I've been debating for quite a while now about whether or not to write this post. Drinking alcohol is a common thing in today's world, however, discussing it in detail, and discussing the effects it can have can often seem taboo in Irish society. But, there's no better time to broach this topic than of a Friday evening - just before the weekends festivities kick off!Let me start off by saying that I have nothing against alcohol, I drink it (I'm a big fan of the modest Appletini!) and so I have no issues with others who wish to enjoy it too (in moderation of course!). However, in the last two years or so my views on the topic have changed quite a lot. So today I'm going to share some of these views with you and maybe you can relate - or maybe you'll think I'm a fool! Here we go!
I started to drink alcohol when I was 16 or 17. Some of you might find this quite late compared to the age you began consuming alcohol or some of you may be horrified that I began before it was legal. Either way, it happened. All my friends drank alcohol - but we were a responsible bunch and never got into trouble. My parents knew that I drank from when I was around 17 but I was a pretty good kiddo so they trusted me to be responsible and not a crazy little yoke! My group of friends used to have house parties a lot, and we'd usually drink together at them. We drank whatever we could find and whatever was cheapest - we didn't exactly have expensive palettes. But you know what, we were young and we were having fun - we were safe and responsible and we weren't harming anyone.
When the group finally all turned 18 we'd go out every. single. Saturday. to the local nightclub (I won't name names but you all know which one!). We'd pre-drink first in somebody's house and then head to the club about 11p.m. and hopefully get in for free- woohoo! We honestly did this every single Saturday night for a year or even two (God bless whoever was turning 18 next for the chance to go to a party for a change of scenery!). Every weekend revolved around going out and I'm sure most of you can relate. We started drinking more and more, because we could, because we were allowed. I had some really good times with friends on those Saturday nights over the years, but, I had a lot of not-so-good nights too. There are quite a number of occasions where I have very little recollection of the night at all. Black patches, foggy memories. It was around this time when I started to wise-up a little and ease off on the 4 or 5 shots a night that we'd all take together.
The scary thing is that this wasn't unusual for young people to do three or four years ago. It was pretty normal. Drinking and going out and dancing and partying was what we did. And, although it got pretty boring and pretty repetitive (at times, once again, it could also be pretty fun; I don't want to hate on our memories!), we still did it anyway!
When the group started going to college it was the first time, since we were I don't know what age, that we didn't see each other almost every day. We'd, once again, use our weekends to go out on Saturday nights and catch up - but there's only so much catching up you can do when the DJ is blasting some sort of Guetta/Chris Brown/Avicii music! But it was also around this time that most people my age started to embrace the "college lifestyle" (I really hate that phrase!). They'd go out midweek in Dublin (or where ever they went to college) with the new friends they had made. I, personally went out very rarely in college. My course was demanding and I wanted to do well - but I also commuted every day and prepping to go out was such a hassle! Had things been different, perhaps if I'd lived on campus or nearer to college, my outlook might be totally different!
It was around this time, and especially in the last two years or so that I really cut down on my alcohol consumption. I drank when I wanted to, and only when I wanted to! If that meant going out with friends when I was sober, then so be it. I surprised myself by realising that I could actually still have fun. Other times I went out and just had a few drinks and headed home early. And yet again, other times, although rarer and rarer these days, I'd have a crazy night! But those days are few and far between nowadays. I still have them and they can be so much fun! But I simply CANNOT deal with the horrendous hangover the following day.
These days I drink. But I tend to drink when I want to, not because it's a group activity. I also like to only drink beverages that I like. So the days of €5 bottles of wine from Tesco are behind me. I'm a classy drinker these days. I want my drinking experience to be tasty!! If I'm going to drink something I want it to taste nice and I want to enjoy it. I don't drink to get drunk anymore and I think that's the main difference and one that I'm truly happy with.
Importantly, I firmly believe in "each to their own". I don't judge if people want to get absolutely smashed and equally I don't mind if they don't want to drink at all. Once their doing it for themselves and for their own reasons then that's alright with me. And I think that's something we should all aspire to. Don't judge someone on their alcohol consumption or indeed, their lack thereof. Perhaps it would be better to judge them on the type of person they are, and leave the liquids (and amount of them) that they consume out of the equation.
Moral here: It's okay to drink and it's equally okay not to drink, and it's certainly okay to be somewhere in between!
How do you feel about alcohol? Let me know!
Clare
xo
