Alcohol advice

I'm a person who can take it or leave it, and leave it so much that often a year or two goes by before I even remember that beer, wine or liquor spirits even exist. Booze just is not on my radar at all. However, I understand full well "social drinking," and have done so both in college and during some of my adult life. But you need to understand that alcohol is one of the pillars of the corrosive effect on physical and emotional stability of this country. It's not just the drunk driving that is the problem, or the self harm of damage to liver and so forth. Even moderate drinking has contributed to the loss of balance that is obvious all over our society (such as it is). So I want to give you some advice if you want to do your bit toward understanding and tackling this problem. The most thorny and deep rooted problems seem insurmountable, but there is actually a powerful grassroots effect that can provide solutions. Here is one suggestion.

If you like to socialize, especially if you are a college student, or if you are part of a crowd that hangs out after work, and even if you are a regular clubber, try being the person who still goes to these spots but orders a ginger ale or some other non-alcohol beverage. I've done this for years. For example I will keep drinkers company but all I care to have is a Coca or ginger ale. Now why is this important? Many people justify drinking, and therefore excess drinking, because it's the place to hang out. If one person who can take it or leave it starts to visibly order just a soda or sparkling water out of a group, you will find there are others in your group who will take courage from your example. I know that for a fact. So if you hang out with a group of say twenty regulars, and you start to just order non-alcohol drinks, like a spicy tomato juice, or the soda or water, people will notice. You might get teased but hey, it's nothing to be ashamed of... you're still with them dancing, watching the game, complaining about your boss, gabbing, or doing whatever you do when you hang out. So you're still with your posse and you're still hooking up or having fun or chilling out or whatever. The difference is that if you are, like me, a take it or leave it person about alcohol, why not use that liberation to have a healthy beverage and give a good example, and a stiff spine, to someone who might feel the same way, or decide to feel the same way and emulate you?

So there's an example of how just one average person can start a huge change. If even one person per club, bar, party, or any social scene with alcohol being served starts to regularly order just the non-alcohol drink, your pals and your extended crew will notice.... and if even one of them copies you to any extent, we are talking about thousands of people who will cut their alcohol consumption. Anyway, I hope you will give this a try. Substance of all forms has become much too powerful and destructive in even its "moderate" use, short of all out abuse, because of its pervasiveness and displacement of more balanced activities and mindset. "Just a few drinks" does alter balance and mindset. You would not crave having a drink if it didn't, I mean, that's the whole appeal of "a cool one" and so forth. That's not a problem as an individual event and feeling, but it has literally consumed a disproportionate share of focus of especially young people and it does alter body chemistry.

Here's the difference. Someone having a few beers when they are at a barbecue, or have come home from work after a rough day is a one off decision and no problem. But someone routinely having a few beers because it is baked into their social agenda is a problem. There is a linkage that is made in the human body chemistry between the socializing and the alcohol. It's not a dependence, except with problem drinkers of course. But it is a blocking of certain healthy circuits and the encouraging of less healthy circuits in the brain that carries over into the rest of your day to day life and thinking. I don't want to go into a whole treatise on the subject in this particular post, but if you've read this far I know you know what I mean. So the key to maintaining and growing the equanimity and balance in your own body and mind is to do the good activities you want to do (the dancing, sports watching, socializing) without the alcohol effect by having non-alcohol beverages and still having your "fun" with your crowd. Anyway, that's my attempt to persuade people who are not of the "take it or leave it" mindset. But back to you all who are of the "take it or leave it" friends, do try and see if your having only non-alcohol beverages when you socialize has an influence on at least even one person you know. I bet that it will and trust me, that will be more beneficial to them than trying to convince them to be a vegetarian ha ha ha. I hope this helps.