Sober Train (Part 3)

Next Friday is the 9th of April which means 3 months off the drink and essentially a target reached. I haven’t wavered yet. I’ve definitely enjoyed parts of not drinking, but it does have its moments. This weekend I’m going to “Bluesfest” in Byron Bay, which will no doubt be one of those challenging moments, full of temptation. The beach, a festival atmosphere and live music are definitely conducive.

Which brings me to a topic I touched on in my first blog on this issue but never said much about - the way that occupations, environments etc influence our social habits – and the propensity to drink.

I can only talk from my own experience, but I acknowledge that many of the professional and recreational environments I have moved through in my own career have not only condoned drinking but have at times, it must be said, encouraged it.

To provide some examples: In recent years I have been a rugby player, worked in the legal profession, worked in the music business and have tried to be a writer… Each of these vocations are very different. Perhaps the companion to each however is the alcoholic bevvy. Looking at it openly, alcohol does play a significant part in the social fabric of each – for quite different reasons.

In the rugby culture, drinking can be a way of celebrating a win, commiserating a loss, winding down after a game, part of club nights, team building and creating camaraderie – the reasons are many and varied….

In the regimented, precise, pressure cooker of the legal profession, it’s a way of blowing off steam. My own experience working in law was that when Friday night ticked around, the overwhelming compulsion was to make a b-line to the nearest bar. I once heard that the term “going to the bar” was quite literally just that (I haven’t substantiated this yet…) but drinking has traditionally been associated with the pastimes of lawyers, barristers even judges alike – to negate the mental rigors of practice and “take the edge off”.

The Friday night relief session is a phenomenon that I have not experienced so much being out in business for myself or when working in the creative spaces. But then again, when I was working in the music business, sometimes you had to double check what city you were in, let alone what day it was…

I remember being on the road once in Melbourne. We had done a live television appearance on “the Panel”, before racing across town to the Northcote Social Club where we were promoting our own sold out concert the same night. We just made it. Afterwards we had a few drinks as one invariably does in those circumstances – the next thing it was 4.30am on a Wednesday morning and I remember thinking that was pretty bazaar.

You could do that a few times a week and the weekends kind of became meaningless. The live music space is a very “free” environment and everyone comes out to have a good time. When you are working in venues, in an at times stressful yet very fun context, the temptation to drink is always there.

Drinking and writing have always been aligned. I don’t need to rattle off the list of writer / alcoholics – it is extensive. Drinking puts you in a head space that lends itself to introspection, reverie and analysis – which writers love. It’s a romantic coupling, but equally a potentially destructive one.

So without wanting to put a negative spin or over generalize the drinking cultures of these professions and undertakings, drinking pressures can come to bear in a number of ways.

I do think it’s wrong to say you have to be a big drinker because you choose to do this or participate in that... such cultures are present in some things more than others - but you make your own calls about that and live with your choices.

Certainly I take ownership of the choices I have made around drinking and don’t put them down to the things I have decided to do. It can be useful to acknowledge that those pressures are there, though and see them for what they really are.

I’ll wind this social / psychological barrage up now…

One major thing I have noticed while being out, is that I have gone looking for entertainment. Conversation is great, but as the time wears on, just standing round talking garbage loses its gloss when everyone else is charged up.

I actually think there is something in this. Modern venues have geared themselves exclusively around drinking and nothing else. Most don’t bother with any kind of entertainment anymore. This was certainly not always the case. I tend to think that if the Government wants to combat binge drinking a thoughtful place to start might be in compelling venues to offer more to patrons than just getting them drunk. It could be a great change.

I will post one more debrief on this project / blog series with final thoughts… getting off the booze for a few months is really not a big deal, but as the first quater of the year wraps up, I am glad I did this..

PS -
A final confession - one of the reasons I’m tapping this out in an internet café in Byron was that I needed a time out from watching everyone enjoying themselves in the bars and in truth, was killing for a beer!...