I don’t know about you, but I used to play plenty of games during my drinking days. They might have seemed funny at the time, even merit worthy. But now I have distance from drinking and the intense clarity that you get once you are free from that fuzzy fog, I realise they were illogical, embarrassing and at times dangerous. All these games were essentially set with one goal in mind; getting as plastered as possible, as quick as possible.
There are loads of games (even actual games – 100 minute club anyone?) but these are my TOP 3.
Eatings’ Cheating
We all know this old chestnut, right? Boils down to, don’t eat, get pissed quicker. Save money on food and make yourself a cheap drunk at the same time. Now I actually had my own unique take on this, that at the time I believed was actually rooted in some sort of health focused reality. Essentially, I was always trying to loose weight, so when I drank, for the most part I chose not to eat. I drank my calories instead. Even though I knew that the effect on the body and weight loss were not that simple, (alcohol actually disrupts your body’s ability to burn calories when it’s focusing on getting poison out of your system) I was NEVER going to choose food over booze. It was just too important to me. And food is really important. SO not only was I drinking really dangerously, I was also stuck in a frustrating why can’t I lose any weight cycle. SMART
The Tactical Spew
Ever heard of it? Might only be one for those of us MOST committed to drinking. It’s when you realise you are crook from too much drinking but you’re not ready to call it a night. SO you force yourself to vomit so you feel better, and you can keep on drinking. Now I must admit, this one I hadn’t done for a number of years, but it’s still something I did enough times for it to have a name. So glam, what a lady. So adult!
Stimulants
This one not so much a game, more of a professional drinker’s tactic. Keeping yourself awake and alert so you can JUST KEEP DRINKING. This can come in many different forms – a sliding scale if you will. If you’re on a budget, No-Doz or Sudafed. If you’ve got a bit of cash and a contact, there’s speed and if you’re really flush there’s Coke. And this tactic? It’s more common than you realise. Red Bull & Vodka…doing the same thing.
Looking back on all these behaviours it’s really hard to understand how I resisted the notion that I didn’t have a problem for so many years. These were some pretty problematic behaviours.
Today I’d prefer to blame alcohol itself and society rather than myself, because who really needs to be burdened with that guilt? Drinking to excess is a normal and for the most part accepted part of our society. It’s only once you reach the homeless or terps / hand sanitiser drinking stage that anyone really pigeonholes you as a dirty rotten alco.
What I love about this community is that by sharing our stories and recognising these common place behaviours as actually not ok, we are shaking up the drinking culture of this country.
