On drinking and not drinking

(This is a completely unrelated picture of the boys and I doing some holiday baking)

Not drinking feels like one of those things that I am hearing about constantly right now. I have read so many magazine articles and blog posts about people not drinking as much anymore. Some people are doing the non-alcohol beer thing for January. Some people do sober October. 

For me, a couple things made me feel like I want to drink less:

- I read the newest Malcolm Gladwell book, Talking to Strangers. He talks about the Stanford rape case, and how the more recent research about alcohol is defying what we think we know about alcohol. Basically, alcohol makes you dumb. It does not make you more honest or more yourself. It mostly just makes you dumb.

- Addiction runs in my husband's family. In the ten plus years that I have been a part of his family, the thing that stands out to me the most is this: alcoholism and addiction are not yes or no, black or white. It't not like you are either an alcoholic or you aren't. It is on a spectrum. I haven't done research. I have just observed a number of my family members for ten years. I see that alcohol and other substances like weed and pills are definitely not always detrimental every single time. But sometimes alcohol and other substances like weed and pills are really really detrimental. And I don't think you can predict which times will be positive and which times will be negative.

- My good friend (who I have shared many bottles of wine with) heard somewhere that basically we should all only drink three drinks max in any one session. The idea is that beyond three, you are past the point of having fun. She noticed that her and her boyfriend seemed to get into fights more when they had more than three drinks. So she has recently started limiting herself to three drinks and she says she feels better in the morning and she still has fun. 

- Jon and I are trying to eat more plants and less animals when we are home. We are both noticing that we feel better when we eat better. And drinking less alcohol just kind of feels natural when we are trying to eat healthier.

This holiday season, I would guess that I drank half what I normally would. I still had a beer or moscow mule or two with my siblings and parents. And then I would have a bubbly water. One night, instead of having a beer with supper, I split a beer with my mother-in-law, and then switched to tea. And if we were having a mimosa or sangria, I would drink half, then fill it up again with club soda to make it more of a session drink. 

I am definitely not the type of person to go all-or-nothing. I would probably never stop drinking completely (and I would probably never completely stop eating meat). But drinking way less feels great to me right now.