🚱 Letter 128: My Breakup with Booze
FAQ: Why don't you drink?
If you are new here or missed last week's edition, you can catch up on the past letters here. If you are reading this for the first time, I’d love you to sign up below to join the other 429 learn-it-alls:
Aloha fellow learn-it-all 👋
Greetings from Diamond Head, Hawai'i 🌺
The full moon has been quite a delight lately.
I’m currently enrolled as a student for my seventh cohort of the writing school called Write of Passage. Yes, I know, I am a WOP Groupie.
The homework assignment for this week is to answer a frequently asked question. Currently, in my life, that is “why don’t you drink?”. It is timely to publish this piece after being asked thrice more times last night at volleyball this same exact question.
In honor of the recent World Mental Health Day, I see this coincidence as a nudge to publish this piece that I have been musseling up the courage to share. Much of my mental health has been less turbulent since this decision to become a non-drinker.
Now, let’s dive into letter 128 from a learn-it-all. Cheers!
❓ Question to think about
Why don't you drink alcohol?
🖊 Writing
"No beer stains on her teeth– she's a teetotaler." -my dad, who is also my dentist, when I was having my teeth cleaned a few weeks ago.
This was far from the case three years ago when I came in to see my dad after chipping my front tooth pounding back a Bud Light in a long neck bottle on Broadway in Nashville. I had just returned from drinking my way across America with my long-lost Dutch cousin while on my gap year after college. It was an attempt to prolong my fun before the real “adulting” started in my management consulting job that began in four months in Dallas, Texas. This was the first of many signs that there was a problem on the rise.
How my drinking began
My relationship with booze started roughly ten years ago while I was on a sailboat on Mackinac island in Northern Michigan. In my hand was a concoction of Captain Morgan and Coke in a red plastic cup. Nauti Boys seemed like it was rocking more than usual. It was chilly, though I felt a space heater radiating out of my pink cheeks. The song ‘Levels’ by Avicii vibrated across the waves. I never wanted this moment to stop. My teeth couldn’t stop cheesing at life. I never wanted these joyous feelings of invincibility to end. I thought I could do anything.
Why I drank
The Cool Club
Booze was like the cover to the club to be cool. It was so easy. Flash back to in middle school or in high school when I was locked into lockers, I assumed it was because I didn’t have the right Hollister jeans or the color of Ugg boots. I so desperately wanted to feel like I could fit in. That’s all I wanted in life.
Adult Play Mode
Drinking booze was an instant flick of the switch into play mode.
I loved how clear of a boundary it was. Time to have fun! When I was working, my instantaneous reward was to crack open a brew or pour a drink. Moscow mules were my favorite. In January of my senior year in college, I had a routine of eating at least one jello shot each night for the heck of it.
During my post-graduate life, my social life revolved around where the spot to drink was. The local watering hole. It was like recess at the playground for me as a young twenty-something in Chicago. We had some team happy hours. It was the first response to getting to know about someone’s life outside of work. It would take the edge off, so I could be more playful, and less serious. It got me looser, and I became more chatty.
The Games
Throughout college, I felt a sense of belonging, where I could speak a language and be an amicable team player in drinking games.
It was one helluva good time. Let’s compete to see who can shotgun a beer fastest, or do a keg stand by defying gravity to drink out of a hose upside down. We would play waterfall to the song ‘Thunderstruck’ by AC/DC in a circle, where every person would rotate chugging according to the song. We’d team up to see who could flip cups the fastest. We’d play King’s Cup with playing cards facedown where each card picked on someone new to drink. Shower beers made me feel like a multitasking pro getting a leg up on my drunkenness before the pre-drinking to the party even began. Each night I dreaded hearing “Closing Time” by Semisonic play.
Being a Courageous Connector
With a drink in my hand, I felt like a whiz at connecting. Any sense of being self-conscious surfed away. Give me a little bit of liquid courage and I can approach anyone. That cute guy who wore my favorite brewery sweatshirt in my real estate class. That girl who rejected me from her sorority was too “cool” for me. Put me up on stage and I’ll belch out ‘I Don’t Want To Be’ by Gavin DeGraw in a heartbeat.
With drinking, it was like a rite of passage that I was happy to do. I’ve waited in an hour-long line to enter the bar to watch the Olympics at 6 AM in my footie pajamas, worn an electronic Christmas hat with an accompanying ugly sweater, and I’ve nearly gotten frostbite by not wanting to ruin my unicorn outfit for Halloween. Here’s a bunch of photos with my drunk eyes:
Meditation
While drunk, the anxiety of my future dissolved. It was meditative and all I could think about was how I was feeling right now. As my body began to feel numb, I was actually more aware of my body and the present moment. I would hear songs and actually listen or I’d notice people walking by and want to lean in more.
It became the main vehicle of how I connected with people. Little did I know, I felt out of control of how I was communicating. The worst part of this type of connection is that it would always be spotty. I’d forget the name of the girl who sat next to me in my accounting class for the seventh time. I’d meet a potential recruit for the swim team and never follow up to text them to join. This further fed my fear of forgetting and early-onset Alzheimers like my grandma.
If I love my life so much then why am I actively consuming substances that facilitate my forgetting it?
Why I decided to stop drinking
Enough was enough. I was drinking too often, using the bottle to cope when I felt totally lost in life.
Yet in a way, I’m convinced that drinking was part of the reason why I felt lost in the first place, caught in a vicious cycle.
I felt like a slave to drinking. It’s similar to an ever-present need for caffeine one that didn’t solve any problems and didn’t make me feel any less tired or alive.
Richard Feynman, the physicist, inspires me. On an ordinary afternoon in 1949, he felt the pull to have a drink. He didn’t want to feel powerless to the disconcerting desire for alcohol. At that moment he gave up drinking on the spot. He didn’t want to allow this instinctive reaction to rid him of being a master of himself.
I had a similar feeling of powerlessness and instinctive reaction but my personal break-up process was much different from Feynman's. It’s been like a dance with drastic pushing and pulling. Over the past four years, I have participated in dry January.
The beginnings of my struggles without drinking
Last year, I moved to Hawaii without knowing a soul for a two-month job in community management. It required that I live in a hostel in the touristic party city of Waikiki outside of Honolulu. In the beginning, I didn’t know anyone apart from my boss, his boss, and the 35 college students in the program.
In the hostel, I met some party friends outside of work that I was able to let loose with to celebrate that I survived one of the roughest days of being at the Honolulu airport for 14+ hours to welcome each of the students to the island. I stepped onto the party bus and binge-drank my brains out. I wanted to wash away and drown out the doubts that feared I made the wrong choice of uprooting my life. Later that night, students from my program came onto the bus without my conscious knowledge, and later I felt less respected for how they saw me. Soon after, I was threatened to be fired from my job.
For the rest of that program, I swore off (most) alcohol and ended up nearly burning out from the job. I hit a low point in my life living in one of the most beautiful places in the world. I couldn’t believe it. This was a sign that I needed to find better ways to cope with my problems. Luckily, I found health-conscious friends while surfing, scuba diving, through the church, and in bookstores. They grounded me without drinking and made me feel like I belonged no matter what I was doing because our relationships did not revolve around the sole hobby of drinking.
My boundaries for not drinking
This year, I moved on to only indulging in an adult beverage when I wanted to celebrate. I’d have a rule of not spontaneously drinking. I would plan it out at least 24 hours before so I knew it wasn’t to give in to peer pressure. I drank one ginger Ola hard seltzer on my 26th birthday. I sipped it for over four hours just so no one would ask to get me a new drink.
I’ve realized that the only time I cave in is when I am trying to fit in with the crowd. Where I grew up in Michigan, it was always easy to find a boat to race on because once you know a couple of sailors, you knew all of them. This past year, breaking into the sailing community in Honolulu has been much different. I emailed a guy from a website named Gary. My only sailing friend. He told me to show up at the dock with a case of beer and I could take my plunge into networking as a crew member. There are the boats that start taking shots before the race even begins. Those weren’t my vibe.
Sailing is a beautiful sport that I want to treat as such. What I started to do as my entry ticket to race on a sailboat is bring a case of beer for the crew, along with my own LaCroix seltzer water. When we got 2nd place though, we won two pitchers of any drink of choice. It was Dark n’stormy’s. I used to love those. I felt weak. I also wanted to clink my drink with everyone to celebrate especially the superstar sailors like the brilliant British captain Kerri and the Bulgarian foredeck guy Obbo. I didn’t want them to ask why I wasn’t drinking. While meeting someone for the first time, all I wanted to do was have things in common rather than have points of friction from our differences. I didn’t want to have to lie but I also was exhausted. That single drink was so strong, I was buzzed after sipping it for two hours.
I needed to drive my moped Xiao home. I chugged my water bottle and walked around the park for a bit. It was less than 2 miles home. This buzz I was desperate to go away since I was paranoid that if I left Xiao there he’d be towed overnight. When I arrived home, my roommate was still out on her date night. I felt sad and went straight to bed.
My past self would think I am lucky to be such an easy lightweight. Instead of feeling like a winner, my present self felt like a loser. Spontaneity usually made me feel fun but that wasn’t the case this time. In that instant, that experience reinforced the lesson that when I give up under peer pressure, I will probably regret that decision.
I learned that numbing those feelings with alcohol will not make my life better and that I need to further explore living life without the crutch of confidence booze gave me.
More struggles without drinking
Sobriety is something worth my discomfort. I’d rather trade this coolness factor for control. I feel like people think I'm stiff but in reality, most people don’t actually think like that. My drinking behavior is not their concern. It is my business. This is about my relationship with myself. I dislike my past self for the past decisions of feeling like Hulk is in my head with my hangover the day after being drunk.
I don’t need to swoop into despair. I can stay active, save my money, and experience the same feelings without booze.
Drinking used to serve its purpose when I didn’t have the esteem or confidence to cultivate connections without it. But now, I am at a stage where always saying no is easier than sometimes saying yes. I am staying true to myself as someone who looks out for their mental and physical health. If I do not feel comfortable socializing with someone without booze, then maybe that is someone I prefer not to be friends with regardless. I’m glad I am not the only sober curious mind out there.
Where I’m at today
I put my analytical hat on and made a pro-con list:
This list is kept top of my mind, so I am aware of why I am choosing what I am.
Over the last 68 days of travel, I’ve passed some real tests. I “survived” four weddings out of five without drinking, and it keeps getting easier and easier. I attended several parties and withdrew from the choice to drink with only a few slipups, and I am proud of myself. I don't ever feel like I need or even want to drink.
Alcohol brings out a transition for many driven people to lower their inhibitions, and I get it. But now that I am sensitive to how it affects me, I notice how it serves as a vehicle to escape feelings in my life.
I’m done running away from my problems. And my teeth are better off with fewer chips because of this.
I was drinking to deal with problems. Quitting drinking may have solved the biggest one.
🌟 Quote to inspire
“You are the author of your own life, and it’s never too late to replace the stories you tell yourself and the world. It’s never too late to begin a new chapter, add a surprise twist, or change genres entirely.” -Tim Ferriss
📷 Photo of the Week
So fun to be back out sailing. And even better to get first place and opt out of any of the three pitchers of booze that accompanied the victory.
🙏 Shoutouts
To other inspiring sober curious writing friends like Sarah Wood’s piece on needing new language around drinking, Nicole Prentice’s book on reinventing her relationship with drinking, and Claire Edwards on drinking in moderation
To all my writing friends who provided me feedback. This has been my most edited article ever:
To Foster friends: John Lanza, Cassandra Ellis, Chris Angelis, Steven Ovadia, Corey Wilks, Amber Williams, Guillermo Forero, Alexander Hugh Sam
To Write of Passage friends: Elyse Holladay, Brent Lyman, Nic Hurrell, Nic Rosslee, Leslie Kim, David Matheson
To writing friends: Andrea Makamba and Dan McGlinn
I appreciate you reading this!
If ideas resonated, I’d love you to leave a comment, reply to this email, or send me a message on Twitter @JenVermet. If you forgot who I am, I welcome you to my online home.
Never stop learning 😁
Mahalo 🌺
Jen
If you’re reading this because someone shared this newsletter with you, welcome! I’d love it if you subscribed:
👣 Footnotes
On how creation takes courage:
On confusion with the English language:
On resources for email courses:
On the joys of island life:
On where I go if I am feeling frustrated while writing:
Drunk eyes, ahhh yes.
Wonderful essay, Jen. Also, SO MANY people gave you feedback! How did you not get overwhelmed by that?😵💫
Hi Jennifer,
I really found your last letter enlightening. I am so proud of you in being able to identify a problem, work through it and successfully achieve your goal. Many times I have felt that I did not fit in with certain people because I would not drink. I would shy away from them rather than succumb to their drinking. As a result I do not have a lot of friends in high school or college. It was hard trying to keep myself focused on my family life and pursuing my nursing careers. Also I had some medical issues I had to deal with.
Keep striving as you have to deal with your situation. You are a bright, beautiful and strong young woman who has a wonderful life ahead of her. Continue on that pathway and watch how your life can be bright and beautiful. I thoroughly enjoy reading your letters.
Always Loving and Caring,
Aunt Vickie🙏😘