Romanticizing the Bad Old Days

Ever find yourself getting wistful about the days when you were drinking?  It’s a really dangerous place to go – but most people do it at some point. Reminiscing needs to be kept in the proper perspective.  I think sometimes the best defense is a good offense (grin) – which means you have an arsenal of really, really bad stories to recall whenever you start downplaying just how bad it was when you were drinking.

Sometimes this romanticizing is triggered by an event in your life. Maybe you are at an wedding reception and your friends who happen to like really high-end wines are talking about it. Maybe they are sharing an expensive bottle of wine. You start to think: I used to be a real connoisseur of fine wines. I liked to show off and I knew vintages, grapes, all that stuff.

You might even start conveniently forgetting the after effects of your drinking – the lost relationships, the embarrassing time you said something you shouldn’t or passed out at a wedding just like this one.

Every time you idealize your drinking, make sure you match it with a really nasty memory. It can help cancel it out and remind you that while some people are cut out for wine tastings, you were only cut out for wine guzzling, hang overs, and lost days.