I stumbled into a four -decade wine. Here is what you have taught me five years. Life and elegance

EVery needed a hobby, and it was for 40 years of wine. I was 17 years old when I drank enough to throw for the first time, and 57 when I stopped. Between that, I spent most nights, thousands of lunch and afternoon, with a pleasant fuss at least. Half a liter will turn into three, four, or a trick. I am extinguished. I had the leakage and regret. I vomit from cars and on the meadows. I drank wine in 50 pixels a bottle and 15 pounds sterling a cup – and a sea of Beer, beer, beer. There was a flavor of everything, from berries to rhubarb and bacon, as well as the jinn, Armago, Amaretto, Tequila, EGGNOG, Crème de Menthe, Baileys and Sherry and Blue Curaçao, Bourbon and Cider and Kahlúa.

Some evenings were laughing, laughing and laughing. At other times, I felt drinking more similar to the dark duty.

I talked about Bolox, I gave my words, lost the ability to speak, and I was drunk. It stole a huge block of cheese, library book, Pont, traffic cone. (I was arrested for the last one, and when I was warning, the officer said that I seemed to be a bright boy, and I thought about a police profession?)

All this again and again and again. An inflation account, and I spent Hundreds of thousands of pounds On the drinks that I did not enjoy in particular, meals I did not need, clubs, taxis, and every foolishness you will never buy if you are in your right mind. this Home price Under drainage.

Most of this happened in London, when I worked in an office and there was always someone to drink with him, but in the 1940s, I lived alone in the deepest rural France, and that was not much better. Go on one of the neighbors, even at 10 am, and you will be shown on the wine. My little house in the forest was a basement, and the flow of wine inside and outside it is like the tide: Beaujolais, Bordeaux, Bourggen, Côtes du Rhône, Corbières, Corbières-Boutenac; Grimbergen, Blanghe de Bruxelles, Leffe Blonde, Leffe Brune, Leffe Triple …

It arrived in 2003, the heat wave sat in that year on your chair, and drank Belvlith under my favorite spruce, and the use of wealthy people grown everywhere for the flavor of the supermarket. From time to time, I will send pictures of dew glasses for friends in Britain: Look at me, I live life, these things are practically free!

My house was in the mountains, on the side that caught the storms. On summer nights, lightning hit the power lines, and the house was immersed in the dark. On one August, while thunder shook the forest, I sat under the tallest tree, barely, and sent vodka and unaware of the fact that the next jump may target me. Most of the evenings, though, I used to open a bottle of Rasto and sit on the terrace to enjoy the sunset. One night, polishing the last few glasses of the stars, I spotted a man with a rifle lurking near the house – and decided that it would be good to chase him through the forest, while shouting that I had no pistol, which I did not do. It is absolutely shameful, I was drinking with my adult daughter, and I pulled it with me.

I was so badly wrong for anyone that I could not look at myself, but there are many people who should say sorry.

Not everything was bad. She eaten some meals in beautiful drunkenness, drunk and drunk chats. I am shy, the wine helped me cancel the residence, make friends and meet women. Without it, maybe I haven’t got more than a hug of the woman who is now my wife. However, the more I drink, the fed up with the nonsense that went with it – not only the misconduct and the population but the knowledge that none of this was not good for my health.

Asking Dr. Jeevan FernandoA colleague of the Charitable Society Alcohol change in the United KingdomHow to harm your body’s wine and will mention liver disease, of course, sleep problems, and Osteoporosis It falls into drunk. “But one of them is more anxious is the danger of dementia and cognitive decline,” he says. “Heavy alcohol abuse is closely associated with a decrease and atrophy of your mind. There is a natural contraction that occurs with age, but alcohol can increase this – and the risk of dementia later in life. Then there is mental health. There is a very strong evidence of a link to increased anxiety and depression rates.”

There is more. “Also, chronic alcohol use is associated with cardiovascular issues. You have a much higher rate of heart attacks, strokes; your blood pressure is worse. Alcohol is also a well -known carcinoma – closely related to breast cancer, bowel cancer …”

By the mid -fifties of my life, I saw a close friend drinking herself to death. Did I already have my luck very far?

Sometimes I try to cut it, to get a few drinks instead of a session, but never headed. One of the mouth was sufficient to bring me in the area and wash my determination. “This is beautiful,” says my mind. “More will be even more beautiful.”

As for stopping completely, it was not on my radar. Booze was how I closed after an exhausting day, and how to put a smile on my face. How can I relax without it? How can I fill the evenings? I can barely become an elephant if I couldn’t even imagine Teetotal Phil.

But five years later, on August 2, 2020, I only fill it. This may not mean much unless you are a hardening drinker, but I passed the discreet Christmas parties, and I leave the DOS office. I have survived two Wedding parties On something more than wine and alcohol -free beer. Oh, cocaine, but I did not start giving up.

joke! I barely touched drugs in my life, regardless of the liquid, legal, socially acceptable. I’m not about to start now.

I will not lie: I do not meet her easily as I used to. Currently, when I write this, I can be at a summer drink party with my co -workers. But I know that with the high evening, we were screaming, like radio devices that could not bear a frequency. I was dropping everyone, the dry ghost on the feast. These are the problems of me, as it seems that other beverages are dealing. Practice helps – but although I never thought about myself as tight, New Me is struggling with the idea of paying 30 or 40 Quid for a tour when I was dealing with coke.

How did you complete the hours I would drink? I watch TV more than I used to, and press our dogs, who absorb attention like hairy sponge. I do exercises – running, yoga, Hiit, rebellion. Chapter here, a workshop there. Some gymnastics rings were created in the garden. I am studying to be a personal coach. I would like to learn success. I met people more than I did, and I can already remember their names after that. I am happier and more stable than I was, and now that I learned that there are other ways to deal with stress, don’t worry that some disasters will send me to the bottle.

I was shocked – and inspired – something personal trainer Tara Lavara She was published on the topics last month, after the sudden death of her mother. The two had a “difficult” relationship, which left a lot to dismantle. “I could have been drunk drunk during this time of sadness, family drama and loss,” Levara wrote“But I didn’t do it. No sip is one of the alcohol for nearly 1000 days. I am proud of that.”

She gave up her first marriage, nearly three years ago. “I just realized that he no longer serves me anymore,” she told me. “I didn’t like taste or how to make me feel during or after. Now I sleep better, I have more energy, more clarity, and better relationships with my friends and my partner.”

How did she take her mind from her mother? “The exit in nature, walking, meditation and work helped more than anything else.” And drinking? “I was not seductive. Sitting in this pain and really felt your raw feelings Wild“

The brutal thing on my own trip, at least for me, is not that I surrendered, but how easy it was. I have – I still have – sometimes strange longing for cold beer on a hot day, or a cup of red when I cook, but that’s all. I didn’t need hypnosis, medicines or support set, although I am not against any of these things. I was not ashamed to take antidepressants when I needed it, or get a treatment for insomnia and anxiety. I am familiar with the extent of my luck. Cold Türkiye will not be suitable for everyone. Dr. Fernando warns: “If you are a very heavy drinker, the sudden stopping may cause withdrawal symptoms, so you should speak to your doctor.” Everything that has been said, without a desire to activate anyone who deals with addiction, will not find everyone to refrain from having sex with a hard conflict.

What helped me? Obviously – miraculously – to depend on alcohol was much more psychological than physical. Despite the amount I was drinking, it did not give me a stop, stress, or desire to overcome the desire. I was lucky enough to take a good marriage, for a woman who was also filling her. It was Hannah that first decided to take a break from Booze, and she put a mark along, in part to support her. Bozond was not a gay -style world, but she enjoyed a drink. “Since I was young, that was the final treatment, the final reward, the final celebration, and the final connection,” she says.

On the negative side: “I am olderly,” she says, “My leftovers were ridiculous.” The next day for Miladi 57, “he was completely informed”, she announced that she was spending three months of wine. Ten days later, when I returned from a long -planned vacation, she followed her example.

When the three months rose, we decided to continue. “After a while,” Hannah says, “The idea of return becomes ridiculous. She thinks,” Well, maybe I can drink on special occasions ” – but I don’t know what the occasion can be special enough.” There was no drama, there are no relapses, nothing of this tension that you will get between the husband who stumbles every night and his body is a temple. We are now closer than we were five years ago. The only fly in the ointment is to start 10 days. Unless the cart will fall, you will always be more amazing than me. I try to overcome it.

A survey of British drinks was found last year 48 % wanted to reduce or stop completely. It is a similar story in the United States and Australia. Do I have any advice for them? Nothing would qualify me to open the toxins clinic. But I will say that even if you think you cannot surrender, there may be a point when you find yourself pushing an open door. Although you wish you had done it before, you may not leave it too late. Many tests have been conducted in the year or so since I started writing about health, and as much as I can tell the liver, brain, heart, etc. in good condition. My teeth scream more than I want, and I blame him for wine, and there are broken veins in my nose and cheeks, but this is all the clear harm.

Despite those stupid forty years, I hope that I may escape a bullet. Perhaps you are so amazing that he didn’t hit me.