Summer Agrees With Me

27 June 2008

The Effect of Demystification

When I was a fundie going to churches that said alcohol was sinful, I thought I would drink often, if I had the freedom to do so without being stigmatized by my fellow Christians. (Whatever church I was in was the bulk of my social life, so going against the grain would have resulted in social consequences I would not have been able to handle.) I'm amused that hasn't turned out to be the case at all. I enjoy a good margarita or wine coolers, but for the past few months I have not been able to justify spending the money on wine coolers when I go to the supermarket. I think about the mild hangover I'm likely to wake up with. I don't like the thought of the extra work my liver has to do. I don't like the fact that the alcohol would dehydrate me, so I would have to drink a lot more water to help my body cope with that side effect. My love and awareness of my body usually overpowers my enjoyment of a good alcoholic drink, so I rarely drink.

My attitude towards sex has similarly shifted, by the way. While I would gladly have sex in a committed relationship, having sex outside of that construct is too emotionally unfulfilling to be worth my time. I do, however, reserve the right to make exceptions on occasion. ;-) (But that decision is mine alone to make and is not affected by any amount of begging on the male's part. In fact, the more he begs me to change my mind, as though I have not made my decision from a position of mature self-awareness, the more likely it is that I won't.)

Not everyone responds this way when something previously called taboo is demystified, but I am relieved I have naturally responded that way.