Misfit Talks: When It's Unfair To Be "Sober"

Hi there! It's been a while since I did a talk here about myself... It was more like "the comeback kid has arisen" kind of talk since I did come back from a really long, oh you know what I mean.

I didn't get to talk about it in detail last December but you did know through my photo journal that I had an unexpected hiatus from the blog due to a two week trip to my Mom's hometown in Capiz, which is a place in Visayas.

There, I got to see my cousins who I have not seen for 15 to 16 years and saw relatives I did not know existed, for the first time. We were like huge celebrities, my younger brother and I, and also my two other cousins who have been living in Manila. They are far luckier because they have seen most of the people I don't know.

Anyway, with all the festivities that came about: my sister's wedding, Christmas and a festival, drinking is definitely gonna be involved.

I don't drink. I guess it's a lot different from saying that you're sober. It's more like, I'm a complete virgin to alcoholic beverages.

Now, I'm a 22 year old with sound mind and at least 75% of her rationality still intact and when I decided at 18 that I will never have a slither of hard liquour run course through my throat, I meant every word of it.

This, however, doesn't sit well with my cousins who are used to drinking. My brother, who was a mild drinker, became prone to drinking every day because ny now brother-in-law kept dragging him to drinking parties. And even when he's just at home, he invites my cousins, who are as into drinking as he is, to shots of gin. Now, I don't mind people drinking and having fun and getting all tipsy and slumped the next day. That's their choice and I made mine. But it's the thought that sober people, like myself, end up being thrown outside the room because they won't drink. That we're not fun to have around. That we're a bunch of party poopers.

As much as I don't like interacting in social ocassions, I do try to at least involve myself. And when I put my effort into it, I expect that it will be rewarded. But I guess the expected effort is to actually go and drink with them.

I really wanted to talk and get to know people from time to time and relate to the stories they keep talking about when they go full-on drunk. What I do get the next morning are hazy stories or unsure tidbits of what went on. I find that really unfair that one's eagerness to be a part of something is hindered by the fact that he or she won't do as what the others are doing.

I find peer pressure incredibly sickening. I've been on that end of the spectrum and it isn't fun. To have people tell you to do a certain thing and complying just to be accepted is a petty and undignified way to lowering your own standards. As for drinking, of course you have your own decisions and I have mine but I just wish that you won't shun me out to what clearly seems like something I can handle.

Have you ever been put into a situation like this? Or something that involved something else but is in essence, the same? Leave a comment below and let's talk about that.