Alcohol occupies a significant place in Australian culture and is consumed in a wide range of social circumstances.
With many of these occasions occurring over the summer holidays – Christmas, New Year, Australia Day – it’s no wonder alcohol sales tend to peak during this time. Unfortunately, so do alcohol-related violence, drunkenness and traffic accidents.
According to research from VicHealth, alcohol-related incidents increase appreciably in the lead-up to most public holidays, particularly the days before New Year’s Day, Australia Day, Good Friday and ANZAC Day, and the last working day before Christmas.1
Sarah Rusbatch is a ‘Grey Area Drinking’ Coach. She says its often expected that we’ll drink alcohol at every social event, and as there are so many more social events at this time of year, we find we’re drinking much more.
“It’s so ingrained in our culture to drink at every occasion and event, many of us don’t even question whether we’ll drink or not,” she said. “Alcohol is the only drug we have to justify not taking.
“We have the misconception that not drinking is ‘boring’, and there’s so much peer pressure to drink. In my experience, when I stopped drinking, I actually started living and my life became anything but boring.”
Reframing drinking
Ms Rusbatch gave up drinking in 2019 and now works with women all over the world to change their relationship with alcohol. In the first three months of launching her coaching services in 2021, more than 5000 women had reached out for help.
She believes it’s important that we change the dialogue around alcohol and get out of the habit of calling someone an ‘alcoholic’ or a ‘social drinker’.
“In my work, the majority of people who have a dysfunctional relationship with alcohol are high functioning and don’t identify as being an alcoholic, but they’re struggling to change their habits around drinking and it’s impacting them both mentally and physically,” she said.
Ms Rusbatch began questioning her own relationship with alcohol when she realised it was taking more than it was giving.
“Alcohol was stealing my confidence, my energy, my positivity, my zest, my passion and my soul,” she said.
During a three-month sobriety trial, she remembers feeling the happiest she had ever felt in her adult life.
“On the outside, no one would have noticed,” she said.
“But inside, I felt a deep, deep sense of peace. The inner critic disappeared and was replaced by a voice that whispered words of hope, positivity and happiness. ‘She’ showed me how much joy had been under my nose all along. I’d just been too pissed or hungover to even see it.”
The grey area
When she committed to sobriety, Ms Rusbatch wanted to help others who were trapped where she was: the grey area.
“I didn’t identify as being an alcoholic, but did identify as having a problematic relationship with alcohol,” she said.
“If you think about a person’s drinking on a scale of one to 10, ‘one’ might be the person who rarely drinks or rarely thinks about drinking, while ‘10’ might be someone who has a physical dependency on alcohol, requires medical assistance to stop drinking, and can’t get through a day without drinking. Grey area drinking falls somewhere in the middle, and it’s so common, especially among women.”
Signs you’re a grey area drinker include making rules around your drinking, noticing alcohol impacts you negatively the next day but continuing to drink, drinking more than you intended, or noticing you have more silent conversations in your head around alcohol.
Ms Rusbatch recommends anyone concerned about their relationship with alcohol should first reflect on how much they’re drinking.
“There are apps to track this,” she said, “as many of us are unaware of our weekly consumption, and it’s higher than we imagine. Notice if you find yourself reaching for a drink to numb an emotion. Plan to take a period of time off alcohol to experiment with what life is like without it.”
She also recommends finding a community for support.
“My Facebook group, The Women’s Wellbeing Collective, is a warm and supportive community of women across the globe supporting and sharing with each other,” she said.
“My website also has a wealth of information: sarahrusbatch.com.”
Embracing the ‘no-lo’ lifestyle
For those looking to cut out or simply cut down on their alcohol consumption, there’s arguably never been a better time thanks to the ever-improving range and availability of quality non-alcoholic drinks on the market.
Ms Rusbatch says such drinks can play a high role in helping someone break their habits.
“‘Keep the ritual, change the ingredient’ is a motto I live by and in the early days these drinks can really help,” she said.
A huge market has developed for ‘no-lo’ (no- and low-alcohol) drinks globally, reaching almost US$10 billion in value according to research this year from IWSR Drinks Market Analysis.2
“Interest in no- and low-alcohol drinks has increasingly become a year-round trend among consumers across the world,” said Emily Neill, COO of IWSR Drinks Market Analysis.
“To meet this demand, alcohol beverage companies have invested heavily to introduce a number of innovative new products, and many established mainstream brands have recently crossed over to develop no/low alcohol versions of their popular beer, wines and spirits.”
With retailers from mainstream supermarkets through to dedicated specialty outlets, such as Sans Drinks, increasing their non-alcoholic offerings, those who choose not to imbibe can still look forward to a fun (yet not so silly) holiday season.
References
- vic.gov.au/-/media/ResourceCentre/PublicationsandResources/alcohol-misuse/Drinking-cultures-social-occasions-Factsheet_public-holiday.pdf?la=en&hash=6C43A7F27769C7016FBBC0C1AA35CA3FC74A7A0C
- theiwsr.com/wp-content/uploads/IWSR-2022-No-and-Low-Alcohol-Press-Release.pdf
This feature was originally published in the Nov/Dec issue of Retail Pharmacy Assistants e-magazine.
