Here’s a good rule of thumb when it comes to storytelling:
If you were drinking or drunk, or if you were buzzed or high, but these activities or mental states had no bearing on your story, I don’t want to hear it.
Neither does anyone else.
If the point of your story is to tell people how drunk or high you were, definitely stop talking.
You’re telling a boring, stupid story.
The celebration and glorification of alcohol and drugs is stupid, unnecessary, overdone, and unoriginal. If that’s the point of your story, you’re telling a tale that’s been told countless times, and it’s always been boring. You’re merely adding your boring, stupid story to an infinite train of boring, stupid stories.
More often than not, the use of alcohol and drugs is meaningless to the story, making it even easier to avoid including.
I’ve heard lots of stories this summer that included enthusiastic references to the use of drugs and alcohol, even though their use played no role in the story.
Essentially, the storyteller was saying:
“By the way, I was drinking whiskey at the time, so I’m definitely cool.”
“On a side note, my friends and I were doing keg stands, so laugh and think of me as hilarious.”
“In case you wanted to know, I was high at the time, so think more highly of me.”
I don’t.
Nor do I think anyone should.
So stop mentioning it.
It only makes you sound immature, simple, and dumb.
If your use of alcohol or marijuana had a bearing on the story, then include it. But if it’s an ancillary detail that had no relevance in your story, please don’t.
You sound like a 19-year-old bragging about your first successful trip to the liquor store.
