Yesterday, I watched an episode of The Real Housewives of New York City where the ladies take a trip to the Borgata Hotel and Casino in Atlantic City in celebration of Ramona’s birthday. Pretty early on in the episode, the women were drinking and as usual Sonja Morgan was drinking more than the rest of the ladies. By dinnertime, it was pretty clear that she was well past the drunk zone. She was slurring her words, name dropping, continuously repeating herself (infuriating Bethenny), and she could barely walk without a shoulder to lean on. Despite being intoxicated, she continued to make herself vodka based drinks at the club and then appeared to be opening a fresh bottle of wine back in the hotel room. It was uncomfortable to watch her drink so much and make a drunken fool of herself on television. With each new drink I saw her consume, I kept saying to myself, “that woman is going to feel like death tomorrow”. To my surprise, I was wrong. Sonja showed up to breakfast the next morning looking refreshed, with absolutely no sign of a hangover whatsoever. If anything, she looked gorgeous – what the @*%$!
In my early twenties, I could drink like a fish and wake up refreshed like it had been water, not vodka, that I had been slamming all night. But, as I progressed into my late twenties/early thirties, my days of being able to process large amounts of alcohol and not suffer the consequences were long gone. It seemed that with each birthday that passed, the hangovers got worse, even though I drank less and made sure to drink plenty of water. Sonja is sixteen years older than me and yet she was able to drink like there’s no tomorrow and then wake up looking and supposedly feeling great! How does she do it? I have no idea. I guess some people are just able to process their alcohol differently.
Last year, I decided to quit drinking cold turkey and managed to make it four months before ultimately caving in on Thanksgiving Day. My uncle had brought a bottle of locally made, pumpkin flavored wine, that he bought at the country fair, to dinner. My willpower was gone. Then, since I broke the seal, I just continued drinking. After all, there is always a reason to celebrate. Next was Christmas, then New Year’s Eve, then a few birthday parties, including my own. Throw in a few vacations, and I found myself drinking more than any doctor would consider healthy. And to be honest, I don’t feel as healthy as I did during the four months that I didn’t drink.
It was definitely hard to not drink at times, especially when watching people ‘cheers’ at events, or enjoying rum soaked watermelon at end-of-the-summer parties. Then there was the wine festival I went to with the bf in Switzerland, where I jealously indulged on cheese in lieu of wine. But, at the end of the day, I have to admit that I felt great during that time. There was no looming fear of a hangover as I went to bed, no embarrassing recaps of the night before that I didn’t remember, and I overall felt healthier than I had in years. So… I’m going to give it another go.
Starting today, I am making it a personal goal to limit myself to three drinks max, for the next 12 months. This will allow me the occasional celebration with friends, and put me back on track with not drinking too much. I’ve been thinking about doing this since Christmas and I have to thank Sonja Morgan for motivating me to finally put my plan into action. While Sonja might be able to throw back the alcohol and feel great the next day, I can not and watching her make a fool of herself on TV reminded me that sometimes not drinking with friends is way better than drinking with friends.