Finding Beer Balance

This month’s session is hosted by Bryan Roth from This is Why I’m Drunk. The topic is Finding Beer Balance.

“Is beer your vice? Is beer your reward? Does beer really have to be either? Do you find lifestyle balance through work, hobbies, family or maybe even “Dry Days” like David Bascombe? There are a variety of ways to find balance.”

As much as I talk about beer, and as much beer/ other assorted boozes I have in my cellar at any given time, you would think my life would be a little off kilter. But something most people don’t realize, when you are surrounded by something all the time you are less inclined to abuse it. Let me pontificate for a moment.

This is an observation, granted I feel strongly about it it, but still merely my observation based on what I have seen. We as a people tend to hoard what we deny ourselves. We desire that which we can not have. Look at what happened to the country during prohibition. There have been those who fight tooth and nail to take away the things they feel our evil and corrupting out youth. But I ask you, what happens when you tell a child no? They work even harder to get what they are not supposed to have.

Binge drinking is essentially the same thing as binge eating. Your body craves and desires what you have told it it can not have. The response to this is to hoard it and consume as much as possible.

Holidays like St. Patrick’s day and New Years are referred to as amateur holidays. These are the days most people have finally given themselves permission to drink. These are also days with the highest level of drunken offenses. The people who accept and allow the simple healthy pleasures of drink into their life on a regular basis tend to avoid the “amateurs” on these days.

Now back to finding balance. Yes, I have quite a bit of beer and such available. But it is a part of my life. I have no need to hoard it and over consume because I know I will see it again whenever I choose to see it.

Are there occasions where I drink a little more than I should? Sure, but more often than not it is when I am with a friend or two and we are enjoying the conversation. The beer is there to be enjoyed, instead of for the sole purpose of getting drunk.

Maybe that is the key to balance, when it becomes a seasoning to your life instead of the main course. Instead of denying pleasure out of fear we embrace it as an important part of our lives, maybe then we will be free of the chains we tether onto ourselves.

Time for a pint…