SPEAKER_00 1:13

Welcome to day 17 of our mindful drinking audio advent here to help you get through a Christmas less intoxicated on your own terms with me, Denise Hamilton Mace. I am your mindful drinking mentor, and you're listening to the Mindful Drinking and Moderation in Midlife podcast. We are halfway through one of the uh last big party weeks in terms of maybe office parties and that sort of thing, although we've still got a whole nother week to go till Christmas Day itself, and there's plenty of social events to be catching up with between now and then. And you might be flagging a little bit by now, you might be feeling a little bit exhausted. It is a full-on few weeks, all the way from Thanksgiving through to New Year's Eve. And if you have been participating, partaking, socializing, going out, catching up with people, attending different work dos, maybe for different departments, if you've got clients or you're a consultant, there's just so many different places that you could have been out experiencing the festivities. That it's just bloody exhausting. Just listing that I'm tired by now. So one of the things that we often rely on alcohol for is to give us that sense of energy, to give us that um that boost, that pep, that Dutch courage to be able to keep going in these situations, to be able to keep showing up. But what I want you to think about today is the fact that is it really the booze that is making you show up as the best version of yourself? Or is it just you who brings the energy anyway? The alcohol was never really doing the work. It was just giving you the permission that you didn't need to be yourself, to let go and to stop worrying about what other people think, to dance badly and not care, to sing terribly and not be embarrassed, whatever it is. It's that sort of Dutch courage that we've come to rely on alcohol for. But Dutch courage was never meant to be a um a positive thing. It the term itself was used as an insult uh to Dutch soldiers during the war. So it's not something that you need to rely on to bring the best parts of yourself to any event. And if you don't feel like you can bring the best part of yourself, then maybe it's not the event for you to be going to at that time, and you take a little bit of time out to re-energize yourself. I released an episode of the podcast a little while ago, it was episode 106, and it's about drinking to your personality type and your social energy, be that as an introvert, an extrovert, or an ambivert. I discovered after changing the way that I drink that despite having worked in hospitality for 24 years and socialized every single day of my adult life, I'm actually an introvert. And alcohol for me was what forced me outside of my comfort zone, but in a way that left me feeling drained and depleted. I highly recommend you go and check out that episode. I won't repeat all of it in here because obviously that was more of a deeper dive. Um, I'll link to it in the show notes for you. In today's Mindful Drinking Advent, I have listed a few drinks for you that are great for those sharing moments because when you do have the right people around you to raise a glass with, to share a moment with, then you will feel energized, then you will feel like you can be yourself, and then you won't feel like you need any Dutch courage or any chemical assistance from anything that might be in your sphere of understanding to help you have a great time and enjoy a Christmas less intoxicated on your own terms. I will see you tomorrow for day 18.