Matti May Hardie: February 2017

Hey all, how's you?

Recently, a couple of Youtubers that I follow made videos about alcohol and it got me thinking. Do I have an alcohol problem? Am I am alcoholic? Do I need alcohol to have a good time?

I started drinking at a fairly young age. My parents did it the right way, and when I was 12, they mixed a little bit of wine and water, just so I could get used to it. That's probably the better way, rather than banning me from alcohol all together and then me getting shitfaced at 16 at a random house party. I started drinking properly when I was about 15. Alcohol just became an evidence, I guess. It's immediately the thing you expect to see whenever you gather with your friends.

It's quite easy for teenagers to develop an alcohol problem. I don’t know about in other countries, but in France, there’s a massive drinking culture. Most of the people at college have a constant cycle of weed, alcohol and cigarettes, and it’s not just here. In France, you hear about people who are addicted to weed, you probably know someone who’s addicted to weed, and everyone smokes, but alcohol is never really considered a problem. You never hear about someone who’s an alcoholic, just someone who likes to have a good time. That’s the problem. No one thinks to worry about if they do in fact just have a good time or if they’re actually an alcoholic.

I kind of live in denial about the mere possibility that I have an alcohol problem. Because I don’t… right? Well the truth and simple fact is that I don’t. I don’t need alcohol, I just enjoy it.

If you’re just starting out, here’s a couple of tips:

- Eat before. Everyone says to do it and for ages I wouldn’t because I was like “noooo it does the opposite! I feel even worse when I eat!”. Turns out there are right and wrong ways to eat before drinking. Just eat a lil’ something, then drink. Don’t fill yourself up with a massive meal if you know that you’re going to get embarrassingly drunk. It’s a cliche, but McDonald’s is a good thing to have.

- Don’t force yourself to drink. If you feel sick, stop drinking. Don’t force yourself to drink because everyone else is. If you just don’t fancy drinking anymore, just stop. No one will judge you. If they do, they’re arseholes. Sorry but it’s true.

- Know your demons. You’ll learn as you go what gets you drunk fast and what just doesn’t work. For example, I handle most alcohols pretty well, but red wine will kill me so fast! I get so drunk on red wine, so I just tend to avoid it if I can. So figure out what you react badly to and remember it!

- Following that, try and figure out as soon as possible how well you hold your alcohol. If you know that, you’ll figure out quicker how not to get shitfaced and hate yourself the next morning.

- Take it gradually, dude. Seriously, it’s not fun not know anything about alcohol and just throwing it yourself in it and suffering the consequences after. You’ll regret it. Just take it slowly, have a couple of drinks one night, then build up to getting drunk.
- Just saying, weed and alcohol combined never ends well.

This is the boring part where I say please drink responsibly, and remember, getting drunk should not be the point of drinking!

Hope this helped, if you have any questions about drinking, hit me up and I’ll try and answer it as best I can.

Matti x

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