of Fridays home reading, writing and thinking.

I realized that I truly enjoy drinking good alcoholic beverage. May that be a kraft hoppy beer, a pale ale, or a full-body red wine, smoky bourbon or an 18 year old single malt Scotch, or dry and crisp Gin with twist of lemon & tonic. I enjoy the taste.

Also, one day sober or a lifetime, all it takes is a drink to go back to zero. It isn’t about the days and months of sobriety, like all things, it is about moderation

Cheers

Neo