Holiday Spirits
As we enter the holiday season, I just want to say thank you all for how you have helped me throughout the years. I know many of you have seen me at my worst, and many of you help me through each of my days now. From the bottom of my heart, thank you.
Today's blog post is a play on words. Holiday Spirits. I am not talking about the spirit of the holidays. That feeling you get when it’s time to eat at Thanksgiving or it’s time to decorate for Christmas. That feeling of surprise when you open your gifts and the extra time you spend with your family. Those are all fine and good, don’t get me wrong. But you know I always like to push the envelope, right?!
The holiday spirit I am speaking of is the alcohol consumption during the holidays. The National Institute of Health (NIH) and National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAA) states, “many of us look forward to celebrations during the holidays, yet it is also a time when some people are more likely to drink beyond their limits than at other times of the year. Some people will suffer adverse consequences that range from fights to falls to traffic crashes.”
Many people use the holidays as an excuse to indulge a little too much. They start drinking in the morning and continue all day (my old dream)! I, for one, used to love the idea of getting away with this without having to hide it. I loved having a hot toddy to start the day (sometimes shots...just depended on the year), continuing with mimosas, and finishing with my usual cocktails and wine. I’m lucky I never got in car accidents or hurt anyone. I remember having some issues in the evenings after I had been drinking all day, but it never got to the point where I thought I had a problem. Addicts tend to live in denial. But other people, “normies'' as we call them, tend to consider this a normal thing to do to celebrate the holidays. Instead of an addict, who is thrilled to get away with their usual day drinking, normies over indulge just for the spirit of the holidays.
A quick google search showed that “the average American sees a 100% increase in their alcoholic drinking habits between Thanksgiving and New Year's, according to a new study. About 69% of people are more likely to socialize and overindulge during this time of year than any other.” It goes on to say that “four alcoholic drinks is the average (per week) for most during the year.” Four per week. If I had four per day, I wasn’t getting enough. Many of the ‘functional’ alcoholics I know have more than this every night as well.
According to the NIH, “drinking is considered to be in the moderate or low-risk range for women at no more than three drinks in any one day and no more than seven drinks per week. For men, it is no more than four drinks a day and no more than 14 drinks per week.” During the holidays, this doubles.
Another article states, “researchers are changing how they study the risks of alcohol — and it’s making drinking look worse.” This is a great article that I recommend you read fully. It goes on to say, “for years, there was a sense that there was an optimal level which was not drinking no alcohol but drinking moderately that led to the best health outcomes,” said Duke University’s Dan Blazer, an author of the paper. “I think we’re going to have to rethink that a bit.” I am not here to preach about not drinking. I am here to bring awareness to a subject that is deadly for some.
The Tempest is a site that I’ve joined that was started by Holly Whitaker. I’ve actually submitted some pieces trying to get published on this site. Holly is someone I look up to as she has a best selling published book about alcohol and its effects. It is called Quit Like a Woman- The Radical Choice to Not Drink in a Culture Obsessed with Alcohol. She is not an AA thumper and she makes people realize the different effects of alcohol without preaching one way or the other. Some of her ideas I don’t necessarily agree with, but here I am writing a blog that some of you may not agree with. It’s OK not to agree on everything.
This article on The Tempest states, “historically, we’ve categorized people into two groups when it comes to drinking: you’ve got the “normal drinkers,” the folks who drink socially acceptable amounts of an addictive substance, and you’ve got alcoholics, who drink that same toxic substance, but who drink “too much of it. This can get confusing because while there are countless ‘Am I an alcoholic?’ quizzes out there, it’s ultimately up to the individual to decide if alcohol is getting in the way of their life. All too often the criteria for alcoholism is one-size-fits-all, and if someone doesn’t meet the definition of an alcoholic, they can delay doing anything about it until the consequences become too dire.”
Alcohol is tricky. It tricks you into thinking you don’t have a problem. Society is so obsessed with alcohol that we look at each other and say “hey he’s had 8 drinks today; I’ve only had 6. I’m OK.” I did this for years. But when you are drinking in excess all the time, it is not always OK...even if it is just for the holidays. Some people think that only drinking a few times a month is OK too. However, binge drinking is also something to be wary about. The NIH defines binge drinking as “a pattern of drinking alcohol that brings blood alcohol concentration (BAC) to 0.08 percent—or 0.08 grams of alcohol per deciliter—or higher. For a typical adult, this pattern of alcohol misuse corresponds to consuming 4 or more drinks (female), or 5 or more drinks (male) in about 2 hours.”
During the holidays, people’s happy spirit brings them to continue drinking, and fast. Binge drinking is just as dangerous as drinking everyday. The article continues on by saying, “binge drinking is on the rise among older adults—more than 10 percent of adults ages 65 and older reported binge drinking in the past month, and the prevalence is increasing. The increase in this group is of particular concern because many older adults use medications that can interact with alcohol, have health conditions that can be exacerbated by alcohol, and may be more susceptible to alcohol-related falls and other accidental injuries.” It obviously leads to some serious repercussions.
All I’m doing is raising your awareness. Enjoy these holidays just the way you want; just be careful if you are planning to drink more than you usually would. If you are sober curious, please don’t hesitate to reach out to me personally on my website. I have many ideas for how to get through celebrations and holidays without drinking. It is possible, and it should be de-stigmatized. This society scoffs at the idea of being sober. It embraces people who drink heavily, feeds off of them, encourages them, and glorifies alcohol consumption. So if you are staying sober this holiday, you are a fucking rock star, and I applaud you. It’s not easy in this world to stay sober, and that seems to be why I am here...to talk about the hard subjects and to help anyone in need.
