39 is fine: Boozy cut backs
What's your drinking like now you're nearly 40 or turned 40?
I have realised over the past few months that personally, I am quite the boozer. A scroll through my Instagram and it didn't take long to make up the picture!
I love a drink, I love the social aspect, the feeling of being tipsy, the taste of wine and so many other drinks. I like being drunk with friends, the chatter and the laughter, the letting go when you're tipsy on a dancefloor.
BUT. Lately I've also realised I like it quite a lot. And my poor nearly 40 year old body has subliminally asked for a rest.
So I've decided to have two weeks off, before going on holiday. A mini detox of sorts. And it got me pondering about the role of alcohol in my life as I approach 40.
As a 'childfree' adult (not sure why that's in inverted commas!) I don't have to juggle the worries of a child bothering me while I have a Saturday or Sunday hangover. Or indeed a mid-week hangover.
This, along with working mainly from home, and liking wine, means that I have been waking up mid-week recently with a fuzzy head.
Fuzzy head leads to bad eating. By the end of the day, I just want carbs and another glass of wine.
While two weeks isn't that long, I felt like addressing this for two reasons, really. Having a break is no bad thing. I want to focus on some specific work projects before I go away and having a clear head is imperative.
But also, I wanted to give my 'old' body a break.
I think for a lot of people hangovers are worse as they get older, but actually I've always had terrible ones. I ALWAYS feel sick - and am often sick when I've drunk to excess.
Nausea is the worst - and it hits me hard. Alka Seltzer is my cure of choice. That, along with a bacon sarnie. I found myself opening the Alka... last Wednesday morning and thinking 'on a weekday? again Jenny? Hmmmm.'
Is it bad to be hungover as often as I am at nearly 40? Should I be able to hold off the wine more now I'm a 'grown up'?
It's such a big part of life, having a drink, and abstaining makes me mildly nervous. This weekend I've filled the diary with non-booze activities with The Boyfriend. There's even talk of a long country walk! WITHOUT hip flask! I know!
I'm hoping that two weeks off the booze will give me some clarity, better sleep and also a slightly less wobbly tummy as I head off to France, where there will be plenty of wine I'm sure.
Drinking over my life has been quite a mixture of the good, bad and ugly. In sixth form I'd have snakebite and black, then at uni, often shots of Drambuie would make their way into the evening along with a 'blastaway' - castaway (a green mixer drink) and diamond white in a pint glass.
Then in my 20s it was of course Chardonnay time - now Prosecco is kind of the new chardonnay.
I've discovered Craft Beer via The Boyfriend (often nicer than a huge glass of vino, but will never be a replacement for me). I've wondered if Gin makes me rage, but I think that's just my temper and the quantity of gin sometimes...
When I did some stand up one of my favourite lines I wrote was 'People say motherhood is the greatest feeling in the world. But it's not. That's when you know there's no more Jager left to come up'.
The feeling when you're not hungover any more is like a gift from heaven. So I'm hoping two weeks of not being hungover at all will be even more magical.
I'll always love a boozy night, the feeling of being tipsy, the 'treat' of a glass of wine. The excitement of real Champagne (because what else can I have on my actual 40th?!).
But for the next two weeks, there shall be none passing my lips. It feels like an experiment, so I'm hoping I'll learn something to share at the end of it.
Do you drink more or less now you're in your 40s? Let me know in the comments below!
