If you use social media, when was the last time you saw a picture of an alcoholic beverage in your feed? A glass of champagne on the edge of a jacuzzi, a colourful drink at a bar or a glass of wine by a fireplace perhaps? These three exact pictures came up in my feed recently and it wouldn’t surprise me if it wasn’t that long ago that similar pictures showed up in your feed. As I wrote in my previous blog post About social media and authenticity, posting pictures of alcoholic drinks seems to be an accepted and normalized way of communicating to each other that we are feeling good. But I wonder: are we really?

I drink alcohol on a pretty regular basis and I most enjoy wine and champagne (cava here in Spain of course). I usually drink in combination with food because I love the experience of food and wine matching perfectly. However I have also been really good at drinking wine and telling myself that I am worth it at the end of a busy day while the truth was that I just wanted to escape from feeling the way I did. Drinking wine for me is sometimes a way of escaping what’s going on in my life at the moment and I can enjoy the feeling of alcohol taking the edge off whatever is going on. I believe that I’m not the only one doing this.

I once saw a movie where someone said:

I only drink alcohol to feel even better.

This mindset in combination with training myself in awareness has made a huge difference to me in my relating to alcohol. Every time I choose to drink alcohol I nowadays ask myself: does this glass make me feel even better? The prerequisite being of course that I am already feeling good to begin with. If the answer is no, I know it’s best for me not to drink alcohol and most of the time I choose to drink something else instead.

Most of the time? Yes, that’s the honest answer. This blog is called Living my truth and I wouldn’t be truthful if I would write that I never drink a glass of alcohol anymore to take the edge off. I still sometimes find myself doing this even though I know better.

Alcohol is such a controversial topic (especially in Sweden) that it makes me a bit hesitant to even publish this text. I am aware that more topics could be covered around alcohol such as addiction and its consequences for both alcoholics and the people around them. I admire people who battle their alcohol addiction and choose every day to not touch a bottle. I feel fortunate that I don’t have to fight this addiction.

To me it would be interesting to see social media feeds where people honestly write about their feelings when drinking that champagne, drink or glass of wine they post a picture of. But I know of course that this is not the way the world works (at least not yet). So the only thing that I can actively do is following my own truth and with this blog I have chosen to also share it with you. As I have written before, it is my sincere wish that me doing so might enrich you in some way.

Cheers!

Photo: Wine Dharma – unsplash.com