I stopped drinking alcohol about 30 years ago. Other than the occasional champagne toast and the one time Elysha saw me drunk on a bottle of prosecco on New Year’s Eve 1999, I don’t really drink anymore.
I stopped drinking mostly because I didn’t need to drink. Lots of people drink to lower their inhibitions, help them relax, and participate in a social ritual, but I never needed any of that.
My inhibitions have always been low. Probably a little too low at times. I never required “liquid courage” to talk to a girl or ask her out, and I’ve never needed alcohol before taking the stage to tell a story or perform stand-up.
The fear of rejection or failure has never been a part of my DNA.
I’m also an exceedingly relaxed person who finds an even greater sense of relaxation in things like exercise, reading, meditation, and writing.
All are far better and more productive than a glass of wine.
And while some find it challenging to be the only person not drinking at a social gathering, I have never cared about things like that. If someone thinks poorly of me because I am not drinking, they are small, fragile, and frightened. Probably filled with hangups and social anxiety beyond my comprehension.
Their opinion means nothing to me.
The taste of alcohol has also never really appealed to me. When I was still drinking in my early twenties, I enjoyed the taste of a few mixed drinks, and champagne is fine, but beer and wine have never appealed to me.
I drank my first and last beer when I was 19 years old.
I’ve also never used an illegal drug of any kind and never used marijuana in any form.
In the minds of many, I’m quite the square.
I don’t mind, though. I’ve never felt the need to occupy an altered state. I’ve never judged anyone for drinking or using drugs, though I find the glorification of these products stupid, harmful, and weird.
But it turns out, at least according to the Surgeon General, that I made a wise choice when I stopped drinking three decades ago.
United States Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy issued an advisory last week warning Americans that alcohol consumption can increase their cancer risk and called for an updated health warning label on alcoholic beverages.
“Alcohol is a well-established, preventable cause of cancer responsible for about 100,000 cases of cancer and 20,000 cancer deaths annually in the United States – greater than the 13,500 alcohol-associated traffic crash fatalities per year in the US – yet the majority of Americans are unaware of this risk,” Murthy said in a statement.
“A lot of confusion comes from prior studies that really weren’t as robust and based on methodology that probably isn’t as accurate. Even light drinking … really, there’s no benefit, and in fact, there may be harm,” he said.
This will come as a surprise to many.
Wine has long been touted as having a positive impact on health, and perhaps it still does, though these findings suggest otherwise.
We’ve also known for a long time that alcohol is bad for the liver and kidneys. It’s harmful to developing brains. It’s addictive. It’s also been long linked to an increase in heart disease and depression.
But cancer?
That will be news to a lot of people.
I suspect that most will reject these warnings, too, just as the majority of Americans rejected the Surgeon General’s 1964 cigarette warnings for more than a decade.
It’s difficult to come to terms with the idea that something you like a lot, consume daily, rely on for relaxation, and see as ritual and tradition might ultimately kill you.
And it’s important to remember that the findings indicate alcohol increases your risk of cancer but does not necessarily cause it. An estimated 21 million Americans have died from smoking-related diseases since 1964, but we all probably know someone who smoked into old age without any apparent adverse impact.
That doesn’t mean smoking is good for you. It just means that some people get lucky.
But the good news is that these findings will likely impact the behavior of those who haven’t yet begun drinking — people like my children — who will now be better informed about the dangers before they start to drink.
Elysha and I did not drink in high school. We both consumed alcohol for the first time after graduating and moving on. We were still young and foolish, but not quite as young and foolish as many of our friends, who began drinking much earlier.
The average age of an American’s first drink is 15.7 years old. I took my first drink when I was 19.5 years old, which doesn’t sound like much later, but by then, I was living on my own, working full time, absent any safety net, and 24% older than a 15.7-year-old.
A hell of a lot more equipped to make better choices.
Perhaps this is why I don’t drink at all these days, and Elysha only drinks a glass or two of wine per month at most.
We got started late, so it never really became a thing. The luster and magic of drinking at a young age escaped us, so the fondness for drinking never took root.
Either way, based on the Surgeon General’s recent report, lucky for us.
