All Partied Out?
About a month ago I saw a post on FB made by one of our friends that made me laugh AND cringe all at the same time. It was a photo of him at an IV lounge receiving “maintenance” after what was probably a long night in Vegas. The reason I laughed was because I’ve been there! The reason I cringed, well…that’s also because I’ve been there.
Having been around the Special Operations community since the 90s, I learned at a pretty young age that them giving one another IVs after a long night of drinking was seemingly the norm. In fact, drinking a lot of alcohol period was the norm, so I fit right in.
Of course, the ‘IV drip trend’ phased out as I grew up, but drinking continued because, well, isn’t that the norm in society? Think about it, the first thing we are offered when we go to a function, or somebody’s home is a drink. Many of us also likely grew up watching our parents and their friends drink either at home or at functions. It was just something people did and still do.
I’m not going to make this article about myself and all my drinking stories. We’d be a while. I’m also not going to sit here and lecture all of you about drinking and how bad it is for you because it really isn’t if you moderate. I will share with you though, that after not drinking for over a year now I feel incredible. Here are some of the noticeable changes (for the better and in no specific order):
· Mental Clarity
· Sleep
· Ambition
· Mood
· Nutrition
· Exercise
· Focus
· Relationships
· Productivity
Having shared the positive, there are a lot of factors that lead up to me deciding to take a break from drinking. After 4 years in Germany and partaking in all the festivities (and then some) the impact on my own health and wellness was becoming extremely noticeable to me and effecting my (no specific order):
· Mental Clarity
· Sleep
· Ambition
· Mood
· Nutrition
· Exercise
· Focus
· Relationships
· Productivity
Notice how that list is the same? It’s quite ironic, isn’t it? That these factors worsened when I drank and got noticeably better when I didn’t. The bullet points above are not a new discovery for me though. I’ve been through these ‘rotations’ before, where I won’t drink for a year or two because I’m training for something or just plain over being counterproductive, and then I’ll do something like go on a vacation with my husband and decide it’s a good time take up the sport of drinking again.
Speaking of being counterproductive, the last thing I want to mention is something I realized that I could never get back and have wasted a lot of; TIME. I often tell others that drinking was both a waste of time and money, but anyone can always make more money. However, time is something you cannot get back and I’ve wasted a lot of it with the buffoonery that surrounds drinking festivities.
I think there may be some of you reading this nodding your head in agreement with some or all of what I’ve shared so far. It’s honestly just not a topic most people openly discuss because they feel embarrassed or shame. Believe me, I hesitated many times about writing on this topic. But, because of how important this, I wanted to share my experience since my Friday blog is about health and wellness and I haven’t touched on the topic of drinking yet.
I’m getting to the point in my life where if something isn’t added value (people, places, or things), then I don’t want it in my life. Alcohol happened to be one of those things that wasn’t adding value, and so I decided to end that relationship and focus on all the things that really matter to me most. Being able to share with this group every Friday is one of those things that is important to me, so I appreciate you reading this today and hope you have some good takeaways to think about over the weekend.
Stay always in pursuit!
~Sarah N Burke