Not Drinking? What Are You Thinking?

Alcohol is everywhere we look these days, and it would seem that it’s the in thing to do, and has been for decades. Every soap on television is based around the one thing that always seems to pull everyone together, and occasionally apart, is drink.

In every major soap, the focal point is a pub. When something goes wrong, the first thing the characters we watch on our television screens everyday think to do, is ‘have a drink down the pub’ no matter where we look we can’t get away from the fact that drinking is the one of the few self medicated ways to get over life in general.

Now before you read on into this blog, please understand that under no circumstances am I attacking people who drink.

I myself, am not a drinker, and have been asked by a couple of people to share my thoughts on the way we as non-drinkers are made to feel.

I don’t know about anybody else, but drinking to me has always been something that I feel has managed to exclude myself, and I guess at one point made me feel even more of freak than I already did.

I was always quite a self conscience person and no matter how hard I tried to fit in, it just never worked; now as I have gotten older and grown into my skin, knowing what I want from life and properly knowing who I am as person have I come to realise I don’t need to be pressured into drinking to make me feel complete. So after speaking to a couple of people who make the conscious choice not to drink for different reasons, and how they feel about the labels placed on them.

Now, it would seem from the majority of people that it’s hard to fit in without the pressure of wanting to drink, and of course the pressure isn’t from just our peers alone, it would seem that 90% of the people I have spoke to recently, have said it’s actually media that piles on most of the pressure.

Alcohol is used over 250 times a year in television advertising alone, that’s not counting how amazing and cool drinking is made to look on social media, and in recent research, it has been established that we are on our phones, using social media sites such as Facebook, instagram, twitter and YouTube, where we feel more pressured than ever to pick up the bottle.

I am also aware that on all adverts to do with the consumption of alcohol, we are told to ‘drink responsibly’ but when everything we see is the opposite to that, the last thing we want to do, is that.

The question is why do us non-drinkers get labelled as prudes, boring or killjoys if we don’t want to have a drink. Now, I’m also going to put out there now, that this blog is not about those who choose not to drink due to their religion or culture, because in all fairness, most of the time we are ok to respect those people’s choices, but if you just make the conscious choice to not drink, why are you classed as a somewhat ‘party pooper’?

There are many people who don’t drink and find themselves the awkward one on the side, or just the one taking pictures, and even still for some, even end up as a babysitter for their drunken friends. But what is it that makes the ones who decide to have a diet coke on the rocks look undesirable?

Personally, after writing this I have decided that it’s not everybody who drinks that labels those who don’t drink as boring. In my opinion it’s those who drink in excess, to try and run away from their lives and personal circumstances, or even those who feel not so confident about themselves, can use drink as a way to boost themselves up and create a mask. If the people around you, who drink make you feel bad about yourself not drinking, or vice versa for that matter, what does that actually say about them as people. While people use alcohol as a way to address sensitive issues such as lack of confidence, lack of control and insecurity, I begin to ask the question: does alcohol actually enhance those traits and issues if not taken seriously, and if consumed for all the wrong reasons. I think it boils down to how the other people or person who do/ does drink is trying to make you feel about not drinking. Peer pressure comes from others own insecurities and these days, nobody (especially television and the media) want to promote actually talking about our issues and facing them head on, and so we are constantly presented with new ways to ‘deal’ with our everyday lives instead of facing the core of our issues head on.

So in conclusion, you are not a looser, boring or a killjoy if you don’t consume alcohol, and you are not a drunk, rowdy or easily influenced if you do.

It simply means that it’s all about the importance of how we feel about ourselves first and foremost and the people around us. It is vital that we are open, frank and ready to discuss any issues on either side of the spectrum to avoid tags, bullying, manipulation and stereotypes. Someone drinking alcohol could be a lot happier and healthier than someone who doesn’t drink, and vice versa.

In the end we are all, trying to be victimised into being controlled by what we are being shown, most of us often forgetting that we have our minds, and have been given free will to make the right choices for ourselves and for others around us, keeping both parties safe and ourselves considerate.

Overall, never be afraid to be yourself and forget the pressure from our phones, television screens and magazines, because in the end, it’s probably not those that are going to help us overcome any life obstacles.

We are all beautiful, fun and amazing in our own unique way. No judgement, no stereotypes, no silly memes on Facebook should change the way you feel about yourself.

Thank you so much for reading, feel free to comment and share you’re opinion, I love hearing what others have to say.

Remember to always drink responsibly, as cliché as it sounds lol.

Rio x

Ps: Always let your conscience be your guide.