Let me preface this article by clarifying that I am not an anti-alcohol crusader. In fact, I just recently posted my recipe for the world’s best limoncello and also wrote an article about why you can still drink even if you are trying to get fit.
Each of us has to come to our own conclusions about alcohol and figure out how much is the right amount. For us. Not for anyone else, because we are all unique individuals.
I can only judge me, and I know I used to drink too much. No question. I would drink almost every night and would not stop until I was wasted. I even got a DUI back in the day.
That DUI was a wakeup call — sort of.
After the DUI, I quit drinking for 90 days — court-ordered. Surprisingly to me at that time, I had no problem not drinking, even though I thought I would. I guess I took it as a challenge.
(Keep in mind that I am one of those people who follows the rules. I may not agree with the rules, but I always try to follow them, because I don’t want to suffer the consequences. This means I probably drive slower than I need to, pay more taxes than I have to, and generally miss out on some stuff that people who live looser and freer enjoy, but so be it. I prefer a more predictable life.)
After the 90 court-ordered days of sobriety were up, I went back to drinking, but not as much, and never when I was going to be driving. (Well, unless I was driving a golf cart. I narrowly averted disaster one day on the golf course while engaged in a cart race while driving backward. My cartmate ended up getting stitches in his head after he fell out….)
When I moved to Texas, I got into the local music scene, which meant I was spending a lot of time in bars with people who liked to get hammered, so ….
Fortunately, beyond the incidents described above, I never injured anyone or got into any kind of trouble from drinking.
But in the mid-2000s, when my doctor put me on a cholesterol medication that messed with my liver, that is when I quit drinking completely for 18 months.
So, honestly, while maybe professional I should have, I never came to any great epiphany about my consumption of alcohol. I quit because I felt my medical condition required it, and you know what? I enjoyed so much being able to drive home from the shows at night without worrying about cops in my mirror, that even now that my condition is resolved and I’ve hopped off the wagon, I don’t over-consume when I’ll be driving, and I often don’t consume any alcohol at all when I’m out. Saves me a ton of money, too.
Do I have as much fun as I used to? Nope. But I figure I’ve been there, survived that, no need to push the envelope, knowwhatimean?
How about you? Do you drink too much? Only you can decide. But maybe this questionnaire from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism can help.
The questionnaire is only 10 questions. There is a whole long assessment process, but if you simply answer the questions honestly and take a good hard look at the results, you should gain some insight into your drinking habits.
Maximum score is 40, and the higher your score is, the more problematic your drinking may be. I scored a 7. How did you do? What does that tell you about your relationship with alcohol? Is it time to make some changes?