rhys wrote:
And I respect that.
I have had my substance abuse issues during my youth and on again off again latter day adulthood with alcohol. But I’d also say, as I have recently unpacked a lot of “stuff” associated with alcohol and my relationship with it, I really enjoy a glass of wine. I really enjoy an Okanagan Syrah with a filet. What I don’t enjoy is either side of the table for or against societies relations to alcohol being Dave/H2Ofun holier than now about it. My glass of wine with that filet adds a great deal of value to my life. My old ways of a bottle of it on a Tuesday, not so much value! And there’s a group of people who could really use help and not be judged to be weak or of less value because of a dependency to alcohol. That framework adds no value whatsoever to the conversation.
I will add this Christmas I was at 4 events in 5 days. I wasn’t drinking. There were a few who were “oh, let me get you a Perrier or Soda?”. Very “servant leadership” about it. And there were far more who were “really? You? Dude...” meanwhile the latter group had a subset within them I noticed after a few hours were intoxicated.
So my point is let’s not judge and place “value perceptions” on our relationship to alcohol. Let’s, like you have in your reply to me, offer support and/or motivation if they request, need, or seek such support. That’s why this thread is created. A support channel. Or at least that’s how I take it.
Hey Rhys, my angle is that I kind of got forced/peer pressured into the Air Force mentality of "be a man and pound back alcohol"....it was fun at 19 in some ways , but not so much fun the morning afterwards and the affect on my bank balance too. By 1992, I was 27 years old, I had done 2 Ironmans and "old enough" to basically figure that the bogus 80's armed forces drinking culture was stupid and I did not need to partake, AND it was counter productive in the quantities that the military culture promoted to an athletic lifestyle. On top of that I had just finished my MBA at nite school during while time the Armed Forces bing drinking was dramatically reduced because I was in the classroom or group work and not in the pub....I quickly realized that all that military drinking machoness was pretty counter productive to everything I wanted to be good at: sport, academics and officership/leadership (you can't do that well when you are hung over and not totally coherent). So I put all that together and I just said, "this makes no sense for what I want to get out of my life"....it was easier to "QUIT" in the context of Armed Forces culture than to say, "no guys, I will only have one". I have never missed it for a day....I get more joy out of ice cream, a salad, a good Indian Thai or Chinese meal, of good espresso than I ever have from a drop of alcohol, so for me it is an easy decision. My wife likes a glass of wine with a special dinner (like tonite) and more power to her and everyone else who does. I wanted to share my context with you guys....we each have items in life that makes us happy and satisfied. If it is a bit of alcohol then great.
But if someone wants to cut it out largely or totally, hey, I will be the head cheerleader on the benefits. it really is awesome. In my tech company we were talking about the secret weapon of some of the top sales VP's who live the road warrior life. We noted a lot of them are fit and don't drink. The young sales guys with infinite expense accounts go nuts, but their performance is impaired. I was not in sales, but did several years of 120K to 150K of travel, and I am certain the attention that I paid to what I put in my body overall was additive to my performance vs the competition. I could always outlast or our hustle them.