Pick up or Put down the Bottle?

The alcohol industry is a billion-dollar business. On television’s biggest night in America, the Super Bowl, beer producers spend millions of dollars to secure 30-second ad slots during commercial breaks. The Bud Light Knight and Budweiser’s Clydesdales are some of the more memorable commercials in recent history. Drinking alcohol is a social norm that has become desensitized in our culture. People choose to drink because it is normal. Drinking alcohol is so normal that people who do not drink are judged and are in the minority. This is not written to convince anyone to drink or not to drink. That is an individual decision. This perspective is written to showcase the two sides of the idea. This perspective does not argue for a middle ground between drinking or not drinking. Will you pick up or put down the bottle?

There are reasons to pick up the bottle. Drinking is inherently a social practice. It is meant to be a shared experience. Parties, bars, and clubs are fun. Music is loud, people are happy, and you can escape your normal life. You can meet new people, open up out of your shell, and have an easier time connecting with others. Walls come down easier after a drink or two. While drinking, people want to connect and you never want the party to end.

Once the party stops you wonder why you picked up the bottle in the first place. You wake up the next day in a haze, hungover, and not one hundred percent yourself. Drinking is fun in the moment but is an inevitable cycle causing two steps forward and one step back. If you spend 5 days honing a practice and wake up hungover on the 6th day, you are likely to remove progress. There are still lingering effects of a hangover the next day so you are spending a couple of days getting back to your normal self. Extrapolate this scenario over the long run and it is easy to see how a frequent habit of drinking can hinder your personal development and achievement of the goals you desire. Drinking is also accepted as a social practice. If you are drinking alone on a frequent basis, there is probably an underlying issue that needs to be addressed.

Drinking as a social experience is fun in the moment. It is a time where you can be selfish and live in the enjoyment of the moment. In that moment you are not worried about your future self, you are worried about being present and enjoying what is going on around you. It is only after the bottle is put down that you can evaluate where your life is at with clarity and understanding of what drinking can do. Choosing to drink is having a short-term gratification mindset while putting the bottle down is focusing on what long-term consistency can do.