Last week at the doctor’s office my blood pressure measured kind of highish, so I decided to give up my beloved nightly glass or twenty of wine to see if it improved. “It” being my blood pressure, not my mood, because even I’m not that big enough of a moron to think that were possible.
This wasn’t one of those big “I WILL NEVER DRINK AGAIN” proclamations, because I most certainly will drink again. Nor is it the “My name is Marinka and I’m an alcoholic” pronouncement, because duh, I already told you that Marinka isn’t my real name, and I’m pretty sure that I’m not an alcoholic. This is more of an experiment to see if I can control my blood pressure and lose a few pounds while I’m at it.
I decided to keep this plan to myself.
Within an hour, I’ve emailed a few friends announcing that I was giving up drinking and that I was not going to blog about it because I didn’t need a public disclosure. That was three days ago.
My friends were supportive, gently pointing out, “hey, dumbass, a glass of wine lowers blood pressure, maybe if the alcohol hadn’t killed your brain cells, you’d know that.”
So now I’m officially not drinking for a week or so. So far it’s going well (help me). Except I’m sort of surprised at how ugly everyone is and also I sort of thought that I’d be one of those fun non-drinking people who’d go around saying things like “would you look at that sunset? The colors are absolutely vivid and stunning!” but instead I’m one of those non-drinking people who tells her husband, as he pours his one glass of wine for the week at Sunday dinner, “how long are you going to drink your pain away instead of facing it head on?” and “some more devil’s water for you, honey? Your liver is screaming, you know.”
Nor did papa having a beer earlier in the week escape my notice. “So sad,” I said, although perhaps not out loud, because, you know, I don’t want to be institutionalized. “Now that I am enjoying my sobriety, I pity those who seek solace in the bottle.”
So yes, it’s going well. Although inexplicably, everyone around me is drinking more than ever.
One year ago ...
- Mid-Summer Advice - 2013