A difficult descision

Hello there! And welcome to my shiny new blog!

  Blogging isn't something I've really done before so please bear with me while I find my proverbial feet.

Well, Ive done it. I've made the decision, the decision has been made, I've definitely decided.

At the end of July I will be turning 30, on the 31st to be precise and as a special treat to my body I won't be drinking any alcohol for a whole year. At this stage I haven't yet decided whether to start (or stop?) on the 31st of July or on the 1st of August so I can enjoy my last pint for a year on my birthday? I think I'll probably do that, in fact, yes, that's what I'm going to do, another decision decided!

I suppose I'd better start by explaining what led me to make this decision.

I love drinking, I love going to pubs with mates and having a sesh, I love sitting at home with George and enjoying a nice bottle of red, I love heading down the beach with a load of cans, I love going back home, sitting around the table with my family and getting stuck in, I love the seemingly endless number of ales that are available out there. And here lies the problem, do love it too much? I do have a little trouble pacing myself sometimes. If there is something going on which involves drinking then usually end up getting pissed. Prime example; I was at the wedding of some good friends of mine in June, Spank and Jen. It was a great day with loads of my mates there, people who I see far less than I would like and perfect opportunity to catch up with everyone but I can't remember anything past about 6 o'clock.The next morning was the all too familiar tale of  waking up thinking, oh shit, did I do something that I'll regret last night? Am I in trubs? At this point I usually lie awake and wait for George to wake up so I can gauge from her face whether I should be worried about my conduct or I'm if worrying unnecessarily. Luckily for me I have a wonderful girlfriend who is used to this by now and is never to hard on me. I'm sure there are plenty of other guys out there who would be in the dog house.

It was actually the morning after this wedding that I started pondering over the possibility of  modifying my drinking in someway. I was/am so fed up of having these thoughts the morning after a big sesh I just felt that it was time to do something about it.  Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to paint myself as a raving alco, I'm not talking about weekly or perhaps even monthly occurrences here. It's just when it does happen it's really started to get to me. I know that I'm not on my own here, nearly everyone I know drinks to some extent and lots of  you must feel like this occasionally, right? It cant just be me can it? Unless thae part of my brain which make me feel guilty for my drunken antics is abnormally large and none of you have any clue what I'm rambling on about.

So after asking myself some serious questions I decided that I am going to have a break for an entire year. Give myself a chance to see what social events are like when your not drinking. It's strange to think that most of my social life involves drinking. What if I can't function in normal society if  I'm drinking coke instead of landlord? What if nobody wants to hang out with me? What if I loose and stone and actually have some money left in my account at the end of the month? What if What if What if!!!
It is going to be an interesting experiment, I wonder if I'm going t to crave it? Am I still going to go to pubs with friends? I think, I hope that things won't change much at all. It would be quite surprising if  they did, then giving up drinking would definitely be the right thing to do. The though of ones character being defined by your drinking habits its quite sad and I'm sure that wont be the case.

I don't expect it all to be plane sailing though, after only a few days on the wagon George and I are off to Newbury for Toby and Debbie's wedding. Our third this year after Jon and Jo's and Spank and Jens, this one is going to be rather different. Weddings are always big piss ups and as Toby is someone who loves a drink as much as I do, we invariably end up getting pissed when we are together (and having a great time by the way), but this time will obviously be different, hopefully not in a negative way. At least I'm going to be able to remember everything the next day. And I won't have a hang over! That is a nice thought, wedding hang overs are the worst, in fact that's wrong. Stag doo hang overs are the worst, then wedding hang over's the hang over I had after Toby's stag doo in Ibiza was ridiculous, I think it lasted about 4 days. So I apologise to you in advance mate, I know it's bad timing.