Writer Gives Up Wine for a Month as a 'Sobering Exercise'
Somewhere in between alky and non-drinker, there's a community of social sippers that could have another but typically knows when to say nah. Nina Caplan, part of this group, decided to give up wine for a month and write about it for Intelligent Life, a quarterly magazine by The Economist.
It’s not difficult. Just dull. I felt unsociable. I missed the glow of self-satisfaction that alcohol brings, and the clear division it offers between work and recreation. I would cook dinner for a friend, watch her down half a bottle of wine and feel guilty for not joining her.
Her conclusion: stone-cold sobriety is overrated. She was still tired, lazy, and guilty of overeating carbs. She didn't spend any less. Plus, without alcohol to transport her a bit mentally, she had to hang out, so to speak, with herself more. And "nobody wants to spend that much time with me—not even me." [via Coldmud]
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14 Comments:
Wow. Do a lot of people feel this way? I'm no teetotaler, but I have NEVER thought that I need alcohol to make myself interesting or fun to hang out with.
It's terrific that the author is not an alcoholic, but I can't help but feel like she is exhibiting many of the symptoms.
lreeve at 10:51AM on 04/14/09
mmm i love self loathers.
i like that it's hannah - erin day as well on seriouseats dot com.
radiatedchimp at 11:07AM on 04/14/09
And this is for a magazine called "Intelligent Life"? There's something intelligent about this?
secondtimearound at 11:26AM on 04/14/09
@lreeve: I was wondering the same thing, especially as a non-drinker. I feel like I'm TOTALLY AWESOME without booze.
roboppy at 11:32AM on 04/14/09
Alcohol is a social lubricant.
Have fun at your church socials, I mean booze free dinner parties.
aldenrich at 11:52AM on 04/14/09
Some people are more social than others. I was way more hilarious and charming when I was a drinker, and I thought the same of others. Since giving it up, my social life has absolutely suffered! There's a reason people have been drinking alcohol since the beginning of recorded history.
producestories at 12:58PM on 04/14/09
Anyone who has made a new years resolution could've written this article. Our vices are the things that help us escape a reality that would be so vanilla and sterile without said vices that it wouldn't be worth living in. Alcohol doesn't make hanging out with someone better (except for family), it just requires people to have less common ground in order to share an enjoyable experience. You don't like drinking? I don't like musicals.
kiteless at 1:22PM on 04/14/09
Not to be weird, but giving up alcohol for a month or so is one of the "warning signs" of alcoholism. Given the way the article is written... I'd be a bit worried.
leilah at 2:20PM on 04/14/09
Isaac Asimov, the famed science fiction author, used to relate a story about being at a sci-fi convention in the early 70's. He was talking with fellow author Anthony Boucher when a third author walked by. (The Good Doctor never identified the third man, in all the times I heard him tell the story.) Boucher remarked, "I don't like him; he doesn't drink." Asimov said, "But, Tony, I don't drink either." Boucher replied, "Isaac, you're weirder stone cold sober than the rest of us are plastered."
If you don't like spending time with yourself, and alcohol makes that easier... well, I suggest crawling out of the bottle and onto a psychiatrist's couch.
DrGaellon at 3:22PM on 04/14/09
"Though it turns out that what I missed the most did not involve alcohol consumption at all. For me the biggest boozy pleasure is slavering over a good wine list. It seems I’m less a hedonist than a fantasist. Anticipation is silkier on the tongue than the finest vintage."
I completely agree. Last night I celebrated a glum Monday with a couple glass of Caparone 2003 Sangiovese from Paso Robles that I had stashed in the cupboard over the weekend. I had dreamed about that wine for days not because I couldn't wait to get drunk, but because it was an astonishingly good wine.
Pauper Nick at 3:39PM on 04/14/09
Is it really healthy to rely that much on alcohol to have fun? I may not be the peak of socialization, but I never found alcohol to help me any with that goal.
But then again I like myself and who I am . . . maybe that's the key difference?
comicsan at 4:35PM on 04/14/09
Probably not healthy but so what? Most people over eat but they don't do so to the point that it becomes a disability.
bobbob at 5:08PM on 04/14/09
roboppy: i know, right? i too am TOTALLY AWESOME without booze. caplan's being bored of her sober self made me really sad for her.
marchpane at 7:52PM on 04/14/09
As a near-nondrinker -- I can count on one hand how many I've had in the past six months -- I have to say my awesomeness stays the same whether I have a beer or not.
I think in a lot of cases, people overestimate the awkwardness of abstaining, so they become self-conscious about not drinking, or even pass on social events. Then it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.
piccola at 10:35PM on 04/14/09