Under The Influence
Posted Tuesday, October 28th, 2008 by Vicky Crumpton
Comment on this article...
Email This Article 
Life's a journey, isn't it? And on that journey it's good to meet and talk to women who can join you for part of the way - whether you're stuck in the mud or shooting the rapids. Push back the boundaries, join us and become a member of the Risk Collective. Make sure you don't miss out on the great benefits of being a member.
HAS ANYONE SEEN MY OFF SWITCH?
Are you a shouldn’t be binge drinker? Do you have the odd night out a week where you let off a ton of steam, get so caught up in the feeling of freedom and chasing fun that you throw all caution to the wind and completely lose any concept of a ‘stop button’? Just one more glass won’t make a difference… Try telling yourself that when you are woken up the next morning at an ungodly hour by a ridiculously perky young child, or by an intrusive alarm clock heralding the dawn of another working day. You will soon find yourself promising to never drink again…
It all seems so worth it at the time. Our British culture is so built around the concept of the ‘pub’, and socialising with alcohol, that it is almost impossible and even impolite to ‘have a night out’ sans a few tasty tipples.
Having travelled a lot I have noticed that binge drinking is definitely endemic to the British (Australian and Dutch)… In other parts of Europe being ‘drunk’ is considered a huge social faux pas – hence the culture of eating whilst drinking; tapas, bread and olives etc. this enables your body to tolerate and soak up more booze without addling the brain to the point of screeching out ‘I Will Survive’ on the beer scooter ride home.
I myself am by no means an alcoholic, I very rarely drink at home, but seem to get the devil in me when I am let out –which being a single mum is not very often. I am forever searching for my elusive ‘off switch’ – where my mind and body tell me that I have had enough and should either switch to soft drinks or head home. I have tried putting notes in my purse (‘You have had enough’), and consciously gone out telling myself to recognise when I have reach a point when I should stop. The latter does work, however sometimes it is far too easily forgotten…
I think I possibly suffer more than most post-drinking session as, as well as the hideous physical feelings I also get ‘the fear’, a horrid anxious feeling that leaves me almost panic-stricken for the majority of the next day… why oh why do I do this to myself?!!! There must be a better way to have fun, or some more effective tricks of moderating my alcohol intake so that I don’t end up bingeing and suffering the inevitable consequences?
Does anyone have any advice, or some tried and tested tricks to aid self-control whilst under the influence?
No related articles.
Want to talk more about this topic?
You can start a discussion in our community forum, or you can comment on this article below.
Posted by: joey77
October 28th, 2008 at 10:56 am
Social drinking is a real problem, pubs and bars in England seem to be set up to make people get drink. A friend told me that in bars there’s often limited seating to make people stand and feel uncomfortable without a drink in their hands. Also when you find you’re shouting yourself hoarse to make yourself heard over the loud jukebox/crap cover band/terrible dj you become thirsty and need to drink more. The other thing is there is such a horrendous mark -up on soft drinks and it’s natural to resent paying money for a glass of fizzy pop. My advice would be to try to drink water in between alcoholic drinks. You might feel a bit funny asking for tap water at the bar, but it’s free by law in the UK, it rehydrates you and it helps that nervous drinking thing by giving you something to do with your hands. The other thing is to get a drinking buddy, preferable a teetotaller or reformed alcoholic to keep you in check.
Posted by: scrivo
November 12th, 2008 at 11:48 am
I hate bars like that. I’ve always favoured nice bars with sofas and coffee tables, room to space out and mingle, and conversation-friendly music levels (though I hate places with no music at all).
I am CRAP at asking for tap water though. Once I have a glass of wine in front of me, I ignore my water glass even when I do have one. It just tastes crap compared to the wine!
I know exactly the point when my Off Switch vanishes. It’s not measurable in units, because sometimes it takes me 2 units to feel drunk and sometimes 7, so it’s not to do with how much I have actually had. It’s the split second when I’m like ‘ooh, I can feel booze in my head’… and at that point I make a decision, whether consciously or unconsciously, to head home or stay out.
It can go either way - but if the night is shaping up in a promising manner, caution is thrown to the wind, the switch gets flicked ‘On’ and I may even end up dancing around in the garden at 3am.
Luckily, I only suffer a bad hangover about once a month, which is much less than I did 5 years ago, so I think age is sending me gradually in the right direction.
A friend of mine went teetotal for 6 months, just to see what happened. He still managed to have fun and stay up late, which I can’t usually manage without a drink.
He said to me, ‘how do you know who you really are, if you are always affected in some way by your alcohol intake?’ His point was that personalities change with alcohol; hangovers can sap your energy for days, and you wonder if you can be any fun at all without another drink.
Teetotalism is an interesting experiment but sadly I lack the willpower to succeed with it thus far. My record is five days, and that was on a health farm in Thailand. So that’s actually pretty poor.