As many of you will know, I don’t drink alcohol. It’s been 10½ years since I wrote the below article for The Wireless — the now defunct youth-focussed branch of Radio New Zealand — and 11½ years since I stopped drinking, but I still reckon this advice holds true. This was originally published on 6 January 2014.
Here is an exceprt:
Giving up drinking is not for everyone. Abstinence is a big step and it doesn’t suit all. Not everyone who drinks or even drinks heavily has a problem. My fiancée can quite easily enjoy a few beers, stop drinking and still have an awesome night. Not so much me and many others like me. Do what feels right for you. But always keep track of how much you’re drinking and how often you’re drinking.
Conversation is a powerful tool to share stories and change attitudes. I wish I could sit down with all of you and talk this through, because it is a pretty complex situation to internalise. I hope that by starting this conversation with you – by saying “hey it’s actually okay to not drink” it might go a small way to challenge the way people who don’t consume alcohol are treated.
Because I can’t sit down with each and every one of you here is a conversation I prepared earlier…
