Rants, Raves and Ramblings of a Doer

Confessions of a non-alchoholic

Friday, August 12, 2011 Posted by Vishnu 6 comments
On a Friday night at a local sandbar;

Waitress: What can I get for you?
Me: Water, thanks!
Waitress (the look on her face): What a loser! (And she never shows up)

I've never believed that a non-alcoholic would have confessions too. For a person like me, I should be an aggressive drinker considering the people I have lived with, the friends I hang out with and for that matter seeing my dad who loves his drink times with his bosom pals. Somehow,  it is a deep rooted infliction within me that doesn't let me drink. It is not that I hate being among a group of druk people or I dislike people who drink but I just can't see myself drinking, be it wine, beer or any breezers for that matter.

When I say I don't drink, I don't mean that I am uptight. I enjoy life in my own way, I have my own ways of busting out my stress and I don't need a medium to express my emotions. Without drinking, I'm still much sociable than most of my alcoholic friends if they think it is easy to socialize with a drink in hand. It is not a religious restriction or a lifestyle that somebody imposed on me but it is a personal choice.

Sometimes I feel left out when I'm with a group of people where everyone drinks but then I quickly come back to normalcy because it doesn't need a huge effort to strike up a conversation. I mildly giggle when I'm given the drinks menu along with the dinner menu, thinking thats not me. The whole situation gets much complex when I attend social gatherings with people from work as most of them drink and I usually go with the monologue "Just water for me, thanks".

Some people ask me why I don't drink, and I answer "To imbibe or not is a personal choice". Actually, I can be more silly than the people who are drunk. When I dance, I dance my heart out which I bet most of you cannot even while you are dead drunk. And yes, I remember every word you speak and I never bitched about it other than reciting it back to you and sharing a few laughs. Gladly, I've never been a social pariah when it comes to parties which has drinks. While some people are prejudiced about offering their liquor snacks to the non-drinkers, I gladly offer my soda to mix it with their booze, I beat you down with my attitude here.

Finally, I have always been proud of being determined and sticking to my ideals and hence no remorses. Cheers to all the boozers and the non's. Next time, when you call for a toast, remember that they call it cheers to celebrate but not decimate! I don't stop befriending you because you are thin, fat, ugly, black or bad because you are still a part of my life and I cherish it :)