December brings the season of year-end parties. A gathering may seem harmless, yet a single evening of drinking often reveals how alcohol can both connect people and quietly trouble them the next day.
December, of course, means year-end parties.
Yesterday, my wife’s local circle held its annual gathering, and I was invited to join. Among the group was one person who could drink endlessly. I should have known better than to keep up, but I did—and today I have a slight headache and have somehow gained weight.
The custom of year-end parties itself has been fading. Our workplace no longer holds one. The decline accelerated after COVID-19, but perhaps the deeper reason is that drinking across generations simply doesn’t work anymore. People of different ages talk about different things, and no one should feel obliged to force themselves to match the others.
Alcohol tolerance also varies widely. In the past, even people who couldn’t drink were pressured to do so, but it is hardly enjoyable for someone who dislikes alcohol to sit through such an event. If someone willingly joins a drinking group, that’s one thing. But for non-drinkers, the very premise of “why alcohol is needed” may be difficult to understand.
In addition to hangovers and weight gain, year-end parties come with risks—sexual harassment, power harassment, and everything in between. Just yesterday, the news reported that a town mayor resigned after a drunken act of sexual harassment. Alcohol-induced power harassment is another pitfall to avoid. To throw away one’s life over something as trivial as alcohol is a needless waste.
So I have come to think that, unless one has a strong safety net, it may be wiser not to attend year-end parties at all. It is a relief that my workplace no longer hosts one, and gatherings where my wife is present—like yesterday’s—feel much safer.
As the saying goes, “A wise person steers clear of danger.”
One option is not to drink alcohol at all, but with enthusiastic drinkers around, abstaining can be difficult. And truly, who invented alcohol in the first place? How much simpler life might be without it, I think, nursing my heavy head this morning.
Just a drink—yet more than a drink.
