Wet January
Government Warning: Consumption of aloholic beverages impairs your ability to drive a car or operate machinery, and may cause health problems.
The first time I drank alcohol was my senior year of high school. I was at a party, and there was a minifridge filled to the brim with coors light. I had 3, and kicked off an interesting relationship with the substance.
Fast forward to college at UCSB and every weekend was filled with copious volume of spirits mixed with cranberry, orange, or pineapple juice. I gained 30 pounds, made dozens of bad decisions, lost the 30 pounds, and graduated with my diploma (only to gain the weight back shortly after).
Alcohol is deeply intertwined with American life. How often do we step back to evaluate our relationship with the substance?
Humans have been drinking fermented alcohol for thousands of years, and instead of going into the boring archaeological facts, here is a except from esquire that sums up why our naughty habit has persevered:
“Scientists have even gone so far as to confirm that drinking alcohol while eating food makes you take in more calories than if you just did one after the other. Mixing booze and food is such a good survival strategy that the only monkeys who fucked enough to pass on their genes were the ones who drank. And yes, there’s hard scientific evidence to support that claim.”
You don’t have a drinking problem… it’s just evolution!
I did dry January this year to step back from alcohol and I’ve returned with a few observations that I think you all may find interesting. I realized that my friends are pretty sick, and it’s quite fun to hang out with them sober (shocking I know).
I lost a little bit of weight and had more time to do my hobbies.
But I did piss people off. It kinda sucks to turn down a drink.
“Aw come on, just have one with me, I won’t tell anyone”.
“Dude it’s messed up, I drove all this way to hang out and you’re not even gonna drink”.
I can hear my old high school gym teacher “If they peer pressure you to drink, they aren’t your real friends”. While a perfectly valid thing to say to a 17 year old version of me, I don’t think it applies to 24 year old me. The friends that tried to pressure me are awesome, despite whatever my gym teacher may think about them.
What is it then? Why do we want to drink alcohol with our friends?
It’s because our lives are remarkably boring. And drinking together is the cheapest way to share an experience with someone. Let’s be honest with ourselves now. What have you, done that’s been interesting in the last 4 weeks? (This is mostly targeted at men within the same age range as me. I think women tend to do more interesting stuff than us)
And while we as guys should be going to pottery classes, trivia nights, and pot lucks. Most of us, don’t. We sit at home, watch Shane Gillis’s podcast, and occasionally go to the gym. The weekend drink with the childhood friend, or the beer after work is really the only activity that many guys have to look forward to.
I have interests outside of work, even still, I’ve often found myself doing nothing except for working and grabbing drinks with friends.
And honestly, subtracting drinks after work for a 20 something guy whose social life is hanging by the thread of miller high life, can be a real vibe killer. Cause I think we live in a new era, one where loneliness is more painful than dying early.
Mark Zuckerberg has engineered the perfect social cravings machine that’s a few swipes and taps away from us at all times.
Its created a new kind of social behavior that allows us to feel connected to others while being alone. The temporary relief it gives us is much different from true human connection. It’s the fools gold of feeling a sense of belonging.
But eventually our brains realize that the trick of trojan horse. And we look up from our screens realizing that we are truly alone.
If you can find ways to meaningfully connect with other people without alcohol, you’re superman.
But if beers with friends are your outing of choice, I wouldn’t call you Lex Luthor.
-Raj