Drinking in the New Year

by Mike Reilly

This is long over due – so anyone who wants to rag on me for lecturing…I wanted to write this 2 years ago.

To start with and just to be clear I’m not a tea totteler or someone who believes in complete abstinence.  I think Alcoholic Anonymous has merits, but does not work for all individuals.  I also do not think Alcoholism is a disease.  I think it is a choice and a choice people need to be held responsible for. 

I also want to say thank you since the vast majority of people who receive and read this do not ever get drunk in my presence.  I’m not sure if that is out of fear of getting a lecture, the belief I’m a wet blanket or simply out of respect.  Whatever your reasoning; keep it up. 

Now on to the heart of things. 

I grew up around drunks and have been affected by alcohol -- my own use and others-- all my life.  Most of you who have seen how I interact with drunks in bars or at shows know I have a problem dealing with drunkenness.  Part of it is just the annoyance factors: the nonsense conversation, the fake personality, the smell.   But mostly it is the theft of the real person who is replaced by the drunk that stands before me that bothers me.   Individuals are just that: individuals, but all drunks are the same.

So that is drunkenness in general to me. But for “us” it is something more.  As Warriors we have more at stake.

First lets talk about the physical effects.  Of course we all understand the short-term effects of impaired reason, balance, timing, reactions and so forth.  It really does not matter how tough you are – drunk, you’re not that tough.  I would fight any drunk at any time and have zero fear.  So keep that in mind next time you get wasted.  All that time you spent building your skills, you strength, your speed, and it is all gone by that sixth shot of Jag.   Now comes the really sucky part.  You’re out, surrounded by assholes, and you have made yourself equal to them.  In short you have put your safety and your protection in the hands of another.

I was always amazed by drunks at the bar.  In effect, as a bouncer, I could pretty much do anything, to any of them, at anytime.  Their safety was at my discretion.  Why would you ever put your fate into the hands of another?  A stranger?  Getting that drunk is surrendering your freedom of choice, your safety and ability to defend yourself.  Honestly something a Warrior should not do.

It is a little bit different when you are someplace safe, surrounded by brothers and sisters who will protect you regardless of how obnoxious you get.  People outside get drunk and have horrible things happen to them.  They get beaten up, arrested, raped, robbed and it is very hard for me to feel bad for them.  Why?  Because with the taking of that fourth drink you made a choice: a choice to surrender yourself to whatever fate may bring.

When you’re drunk you become a burden.  I’m not sure who intends to become this or who would want to become this, but there it is –you are a burden.  Everyone has to make sure your going to be OK.  As a Warrior it should be your job to make sure everyone else is OK, not the other way around. 

Now beyond endangering yourself, making and ass out of your self, and sacrificing control over your life, lets talk physical health.

Obviously the day after a good hard binge is not a day that will see a lot of exercise.  Most people are willing to write off that one day; it is just one day after all, no big deal.  Well, the physical effects of even one good drunk go way beyond one day.  Alcohol dehydrates the body.  As athletes this is something we can never allow to happen.  Dehydration affects everything from Muscle growth to fat loss to body recovery.   It takes several days for water levels and electrolytes to rebalance.  Now the more days like this, the longer the recovery period and the more stress it places on the body.   So if every weekend finds you on the bathroom floor, then every weekday finds you in a state of recovery.

Because most of you are young and athletic you can over come many of these liabilities; but in accepting this damage you are limiting your potential.  You can be great and a drunk.  There are many athletes who abuse drugs and alcohol and still excel, but they will never know how much better they could have been without damaging themselves.  And while at 22 you can take this abuse, by 32 you will be done.  I guess the question here is really how long do you want to be great and what limiting factors are you willing to accept?

The process of detoxifying your body is stress.  There is no other way to look at this.  You stress your body by poisoning it.  This is not hard to understand.  Considering the considerable stress athletes already place on their bodies it is hard to imaging accepting another stress, but athlete do all the time.  This stress, on top of slowing recovery and growth periods, also lowers immunity.   How many days can you afford to be sick?   How many days do you want to add to your injury recovery?  Your already choosing to get hit in the head, have your body slammed around and twisted; how much more damage will you agree to?

I’m not judging anyone for tearing it up every now and then.  I will never tell anyone else how to live their lives.  But you’re all too smart to suffer under the delusion of harmless drinking.  Once you get beyond buzzed, your passing into a dangerous territory that will harm your body, increase your vulnerability and steal you away from the rest of us. 

From my own life experience I can say that every lamentable moment of my life -- every really bad decision and horrible mistake -- was aided by alcohol.  They say the greatest life is one lived without regrets.  I will never have such a life because I have regrets.  All of them started with the choice of surrounding my mind and body to a short term high.

People are free to do as they wish.  But with New Years everyone feels compelled to re-examine their lives and look at things they want to change.  Maybe this is something to look at.  If you’re reading this then you are more then likely doing some sort of training.  You more then likely consider yourself a fighter, a warrior.  As a warrior you should hold yourself to a different standard.   I once got yelled at by a warrior -- a Team Member – they screamed at me “You expect too much from me.”  “No I don’t” I answered, “All I expect from you is to be the best.”   For most people that would be way too much to expect.  From most of you however I consider that to be just about the right place to set the bar.

With Love and Respect

Mike