There’s a big difference between my generation and teenagers when it comes to alcohol, and that’s not a bad thing

Many of you may be wondering what my secret is to surviving sober October. The key is to observe it in moderation. Sobriety was the order of the day Monday through Friday, but weekends are something to remember, right?

I didn’t bother with sobtober – a portmanteau of October and sober or sobbing, depending on what you like – at all because I drink well, it’s fine, I’m fine.

Licensing law reform here may bring joy to many, but the thought of staying up until dawn (or anywhere after 10pm) sounds like an improved interrogation technique better suited to Abu Ghraib than a city hostel.

Apparently I’m not the only one who thinks this – my 19 year old didn’t seem too keen on the later hours as she doesn’t drink much.

She goes out a bit, drinks a few times, comes home late, sometimes feels a little groggy the next day, but compared to her mother and me at her age, she’s a picture of sobriety.

Our alcohol consumption was normal for the time, but in this more enlightened age it is safe to say that we would have been viewed as chronic, habitual alcoholics.

But it’s okay, so was everyone else – we weren’t outliers, and compared to many of our peers we were relatively straight forward. Back then the pubs were full and our medium sized hometown had a nightclub that was packed on the weekends. And we drank and drank, and the local courts were full of the consequences of it.

Now the nightclub is long gone and bars are closing because people my daughter’s age drink less. I, for one, have gotten terribly dry, although it’s less about wisdom and more about your body letting you know that shoveling in any food and drink is no longer enough.

I’ve gotten to the point where I spend a lot of time wondering if my constant exhaustion, aches and pains, and boredom are due to being a parent, being middle-aged, or having a hot mix of ailments, from I assume I suffer from – Irritable Bowel Syndrome, Celiac Disease, Vitamin D Deficiency, Lyme Disease and whatever other illness is in the news this week.

Alcohol is harder to consume in any quantity, so I just go for quality – a good craft beer and a drop of decent whiskey.

Alcohol has become more of a hobby, which sounds like one of those worrying remarks you hear on TV dramas when people say that she and her spouse have become friends rather than lovers (something that will never happen in our house since my friends never do things my wife and I do together (e.g. fight relentlessly).

My relationship with alcohol is more about conversation and contemplation than the mid-’90s heyday of trying hard to forget.

But there’s a trick for my kids – my youngest two draw pictures of me with giant whiskey bottles, or me on board a whiskey UFO, or photographing whiskey bottles in the garden.

I sometimes wonder what their teachers must be thinking when they make art like this at school. In my defense, they rarely draw pictures of me drinking the stuff (they would have to be in bed for me to properly activate relax mode and pour myself a sip).

My eldest told me that when she was younger she thought I was an alcoholic and it wasn’t until she became aware of other parents’ drinking habits that she realized my drinking wasn’t that bad. But it could still be better, lower, less common.

So this year there was no sober October and there will be no dry January, but never say never.