Spending time with drinkers

What's it like as the only sober person in a group?

A few days ago, I went to a work event. It was a lunch and reward for the team's hard work. The team is located in various locations around the country so everyone was staying in a hotel, except me. I only live an hour and a half drive away and of course, I no longer drink. So I didn't see the point in staying in a hotel when I could drive home.

This was the first time I had spent a prolonged amount of time with people who were drinking alcohol. The first alcoholic drink was served at about 11.15 am and seemed to be a bottomless jug of Pimms and lemonade. Then came prosecco with lunch. Then wine (red and white), espresso martinis pina coladas, port and finally whiskey and bourbon.

You might wonder what I was drinking during this time. The host had some wonderful alcohol-free drinks and made some lovely mocktails using Botivo, Yuzu Basil and various flavoured tonics. However, something you find when you're not drinking alcohol is that you can only drink so much. So after a couple of mocktails, you just don't want another mocktail. You might find you can sip on water for a while or maybe later on have a cup of tea but that is it. Alcohol, however, keeps you drinking and the more you drink, the speed of drinking also accelerates. "Just one more!" Ever said that and ended up having three, four or even five more?

You may be wondering, how did I cope with the increasing intoxication of my fellow guests?

I found it interesting to see how different people changed in different ways as the day went by. The happy drunk, the funny drunk, the over-sharing drunk, the slurring drunk, the repetitive drunk and the depressive drunk. They were all there.

Something I noticed though, instead of being annoyed or fed up with everyone, I just seemed to take it in my stride. Even the worst drunk didn't annoy me. Being sober meant I was able to be patient and actually listen to what they were saying. I found their story quite interesting even after the fourth time! However, it did make me wonder what one of those categories would I have fit into had I been drinking. Probably all of them at some point!

Being sober meant that I could leave at the time that suited me. At about 7 pm, everyone left the venue and headed to the hotel. This was my time to leave. I knew they would be hitting the hotel bar to carry on drinking.

At about 8 am the next morning I got a text from one of my colleagues to say she was on the train home and that she wished she hadn't been drinking for 12 hours. I wasn't sure if it was the right time to tell her I was just leaving the gym. I couldn't help but think how I would have felt that morning had I been drinking. I shuddered at the thought of it.

So had there been any point when I felt I was missing out? When I first arrived, I knew that had I been drinking, I would have been excited to start drinking early. I would have looked forward to the giddy giggles and laughter of being tipsy. But I also knew that the lovely feeling wouldn't have lasted that long, as I know that I would have been either stressfully trying to moderate or just going for it. It could have ended in vomiting but it definitely would have ended in a horrible horrible next day. Having to drive home, probably still over the limit, feeling dreadful and the whole of the day would have been written off.

I don't want to borrow the whole of tomorrow for an hour or so of giddy giggles. I giggled anyway, I enjoyed the day. We ate great food and caught up having lots of laughs. I left at the right time, was home in time to have a good night's sleep and then was up in the morning in good time to do the things that mean more to me. The whole event confirmed to me that whatever you're doing, it's better to do it sober.