light gazing, ışığa bakmak

Saturday, April 2, 2016

redefining alcohol

my friend d., a mother of two and by all means a successful woman in her job and in her personal life, has come out to my huge surprise as a heavy drinker who has now 'gone sober'. I did not see it coming and of all people I had no clue she was drinking too much. good thing, D., that you're not wasting your precious time, yourself and your money on drinking to 'endure'. endure what?
my views on alcohol have become clear: I don't drink and it's been like this for years. I do believe people drink too much, teenagers drink to astronomical proportions, adults keep on drinking for years and drinking is glorified by everyone. when I stopped drinking I didn't do it because I had a problem but simply because it makes me sneeze. there's no point in drinking and having a sneeze attack. I never had to make any excuses and I don't give a damn if people think this or that about myself. peer pressure is not my thing really. after quitting drinking (I can taste something but never more that one or two gulps) I thought some about it, simply put: how I had been wasting my precious time, myself and money by drinking. since I quit smoking as well, there were a lot of things that made no sense to do anymore, mostly going out to places where you go specifically to drink and smoke. I became more of a morning person, as they say, and the outllook on life changed slightly, towards a truer life, or so I like to believe, but who knows. being in contact with a muslim lifestyle after the Black Book and travelling to Turkey has increased that feeling - for all the wrongs of the historic country, there are amazing feelings to be found there: the respect for elders, not drinking, not smoking as much specially in Ramadan month, most children not being spoilt, children that are not obsessed with electronics (yet), the maintaining of crafts traditions, respect for culture. these several traits are found in different parts of society: the family focus in more traditional househlds, the respect for culture in more progressive parts of society. gentrification is such a huge issue there and it ended up being as big of a problem in Lisboa.  I can see and know many people who are heavy drinkers and I wish they weren't. some even to fulfil ideas of cool in their minds. none of my business of how one carries out their life, but hey, don't drink.

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