Drinking and Midlife
A Delicate Balance
This may turn into a love letter to booze, so let’s just start here: I’ve never been a heavy drinker. Addiction and recovery is not, thankfully, part of my story. I’ve always been a lightweight, a cheap date (maybe it’s time to retire that phrase), and have practiced moderation. I was a teen idiot, like most of you (admit it) — piss beer in red solo cups, underage candy girl cocktails (remember Sombreros, Brandy Alexanders, pastel potions with umbrellas?). But I had kids young and hit the brakes early.
In my thirties, I settled into a fairly reasonable and comfortable routine of occasional wine with dinner, a cocktail at a party. Then I got older and wine with dinner was a nearly nightly habit. Then, I got even older, and my body did what aging bodies do — it rewrote all the rules.
Anecdotal info (because we never get research) suggests a dip in tolerance for women in the middle. Midlife and menopause changed my relationship with alcohol and I’m not happy about it. There’s a newly installed warning system, sensitive to anything fun. Alarms are going off constantly:
Too many onions! Too much garlic! Gluten is bad now! Put down the wine! No more salt! All of this is subject to change!
I have many friends who are questioning their midlife drinking, feeling like shit and…
