I like to drink tequila.  I have not made a secret of that.  Nor have I made a secret of the fact that I am capable of drinking copious amounts.  Being a binge drinker can be different from being an alcoholic, but, sadly, the health consequences can be very similar.

Weight is the attention getter for me.  I lost a tremendous amount of weight and ended up putting back on about 70 pounds of it.  When I drink I eat.  Pizza, burgers, wings, nachos, all the greasy, fatty food.  Beer and carrot sticks?  Yuk.

So 70 pounds later, give or take, I am at a crossroads.  My goal for 2018 is to just to not drink at all.  Not my birthday, not holidays, not a drop in 2018.  The purpose of complete abstinence is to change my mindset and remind myself that alcohol need not be an integral part of life.

Alcohol is ubiquitous in our culture.  If you google binge drinking, you will see that the statistics are frightening.    https://health.howstuffworks.com/wellness/drugs-alcohol/difference-between-binge-drinking-and-alcoholism.htm.  This page says that “More than half the alcohol consumed in the United States is downed in binges . . .”  Other sources say older adults are drinking more alcohol and more inclined to binge drink according to statistics.  One page showed a CNN video saying that 1 in 10 deaths for people between the ages of 18 and 64 is caused by excessive drinking.

I am not suggesting a new Prohibition.  I’m glad that marijuana is no longer illegal and I don’t think Prohibition works.  I am questioning if we are right to have such a relaxed attitude towards intoxicants or if we need to give it more thought.

In my time, starting at the age of 12, I’ve had weed, alcohol, mushrooms, mescaline, cocaine, downers, and crank.  Once started, it was just a natural part of the growing up process.  At times in my life I have not used anything.  In fact, most of my drug consumption over time has been weed or alcohol.  As I said, sometimes nothing at all.

Once when I wasn’t drinking, or doing anything else, I had lunch with some people who all ordered Margaritas.  They expressed surprise that I didn’t drink and how good drinking was.  I just found that interesting from the standpoint that drinking was such an important thing that they couldn’t conceive of a person not drinking.  Why not?

I will end my meandering and come to the point.  Alcohol is not an important part of life.  Sometimes it is a destructive part and you should just leave it alone.  That is why I challenged myself.  No alcohol in 2018.

My trainer, Trung, is a pain in the ass.  Like any good trainer he always challenges me and doesn’t cut me any slack.  “What’s your accountability?” he asked.  “You say you aren’t going to drink.  If you do drink, what’s your accountability?”

Blogging is my accountability.  I’ve sent it out into the internet space that I won’t drink in 2018.  I will blog, not too wordily, about my progress.  Thanks for helping hold me accountable.  Thinking and reading tell me that alcohol isn’t just a harmless indulgence.  I want to step back and give it its proper place.  Perhaps at the end of the year I will decide that it is better to let it go for good.  In any case, I know that binge drinking is a really bad choice and I am not going to indulge again.