{"id":36275,"date":"2019-08-05T13:27:44","date_gmt":"2019-08-05T12:27:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ourtour.co.uk\/home\/?p=36275"},"modified":"2021-06-13T16:54:41","modified_gmt":"2021-06-13T15:54:41","slug":"the-highs-and-lows-of-a-year-off-the-booze","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ourtour.co.uk\/home\/the-highs-and-lows-of-a-year-off-the-booze\/","title":{"rendered":"The Highs and Lows of a Year off the Booze"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>I honestly don&#8217;t know the last time I had a beer, but as far as I can recall it&#8217;s been roughly a year, which feels like a good time to write something about this, ah, lifestyle choice. Don&#8217;t fear: I&#8217;m no evangelist. There have been plenty of upsides to easing off and stopping supping ale, but some pretty hefty (and probably obvious) downsides too. This blog post reflects my personal experience over the past 12 months.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"768\" src=\"https:\/\/ourtourmedia.s3.eu-central-003.backblazeb2.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/DSC06896-1024x768.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-35953\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ourtourmedia.s3.eu-central-003.backblazeb2.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/DSC06896.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/ourtourmedia.s3.eu-central-003.backblazeb2.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/DSC06896-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/ourtourmedia.s3.eu-central-003.backblazeb2.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/DSC06896-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/ourtourmedia.s3.eu-central-003.backblazeb2.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/DSC06896-705x529.jpg 705w, https:\/\/ourtourmedia.s3.eu-central-003.backblazeb2.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/DSC06896-450x338.jpg 450w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Why? Why? Why?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>First up I&#8217;d best address the question of why. Why deny myself the pleasure of a fine dark porter, the hoppy beauty of an IPA or the refreshing hit of a cold lager on a warm summer evening? I&#8217;ve been asked this question quite a bit, and each time I end up awkwardly mumbling out a different answer. The most pure, honest answer is: I really don&#8217;t know for sure why I&#8217;ve given up. That&#8217;s not particularly satisfying response mind you. I should make it clear at this point that I wasn&#8217;t alcohol-dependent, at least not in my opinion. I did have a habit of drinking to excess, perhaps not to deliberately get drunk, but once I&#8217;d started drinking I found it hard to stop and would sometimes end up with little memory of the previous evening, spending much of the next day (or even two days) feeling ill. I sometimes joke (to myself) that I gave up alcohol as I was allergic to it: whenever I drank it made me ill.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"576\" src=\"https:\/\/ourtourmedia.s3.eu-central-003.backblazeb2.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/IMG_20190217_130433063_HDR-1024x576.jpg\" alt=\"Internet cafe chair at Spanish Aire\" class=\"wp-image-33855\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ourtourmedia.s3.eu-central-003.backblazeb2.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/IMG_20190217_130433063_HDR.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/ourtourmedia.s3.eu-central-003.backblazeb2.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/IMG_20190217_130433063_HDR-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/ourtourmedia.s3.eu-central-003.backblazeb2.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/IMG_20190217_130433063_HDR-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/ourtourmedia.s3.eu-central-003.backblazeb2.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/IMG_20190217_130433063_HDR-705x397.jpg 705w, https:\/\/ourtourmedia.s3.eu-central-003.backblazeb2.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/IMG_20190217_130433063_HDR-450x253.jpg 450w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Anyway, if pushed for an answer I&#8217;d say there was (and still are) a range of responses, all of which are a small part of the picture:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>It became obvious just before I turned 40 that I&#8217;ve lived with fairly high levels of anxiety for most of my life. I have no idea why, but it came to a head when chest and back pains and breathing difficulties had me in the back of an ambulance where I was told there&#8217;s nothing physically wrong with me. That was a shock, I just thought of myself as being a bit &#8216;stressed&#8217; by work before then. The more I considered my internal thought processes over the subsequent years I realised I get anxious about going into all sorts of situations, and would (when I could) drink to try and ease these symptoms. About 18 months ago I had what I&#8217;d call a crisis, staring out ahead of me with no idea what to do with life, and the anxiety problem went ballistic, to the point I didn&#8217;t want to do anything. It was obvious something had to give, and I started easing off the ale at that point (at some point I stopped completely about this time last year, it just felt the natural thing to do). It wasn&#8217;t a simple fix, but going sober&#8217;s helped me personally handle my anxiety.<\/li><li>At that point 18 months back I weighed 90Kg (14 stone 2lb). I was in fairly poor shape, with a BMI of 28. The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nhs.uk\/live-well\/healthy-weight\/bmi-calculator\/\">NHS website BMI calculator<\/a> told me this meant I was overweight, not far off being obese. That was a shock. I thought of myself as being a bit overweight at the time, but my weight was creeping up and shortly I&#8217;d be obese, with all the associated health implications (my mum&#8217;s long had diabetes, and suffers all kinds of problems as a result). That, I really, really didn&#8217;t want. Again, something had to change (I&#8217;m now 71Kg, with a &#8216;healthy&#8217; BMI of 22, and run marathons).<\/li><li>Getting financially independent drew back a curtain for me, showing just how much control other people had over my life. In the corporate career I had, being a &#8216;yes man&#8217; was important. No-one was rewarded for speaking their minds, and I very often found myself holding my tongue when frankly daft stuff was happening around me. The pressure built up inside. I had to be at my desk at 8:30am on a Monday morning (I&#8217;m currently sat a home on a Monday tapping this out), and if I wanted to take a month off to travel, well, no, I&#8217;d be sacked if I did that. How does this relate to drinking? Well, I started to see drinking in a similar light: the more I eased off the beer, the more push-back I got from the world around me, which I sensed as a form of control I really didn&#8217;t like and refused to accept.<\/li><li>I&#8217;ve a compulsive personality, and I enjoy a long-term (multi-year) challenge, like getting financially-free or giving up booze.<\/li><li>My parents don&#8217;t drink. My dad and his siblings suffered from drunk parents when growing up, going without food and even clothes. My parents have always been good role models.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>These points are all very personal to me. I drank for 25 years, and I feel like I&#8217;ve supped enough for a lifetime, but I&#8217;ve no interest in trying to persuade anyone else to abstain. Why would I? Unless they happen to have exactly the same set of reasons as me, then anything I say would (and should) carry no weight. Each to their own folks, do whatever feels rights to you, it&#8217;s your life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">What&#8217;s Been Good About Giving up Alcohol?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>This is going to be by far the easiest section of this post, and probably the most predictable. I&#8217;ll include it anyway, to give some balance:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>I really, really don&#8217;t miss hangovers.<\/li><li>I like myself better as a person. There&#8217;s no more quickly tidying the bottles away of a morning.<\/li><li>I still have the anxiety to deal with, but I feel I have a better understanding of it and more control.<\/li><li>I can remember much more of conversations I had the previous evening. I&#8217;ve long had a terrible memory, which adds to my anxiety (not being able to recall people&#8217;s names or the their children&#8217;s names tightens my chest up) and anything which helps is a relief.<\/li><li>I was getting more and more judgmental when drunk; I&#8217;m much more understanding when I&#8217;m sober.<\/li><li>We&#8217;re (probably) saving a fair bit of money. This isn&#8217;t a motivation for me, but it is helpful.<\/li><li>I personally find it easier to get and stay fit when I&#8217;m not drinking.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"571\" src=\"https:\/\/ourtourmedia.s3.eu-central-003.backblazeb2.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/IMG_20190319_121543902-1024x571-1024x571.jpg\" alt=\"Great Views of San Sebastian\" class=\"wp-image-34380\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ourtourmedia.s3.eu-central-003.backblazeb2.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/IMG_20190319_121543902-1024x571.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/ourtourmedia.s3.eu-central-003.backblazeb2.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/IMG_20190319_121543902-1024x571-300x167.jpg 300w, https:\/\/ourtourmedia.s3.eu-central-003.backblazeb2.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/IMG_20190319_121543902-1024x571-768x428.jpg 768w, https:\/\/ourtourmedia.s3.eu-central-003.backblazeb2.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/IMG_20190319_121543902-1024x571-705x393.jpg 705w, https:\/\/ourtourmedia.s3.eu-central-003.backblazeb2.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/IMG_20190319_121543902-1024x571-450x251.jpg 450w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Many of these benefits could be had (and the downside below avoided) by drinking with moderation. Based on personal evidence of many years of drinking, this isn&#8217;t something I&#8217;m good at! I find it really hard to drink on some occasions and not at others, the social pressure is just too high. If I don&#8217;t drink at all it feels like giving myself a gift, another form of freedom, when I no longer have to make a choice each and every time I go out. This works best for me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">What&#8217;s Not Been Good about Giving up Alcohol<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Thinking about it, this is probably a pretty predictable list too, these are the downsides of sobriety from my experience over the past 12 months:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>By FAR the biggest downside is the social awkwardness of it all. It takes strength to be sat on a table where everyone&#8217;s drinking except you. I can&#8217;t over-state how hard this part of the &#8216;challenge&#8217; this is. I suspect if I had a physical reason I couldn&#8217;t drink (a liver problem perhaps) then folks around me would find that much easier to understand. I have considered lying and saying I have such an issue, or pretending I need to drive or some such, but I haven&#8217;t so far. My problem&#8217;s a mind one, and even though mental health is a more widely discussed issue these days, it&#8217;s not something we&#8217;re generally comfortable discussing or have much chance of understanding. On the plus side, once everyone&#8217;s had a drink or two no-one gives a monkeys whether I&#8217;m drinking or not and unless folks have a skinful, I can&#8217;t tell they&#8217;re whether they&#8217;re drinking or not either. It also got easier over time, as more and more people knew, and I gained confidence I was doing the right thing for me.<\/li><li>I feel like a bit of a freak sometimes, but that doesn&#8217;t just apply to giving up the booze, so I live with it. No, I don&#8217;t just live with it, that&#8217;s wrong, I like being different, in the sense I enjoy the self-determination of it all. If there&#8217;s something I don&#8217;t want to do, unless it&#8217;s an obligation of some sort, I ain&#8217;t doing it if I don&#8217;t want to. Thankfully my wife and mates tend to roll their eyes at my excesses and compulsions and accept them.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"576\" src=\"https:\/\/ourtourmedia.s3.eu-central-003.backblazeb2.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/IMG_20190203_083503482-1024x576.jpg\" alt=\"A range of alcohol-free Spanish beers lagers cans\" class=\"wp-image-34356\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ourtourmedia.s3.eu-central-003.backblazeb2.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/IMG_20190203_083503482-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/ourtourmedia.s3.eu-central-003.backblazeb2.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/IMG_20190203_083503482-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/ourtourmedia.s3.eu-central-003.backblazeb2.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/IMG_20190203_083503482-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/ourtourmedia.s3.eu-central-003.backblazeb2.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/IMG_20190203_083503482-1500x844.jpg 1500w, https:\/\/ourtourmedia.s3.eu-central-003.backblazeb2.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/IMG_20190203_083503482-705x397.jpg 705w, https:\/\/ourtourmedia.s3.eu-central-003.backblazeb2.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/IMG_20190203_083503482-450x253.jpg 450w, https:\/\/ourtourmedia.s3.eu-central-003.backblazeb2.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/IMG_20190203_083503482.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption>I find alcohol-free (0.0%) beer&#8217;s a way to good way ease the social pressure of drinking. Once it&#8217;s poured into a glass, it looks like &#8216;normal&#8217; beer, and attracts zero attention. The range is increasing by the month, and the taste&#8217;s much improved compared to the old Kaliber days.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Erm, that&#8217;s it. I&#8217;ve got a cracking life, no Sunday night or post-holiday blues (but also no Friday afternoon excitement), no silent struggles with a boss I didn&#8217;t choose and don&#8217;t respect, no headache-inducing commutes, no pretending to work when my motivation&#8217;s rock bottom. Other than my inherent anxiety, there is no need to &#8216;take the edge off&#8217; with a drink. I celebrate my life (quietly, to myself) every day, most conscious moments, Champagne&#8217;s redundant. Will I always feel this way? Will I never drink again? Who knows? My answer to this is: when I feel like drinking again, I will. I just haven&#8217;t felt like it yet, perhaps I never will.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Cheers folks, Jay<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I honestly don&#8217;t know the last time I had a beer, but as far as I can recall it&#8217;s been roughly a year. This blog post reflects my personal experience over the past 12 months.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":34356,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[417,415],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-36275","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-motorhome-blog","category-at-home"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>The Highs and Lows of a Year off the Booze - Our Tour Motorhome Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"I honestly don&#039;t know the last time I had a beer, but it&#039;s been roughly a year. 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This blog post reflects my experience over the past 12 months.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/ourtour.co.uk\/home\/the-highs-and-lows-of-a-year-off-the-booze\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Our Tour Motorhome Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/OurTour\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-08-05T12:27:44+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-06-13T15:54:41+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/ourtour.co.uk\/home\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/IMG_20190203_083503482.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1440\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jason\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@ourtourblog\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@ourtourblog\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Jason\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"8 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ourtour.co.uk\\\/home\\\/the-highs-and-lows-of-a-year-off-the-booze\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ourtour.co.uk\\\/home\\\/the-highs-and-lows-of-a-year-off-the-booze\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Jason\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ourtour.co.uk\\\/home\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/28b4763ac800fdf951974d671ed33d28\"},\"headline\":\"The Highs and Lows of a Year off the Booze\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-08-05T12:27:44+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-06-13T15:54:41+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ourtour.co.uk\\\/home\\\/the-highs-and-lows-of-a-year-off-the-booze\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":1671,\"commentCount\":21,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ourtour.co.uk\\\/home\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ourtour.co.uk\\\/home\\\/the-highs-and-lows-of-a-year-off-the-booze\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ourtourmedia.s3.eu-central-003.backblazeb2.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2019\\\/03\\\/IMG_20190203_083503482.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Blog\",\"While at Home\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/ourtour.co.uk\\\/home\\\/the-highs-and-lows-of-a-year-off-the-booze\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ourtour.co.uk\\\/home\\\/the-highs-and-lows-of-a-year-off-the-booze\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ourtour.co.uk\\\/home\\\/the-highs-and-lows-of-a-year-off-the-booze\\\/\",\"name\":\"The Highs and Lows of a Year off the Booze - Our Tour Motorhome Blog\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ourtour.co.uk\\\/home\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ourtour.co.uk\\\/home\\\/the-highs-and-lows-of-a-year-off-the-booze\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ourtour.co.uk\\\/home\\\/the-highs-and-lows-of-a-year-off-the-booze\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ourtourmedia.s3.eu-central-003.backblazeb2.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2019\\\/03\\\/IMG_20190203_083503482.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-08-05T12:27:44+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-06-13T15:54:41+00:00\",\"description\":\"I honestly don't know the last time I had a beer, but it's been roughly a year. 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