No Fun!

It’s true. America has a drinking problem.  I just learned in a class that I took that the top 10% of people who drink are drinking 74 drinks per week.  That’s 24 million adults over age 18.  That works out to a little more than four-and-a-half 750 ml bottles of Jack Daniels, 18 bottles of wine, or three 24-can cases of beer. In one week. Or, if you prefer, 10 drinks per day. The second tier, I forget the exact percentage, is drinking the equivalent of 2 bottles of wine per night. People I was with recently each had 4-5 drinks within 2 hours.  Why is it that this is normal?

Yes, I was in that 10%.  And here I am...sober.  But 24 million people do not think they have a drinking problem.  Society tells us that it is normal to drink this way.  

“America has a Drinking Problem,” by Kate Julian hits the nail on the head on many levels.  The full article is fascinating, going into the history of drinking. One thing that struck me was this:

“Around the turn of the millennium, Americans said To hell with it and poured a second drink, and in almost every year since, we’ve drunk a bit more wine and a bit more liquor than the year before. But why? One answer is that we did what the alcohol industry was spending billions of dollars persuading us to do. In the ’90s, makers of distilled liquor ended their self-imposed ban on TV advertising. They also developed new products that might initiate nondrinkers (think sweet premixed drinks like Smirnoff Ice and Mike’s Hard Lemonade). Meanwhile, winemakers benefited from the idea, then in wide circulation and since challenged, that moderate wine consumption might be good for you physically. (As Iain Gately reports in Drink: A Cultural History of Alcohol, in the month after 60 Minutes ran a widely viewed segment on the so-called French paradox—the notion that wine might explain low rates of heart disease in France—U.S. sales of red wine shot up 44 percent.)”

Basically, we, as Americans, see things and buy into it.  “A glass of red wine a day is healthy!”  Welp ok!  Let’s drink the bottle!  Many people tend to feel relaxed when drinking socially. This is because alcohol affects brain function, changing moods and behaviors. It binds to receptors in the brain that boost dopamine levels, which activate pleasure.

Social drinking is part of American culture. However, engaging in the activity multiple times a week could give way to heavy drinking, defined as four or more alcoholic beverages a day for men and three for women on five or more days in a month. Not a week…a month.

It’s hard to be the one not drinking in this society. Last weekend, I was sitting with some friends (all drinking friends), and one of them was talking about someone she knew.  She said “she’s not fun anymore; she doesn’t even drink.” Wait a minute. Just stop.

I wanted to start a conversation about this, but I knew it wasn’t the time.  This lady didn’t know my story, and she didn't notice I wasn’t drinking.  This is a good thing. I like it when people think I am one of the crowd.  I like it when I fit in.

But why is it that when someone stops drinking, they are immediately considered not fun?  This statement actually really pissed me off, but I wasn’t going to start anything.  It wasn’t the place, and I just wasn’t feeling a conversation about it.

Think about it. Why do people feel that non-drinkers are not fun? Just because we aren’t poisoning ourselves in order to feel intoxicated means we aren’t fun? We are still humans; we are still fun. Why is it that alcohol is required to have fun? I still am able to join in conversations, to laugh, to be in everyone’s company. And honestly, I don’t make a fool of myself or say things that I will regret. I won’t wake up feeling like shit the next morning, and I won’t feel ashamed of things I may have done. Why is it that we have to put a substance in our body that makes us not remember some of the most important and fun times of our lives.

We get drunk at weddings, we get drunk at graduations, we get drunk at family reunions, we get drunk at social gatherings, we get drunk at birthday parties. We get drunk at everything of which we should want to have the clearest memories. So why say people who don’t drink are no fun, when in retrospect, we are the ones who have clarity and will actually remember everything? We are the ones enjoying life without memory loss and hangovers. How much fun is a hangover?

I’m venting. I’m trying to get people to think differently. I’m just one little soul trying to make a difference in a huge world. But I hope it helps get the ball rolling. If we can’t talk about these things, we will just continue to be a drunk society, ignorant to the fact that sober people actually are living a healthy, wonderful life that is indeed fun.