Take it from a former binge drinker
The ancient Egyptian text of the Papyrus Antastasi gave a look into the satirical, yet advanced minds of society.
One quote from this text said the following: “Don’t undertake to drink a whole pitcher of beer. Because if you then talk, from your mouth comes nonsense.”
Didn’t we learn anything from the ancient Egyptians?
Drinking is an obvious staple in the society we live in today. But drinking too much is a problem for many.
On July 9, 2005, I became a binge drinker.
On hot summer days in my hometown of Manteca, we liked to get a group together and float down the river. This entailed getting at least 10 people and a lot of rafts and floats from point A to point B to avoid the heat and have some fun. The “fun” came in the form of multiple floating ice chests full of beer and alcohol.
I really don’t understand why I remember the date, because I hardly remember the events of the day at all. It’s just a montage of laughter, shot-taking, photo-taking, shot-gunning beers, an annoying sound, a rampage of bumblebees and sloppy kisses.
From then on, many of the nights when I drank resulted in these montages of memories that made no sense. But as long as I was alive and not hurt, I didn’t see it as a problem. We were having fun.
I also didn’t see it as a problem because every person I knew was doing the same exact thing.
Ninety percent of all drinking under the age of 21 is binge drinking and 75 percent of adult drinking is considered binge, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Of those, 70 percent of binge drinkers are college students.
Binge drinkers are not alcohol dependent; they just drink a large amount sporadically and usually ending up blacking out.
Because of my binge drinking I have ended up in some sticky situations. From waking up in strange places, to not being able to find an exit and calling 911 to tell them I was being held by the police against my will and having my ass kicked by girls in a gang while being held in a drunk tank.
But none of those situations taught me a lesson. My friends and I would just laugh because usually someone had a story more shocking than mine.
It took actually seeing myself in a disgusting, nasty binge on video to realize that wasn’t how I would like to portray myself to others. My friends laughed just as I had laughed at many of them when they’d been as drunk as I was on that video, but I was scared. It hit me that this was now a problem.
It doesn’t matter if you don’t drink for a week or two. If you’re going out to drink, get crazy and black out then that’s a problem. One person told me, “I’ll think I’m an alcoholic when I start drinking alone.”
That may be true when you’re an alcoholic, but you’re still a binge drinker now.
Binge drinking is an obvious problem in our society. It’s fun and entertaining, but the effects and later embarrassment can change a person’s life.
We could put breathalyzers in every bar and make it illegal to have a certain blood alcohol level, but let’s be real—that won’t happen. And what about the house parties, picnics and holiday mixers that people drink at? There’s no way to regulate how much a person drinks at any given time.
People themselves need to realize that binge drinking is bad and truly has negative effects on your life and how people judge you. Everyone might be laughing at your story, but they might inwardly be summing up their blackout nights and wondering if what they’re thinking about you is what other people also thought about them.
This might be cliché, but drink responsibly. Have some fun, but don’t ruin your reputation or kill yourself in the process. Take it from a pro that’s finally learned her lesson.
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source: Golden Gate [X]Press