How To Know If You Are A Gray Area Drinker?
Alcohol surrounds almost everything we do, from post-work drinks, toasts at important events, chill evenings in the pub, and fine wine when dining out. The truth is alcohol is everywhere. So it's very easy to accidentally end up drinking regularly. Often it doesn't feel like anything out of the norm.
Well, this is where grey area drinking comes in.
What Is Gray Area Drinking?
Grey area drinkers are drinkers who fall between the “rock-bottom” drinkers, and the people who drink from time to time. It is not always apparent when people are grey area drinking as it often involves drinking when socially acceptable. It doesn’t necessarily cause some of the more obvious effects that an alcohol misuse disorder does.
Grey area drinking is about falling into patterns that can turn into alcohol misuse disorder. For example, drinking more than you are comfortable with, or feeling like you need alcohol to deal with certain emotions. However, you are still able to control to some extent how much you drink.
How Can You Tell If You Are A Gray Area Drinker?
Grey-area drinking can be difficult to identify because it is incredibly common and completely socially acceptable. Therefore, you might have some niggling doubts about your drinking habits. Because everyone else does it, however, your habits feel like they are still healthy. So here are some ways to identify if you are a grey area drinker:
1. You have some doubts about your drinking
If you silently and secretly worry about how much you drink. Maybe you feel guilt for drinking so often or feel anger at yourself for wasting time when hungover. These feelings might suggest you are a grey-area drinker. These are things that others cannot see, but might make you doubt how healthy your relationship with alcohol is.
2. You Can Stop Drinking For Periods Of Time But Find It Hard To Stay Stopped
Grey area drinkers are often able to do a week, a month or maybe even longer without drinking. It is, however, hard to stay stopped, especially if something comes up like a big party or a stressful situation.
3. You Feel Guilty Drinking, You Feel Guilty Not Drinking
As a grey area drinker, you can often switch between two opposites. You can feel guilty for drinking and decide to drink less. The next moment you feel guilty about “being boring”, so decide to drink nonetheless. This back and forth can make it easy to be pressured into drinking when people offer a drink.
4. Alcohol Consumption Is A Habit
If you find it impossible to imagine hanging out with friends without drinking, or going for a meal without having a drink or two, you are probably a grey-area drinker. This means that alcohol is such an integrated habit in your life that you cannot imagine life without it.
5. You Drink To Deal With Emotions
If you reach for a drink when you come home from a stressful day at work, want to relax in the evening, or want to calm your nerves before a date, you are drinking to deal with emotions. It's such a norm in society to do this, but can be a slippery slope if life gets harder you might need to reach for more alcohol.
Do You Need To Fully Stop Drinking If You Are A Grey Area Drinker?
If you do find yourself gray area drinking and wanting to do something about it it can be a bit confusing. Alcoholics Anonymous or other sobriety groups for people with alcohol misuse disorder might not resonate with you, and you might not even feel like you need to go for full sobriety.
So do you need to fully stop drinking to address grey area drinking? This depends a bit on which shade of grey you are.
It is definitely possible that you can work on drinking more mindfully, set yourself specific targets and really try to mindfully choose to drink or not. For some people taking the distance and really examining their relationship with alcohol can be enough to help them address any doubts and habits they have.
However, for some people, sobriety, or temporary sobriety might be the only way to create enough space from alcohol to really break the unhealthy habits you have built up.
The one certain thing is, you don’t need to hit rock bottom to ask for help, and help is available for grey area drinkers and people with alcohol use disorder alike, so do reach out if you feel in need of support.
Alcohol-Free Drinks For Grey Area Drinkers
One way to make cutting down on alcohol more palatable is to start exploring the world of alcohol-free drinks. With a huge range of alcohol-free beverages now available for almost every flavour palate out there, you are sure to find a delicious drink to help take the place of alcohol.
Whether you are drinking only alcohol-free drinks and alcohol-free cocktails or switching between alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks, having a tasty alcohol-free replacement can make the process of sobriety or mindful drinking a little easier.
Explore The World Of Alcohol-Free Drinks With JOMO
The best way to start diving into the world of alcohol-free drinks is to subscribe to a JOMO subscription box. That way you will receive a monthly box, filled to the brim with delicious alcohol-free goodies and sent directly to your front door.