013 | 🍹 My love/hate relationship with alcohol

Ahoy!

Two England games, two wins, and a semi-final to look forward to next week. Maybe - just maybe - even a final next Sunday...

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For me, football tends to go hand in hand with drinking. Given we've had two important games in the last week, they've both been pretty boozy events. And on top of meeting up with friends, going for dinner, the usual - drinking has added up. As if often does most weeks.

Perhaps it's a generation thing. I suspect many of my friends will be in a similar situation, where they find they are drinking alcohol of some sort 2-3 times per week.

For the most part, I love drinking. It's loads of fun, and usually takes place in fun environments (social events, football related events, celebrations). I love looking forward to a night out at the weekend, though I very rarely drink at home. Which makes me some form of a social drinker.

The thing is - as I write this through the lens of a slight hangover - the downsides of drinking are starting to add up. And 'add up' is a good way to start - both in terms of money and calories.

Adding up the cost of alcohol - £ and Kcal

London is infamously expensive for alcohol. A typical gin and tonic will usually touch £8-10, and it's impossible to get change for a tenner when buying a pint for you and your mate. In fact, I've noticed the price gap closing between cocktails/G+Ts and pints. The pub I worked for in 2017 sold pints for ~£5.30, they're now £6+. So - drinking is expensive. Especially when you add on travel and entry/ticket fees.

Calories from alcohol quickly add up too. Casual drinking makes it hugely difficult to lose body fat, given calories from alcohol are essentially that - 'empty calories' - and nothing else. It's possible to lose body fat while drinking alcohol, but hugely difficult, and not sustainable.

The cost and calories of alcohol are easily quantifiable, because you can work out the exact numbers of either - £ or calories. But less quantifiable, are the knock on effects of drinking.

The day after the night before: bad decisions, anxiety

Being drunk or hungover the next day usually means a process of crap decision making. This stems from tiredness - alcohol makes you sleep worse - and a bad mood. Such crap decisions usually include unhealthy food choices, and no exercise. Which makes the calories the night before even worse.

I often find the day after, my motivation and productivity fall through the floor. I'm always amazed at myself when I go out for a run the morning after - a rare occasion to say the least! Getting s*** done grinds to a halt, and my to-do list becomes to-morow's list.

Add to this wonderful concoction: anxiety.

Over the last year or so, I've found that 'post-drinking anxiety' has become quite a commonly accepted symptom of a hangover. I definitely experience it from time to time. A feeling of worry that something bad was said, that something was forgotten about, that something bad is waiting to be revealed following last night.

The antithesis to the feeling of excitement a few hours before the event.

And then - the hangover itself. The less said, the better.

Taking a break from drinking? Probably not - but...

To me, it seems impossible to stop drinking altogether.

I've been guilty plenty of times for the 'Why aren't you drinking/Why not just have one?' questions, and experienced them myself the same amount.

As a 26 year old male, who loves football, and works in advertising in London, drinking and 'fun' go hand in hand. There's lots of situations I find myself in where it's easier to drink than to not. This is the main problem.

I think the solution lies in the middle of: more willpower to resist my own temptation and peer pressure, but also to simply find better alternatives. 'Low and no' beers are popping up everywhere - Big Drop has some great examples - mocktails are fine, and if all else fails: all hail the Coke Zero. Or water, obviously.

And - as I said before - drinking is fun. So, I don't want to ever go cold turkey. But, too much of anything is a bad thing. And it's from this mantra that I'm having this conversation with myself.

I write these emails to think out loud about how to enjoy life more, and how to get the most out of it. The thinking out loud part is due to the fact I presume that I'm not the only person thinking about these things. Alcohol is part of most people's lives, so I reckon I'm not the only one thinking about this stuff. The problem is, it's easier to just go along with it and say yes to another drink!

Are you trying to drink less? How? Why? Or - why not?

Thanks! 😎

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Share 🚶🏻 Weekly Wharmby

How am I 1% better this week? 📈

I ran my fastest 5k (21:05) and 10k (44:13) to date. Very pleased! Running has provided a lot of growth for me personally. Which is a great reason to keep it up.

What have I learned this week? 🤔

I've been watching the absolutely superb Clarkson's Farm on Amazon Prime, and I now see myself as a pseudo-expert in farming. For example: I learned that the empty rows you see in crop fields are made by perfect mathematical design to allow the sprayer to perfectly spray the whole field as efficiently as possible.

Funny, nerdy, super interesting. What could be better?

This Week’s Recommendation 🔝

TV 📺 - Clarkson's Farm (see above)

Blog 📖 - *Boundless* - Paul Millerd

This blog post mirrored a lot of my own thoughts about drinking, and inspired this post.

This Week I’m: ⬇️

• Reading 📚 - Courier - A magazine I picked up at work which is all about business and creating a life that you love. I've just started reading the June/July issue, so tbc but it looks great.

• Listening to 🎧 - SG Lewis - Times - This album has fairly mixed reviews but I think it's great. It feels like a nice mixture of Tame Impala, Friendly Fires, and Bondax. Which is a great thing! I’ll hopefully be seeing him live for the first time in August 🕺🏻.

• Planning 🗓 - On a new exercise schedule - alternating between running and resistance training, swapping in football for running, and resting on Sundays. E.g Mon - Run / Tues - Resistance / Weds - Football / Thurs - Resistance / Fri - Run / Sat - Resistance / Sun - rest.

• Looking forward to 🍻 - No alcohol next week

This Week’s Quote 💬

This Week’s Video 📺

5 great habits to make life a bit better.

There we have it!

Looking forward to catching up next week.

In the meantime, find me on Twitter, Instagram and YouTube, and have a look at what I’m reading on Goodreads. Ciao!