Quitting the bottle

you got that right.....alcoholics can get very self conscious when drinking, even if everyone they're with is drinking booze too.

 

I don't know how to measure this, but I'm convinced that the rate of alcoholism among sports media is disproportionally high...the hours, down time, late nights in bars, road trips in lonely hotel rooms with stocked mini-bars....it would be very hard to quit or stay dry if you had a real problem with alcohol.

 

I think that's a very good point.

A lot may say that the stress of the job may contribute to drinking, and I'm sure that's true for some, but surely sports writing isn't the first job in the history of the known universe that can cause stress.

I think an even bigger cause is the lack of structure. Most people aren't wired to constantly accept weird hours, intense periods of work followed up by gobs of free time and even more travel. Trying to inject at least a little bit of routine into my life, I've found, helps me greatly in terms of keeping good health habits.

Though I'm still somewhat young, my own tendencies to get ripped have shrunk more and more. It's strange...used to be, after a rough day, I'd be all like "Man, once I get home, I'm just going to get smashed." And I still find myself saying that quite often. But more and more, I end up drinking two beers and feeling perfectly fine leaving it at that.

 

It's not just sports media, it's writing, because writing entails spending a great deal of time in your own head and then it's sometimes hard to get out/wind down/make it stop. It's why Tom McGuane called alcoholism writer's "black lung" disease.

 

Hotel bars are what put me on the wagon, 21.
Looked at my bill at a Marriott one time and there were, like 12 beers on there.

 

Congrats on quitting you have see that everyone on here is right, The biggest thing will be that you will now have grown-up friends that may only have a beer or two and know when enough is enough. Welcome to adult hood

 

A good friend of mine says, "I'm not an alcoholic. I'm a drunk. Alcoholics go to meetings."

 

Or, "I don't have a drinking problem. I get drunk, pass out, wake up. No problem."

 

Maybe they feel uncomfortable because you are judging them, labeling them "alcoholics" and all...

It works both ways.

 

I'll eat when I'm hungry and drink when I'm dry,
And if moonshine don't kill me I'll live 'til I die.

 

"I'd rather have a bottle in front of me than a frontal lobotomy."

 

I've got a drinking problem: Two hands but only one mouth.