Ellen Wallace is longtime international news journalist and the author of the popular book Vineglorious! Switzerland's Wondrous World of Wines. She writes regularly about European wines and travel and splits her time between La Costa del Sol and the Swiss Alps. Ellen’s blog: ellenwine.com
RING IN 2019... ...with a smarter approach to drinking
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anuary is a cringe month for many people. At best, the photos everyone was taking cruelly show you at your worst rather than the way you remember looking when you left home to have a good time.
Memories linger in January, of the party over the holidays where you told someone what you really thought of them in words you can’t soften or take back; the roadside pullover by police who discovered your mate had indeed had more than the legal limit; the boor who groped half the women and the woman with the neighing whiney voice who told you the same story three times. January is a good month to take time to reflect on how we drink and what role we’d like to have alcohol play in our lives, because these are things that change. We get older, we want to do more sports, we and our friends and family move on so that comfortable routines shift, we’re suddenly more aware of our health or we simply want to live a healthier lifestyle.
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Recently, I celebrated the wedding anniversary of a couple with a group of their friends and, when I sent a message of thanks the next day I received a sad note back. “I was so ashamed at how much wine we drank…” said the woman, who had recently given her husband a copy of my wine book because wine is his hot new interest. He was carried away ordering expensive wines, and more bottles than we really needed. As anniversary presents go, this maybe wasn’t a winner. Her message gave me pause. Ashamed? It’s a powerful word. It sums up perfectly what we feel when alcohol gets in the way: instead of being a source of shared pleasure, it’s suddenly the demon culprit for things gone wrong. Let’s do better in 2019. Here are a few tips or starting points. Don’t promise to drink only celery juice in future. Just make a date with yourself to think about your drinking.