Just as a disclaimer, please don't expect proper grammar and punctuation in this blog post, or any other future blog posts. I'll do my best with the spelling, but everything else is up in the air. Run-on sentences, incomplete sentences, numbered lists, and bullet points are all very good friends of mine, you will meet all of them very soon.
Most of my blog posts are light-hearted and fun.
This isn't one of those blog posts.
If that's enough for you to stop reading right here, I won't hold it against you!
As the title of this blog suggests, this post is about one thing.
Alcohol.
Now if you know anything about me, then the next phrase should come as no surprise.
"I don't drink alcohol."
That phrase has been met with pretty much every question as to "why".
Quite frankly, it just doesn't appeal to me.
It never has.
Some people have given me the side eye, as if I don't really mean that.
Not really sure why I would lie about that.
In fact, my feelings on alcohol are quite strong, and VERY well defined.
"Well what about wedding toasts?"
What about them?
Did I say "I don't drink alcohol, except for wedding toasts?"
No, I didn't. I even double checked. The rule still applies.
You don't need to make a toast with alcohol.
That shouldn't be breaking news.
"Is it a personal choice?"
Yes. 100%
"Haven't you ever wanted to at least TRY it?!"
Nope.
"I wonder what you would be like drunk!"
Keep wondering, because that's the closest you'll ever get.
"You don't know what you're missing!"
I'm not missing anything.
Then there's my personal favorite statement that i always here when people hear this "revelation" for the first time.
"Good for you!"
Now I have to make something clear here.
That phrase has been said to me in two completely different forms.
One of the forms is truly sincere, and genuine.
That's not the one I'm talking about.
The other form is condescending and disingenuous.
Bingo.
I have never seen anyone do anything while "under the influence" that has made me take a step back and say "Wow, I'm really missing out there!"
It's actually the opposite.
It only helps to reinforced what I have felt from the very beginning.
I'm not missing a single thing.
Underage drinking is seemingly a right of passage these days too.
Granted, it probably always has been, but you get the idea.
Everyone trying to scramble through the liquor cabinet and go to that one friends house where their parents aren't home.
Shotgunning beers as fast as you can, as if it's some sort of accomplishment.
As if it's something actually to be proud of.
To the point where they ALWAYS have to have a beer of some kind in their hands at all times.
They can't even let go of it to take a picture.
For ten seconds.
I never understood that.
I never will.
Then you have "The College Experience", which is apparently supposed to be the super awesome feeling of racking up anywhere from $40,000 - $80,000 in student loan debt while getting blackout drunk for four years around your "peers" who definitely don't have your best interests in mind.
I'm glad I missed out on that "Experience".
I've seen people become the absolute worst versions of themselves.
Thanks to alcohol.
I've seen people turn into someone that I no longer recognize.
Thanks to alcohol.
If those people were like that when they were sober, I would have never been friends with them in the first place.
That's how drastic of a change it is for some people.
It's flat out scary.
The horror stories that I have heard.
The horror stories that I have SEEN.
I would never want to do that to myself.
I would never want to voluntarily make the decision to alter my mental faculties to such a degree that someone else has to tell me what happened after the fact, because I will have no memory of actually doing it.
All in the name of "having a good time"?
Where is the appeal in that?
Am I missing something?
Why would I ever want to do that to myself?
I would never want to be unable to walk under my own power, slurring my words, and potentially throwing up all over the place, and calling it "a good night".
Now don't get me wrong, I know plenty of people who drink, but they drink responsibly.
They drink in moderation.
It's that little message that they always say at the very end of those glorified alcohol commercials.
In the tiny white letters.
No one looks at those tiny white letters on a TV commercial.
Those tiny white letters are only there to begin with because they HAVE to be.
Drink Responsibly.
What does that even mean?
Well as this whole blog has hopefully established by now, I don't drink.
But as someone on the outside looking in, depending on said "drink", I would say one, maybe two drinks, usually with dinner or at a social gathering.
No mental faculties altered.
No equilibrium has been compromised.
There's a huge difference between that, and just flat out drinking that's only stopped when your body finally steps in and says "enough".
That's when you blackout.
That's when things can go really wrong, really fast.
I would never wish that on anyone.
I would never want to see that happen.
That's why you won't find me at most parties.
Not the ones where people that I know and care about are about to become people that I no longer recognize.
I've seen that happen far too often enough as it is.
It's a terrible sight.
I've hated it every single time.
At that point I feel helpless.
In that moment, those people might as well be a stranger on the street.
That's how much they have changed.
I go from being surrounded by people, having a coherent conversation, joking, laughing, and having a good time, to being completely alone.
Two words.
It. Sucks.
Any story that someone tries to tell me that starts with "So we were all drinking..." or anything along those lines, is a story that you can stop right there.
I've already heard enough.
I'm not going to be impressed.
I've seen alcohol ruin families.
I've seen alcohol ruin friendships.
I've seen alcohol ruin LIVES.
You'll see a commercial that demonizes smoking and tobacco use.
And rightfully so, because I think smoking is also terrible for you.
If lungs could talk, they would all say the same thing.
But then you'll see a commercial that glorifies alcohol right after the anti tobacco one.
Not so breaking news flash!
Alcohol can be Just. As. Dangerous.
Especially drunk driving.
It doesn't really help matters that the first thing that alcohol alters is judgment (I guess something DID stick with me from Health Class), so people who are in NO condition to operate any type of motor vehicle tell themselves "Yeah, I'm fine to drive".
Now those same people are literally putting the lives of themselves and others into their currently incapable hands.
Others who had nothing to do with that alcohol that someone else decided to consume before getting behind that wheel.
People who are just trying to drive home safely.
It's not worth it.
It's never worth it.
I can't stress that enough.
There's also people who have been led to believe that "You can't have a good time without alcohol".
That couldn't be any farther from the truth.
In fact, if the only way that you CAN have "fun" is WITH alcohol, then that is a very, very big problem.
If it reaches that point, now we're talking about an even more serious matter.
Addiction.
That's a completely different can of worms.
I won't even attempt to open that can, but I will say this, addiction is terrible.
In closing, I don't need alcohol.
I don't need alcohol to "have a good time".
I don't need alcohol for any reason whatsoever.
I don't need it, and I don't want it.
If you're going to drink, please, drink responsibly.
I don't want to see anyone else get hurt because of choices made with alcohol.
As for me, I'll stick with never drinking to begin with.
It's one decision that I'll never regret.
