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kaberettContent note: alcoholism, brief reference to suicide.
I am really fucking annoyed with Cancer Research UK for the whole "dryathalon" thing because of normalising problematic and unhealthy drinking. As with pretty much every coping mechanism ever I reckon you're a grown-up and I'm not going to try to stop you however much I care about you if I think you've weighed pros and cons and this is the best decision you can make for you as a whole right now regardless of long-term effects (see also: I am pro-choice on suicide) but I think it is STAGGERINGLY IRRESPONSIBLE for a HEALTH CHARITY to treat "not drinking for a month" like it is in any sense reasonable or normal to expect it to be commensurate with the amount of effort and training etc required to run a marathon. (My feelings about how it's dodgy to claim that running marathons is a sign of ~good health~ are a different rant but, hey, guess what, long-term damage to physical health arises from running too WHO KNEW etc.)
Like for context I completely routinely go month(s) at a time without drinking. I can't tell you when the last time was because fundamentally I do not actually pay that much attention but I can tell you that by Boxing Day I was getting seriously uncomfortable with my alcohol consumption because I had had half a glass of wine pretty much every day for four or five days running, which! tells you something!
(I feel I should also note, at this point, that I don't think it is Wrong And Awful to drink more than that! It's just that I don't drink much, so that represents a major change in drinking habits; that I'm on three or four meds my doctors would by and large rather I didn't combine with alcohol; I've got chronic depression that's generally well-managed but intake of a systemic depressant doesn't help; and I freak the fuck out about mind- and mood-altering meds, yes, seriously, pretty much the only reason I don't go cold turkey off my antidepressants twice a month is that within 12 hours of a missed dose the withdrawal is fucking. me. up. and I recognise that much as I hate it I need this shit to be functional. Similarly I pretty much only ever take diazepam or temazepam when the alternative is much much worse than "lose half a day to hangover and half a day to feeling angry and helpless about brain chemistry". And, like, individuals making their own choices about what to do with their bodies ARE NOT HEALTH CHARITIES.)
I am really fucking annoyed with Cancer Research UK for the whole "dryathalon" thing because of normalising problematic and unhealthy drinking. As with pretty much every coping mechanism ever I reckon you're a grown-up and I'm not going to try to stop you however much I care about you if I think you've weighed pros and cons and this is the best decision you can make for you as a whole right now regardless of long-term effects (see also: I am pro-choice on suicide) but I think it is STAGGERINGLY IRRESPONSIBLE for a HEALTH CHARITY to treat "not drinking for a month" like it is in any sense reasonable or normal to expect it to be commensurate with the amount of effort and training etc required to run a marathon. (My feelings about how it's dodgy to claim that running marathons is a sign of ~good health~ are a different rant but, hey, guess what, long-term damage to physical health arises from running too WHO KNEW etc.)
Like for context I completely routinely go month(s) at a time without drinking. I can't tell you when the last time was because fundamentally I do not actually pay that much attention but I can tell you that by Boxing Day I was getting seriously uncomfortable with my alcohol consumption because I had had half a glass of wine pretty much every day for four or five days running, which! tells you something!
(I feel I should also note, at this point, that I don't think it is Wrong And Awful to drink more than that! It's just that I don't drink much, so that represents a major change in drinking habits; that I'm on three or four meds my doctors would by and large rather I didn't combine with alcohol; I've got chronic depression that's generally well-managed but intake of a systemic depressant doesn't help; and I freak the fuck out about mind- and mood-altering meds, yes, seriously, pretty much the only reason I don't go cold turkey off my antidepressants twice a month is that within 12 hours of a missed dose the withdrawal is fucking. me. up. and I recognise that much as I hate it I need this shit to be functional. Similarly I pretty much only ever take diazepam or temazepam when the alternative is much much worse than "lose half a day to hangover and half a day to feeling angry and helpless about brain chemistry". And, like, individuals making their own choices about what to do with their bodies ARE NOT HEALTH CHARITIES.)