Alcohol And Personal Growth
It’s Friday evening and I am sitting in my apartment, trying to fulfill my penultimate resolution for the year. A blog post a week, I don’t care where, on the company website or on your own blog, but I will expect that blog post by end of the week. I do that; talking to myself, threatening, demanding, kicking my own butt… The poor slob in me had it hard this year: I made him quit alcohol.
I never considered myself a heavy drinker, and so do most of people around me. What is the big deal if that slight hangover can be shaved off in a few hours? A solid breakfast, plenty of water and a run will take care of it. Well, actually maybe not: I have the feeling that little routine of occasional excess may have seriously slowed me down…
It is a strange thing to observe our social gatherings through sober eyes. A frightening view sometimes. Alcohol is practically shoved down your throat. Refusing a drink is the cause of strange looks at the very least, and quite often seems to be an invitation to coercion: after all, “you work hard, you play hard”, no? Well, not exactly.
It is not something I really planned for either; I had already been gradually reducing my consumption for the past two years, switching to lighter beverages and staying away from beer at all costs. And one night, coming back from my birthday party, I knew it was simply not something I enjoyed anymore. And, the same way I kissed carbohydrates goodbye a year ago, I don’t see myself going back. I now see how much that what looked like an insignificant and benign habit was limiting my personal growth. Try it, seriously.