Post 17: a little salt never hurt

Getting ready for work in the morning can be a little dull for a person who doesn’t pay for cable, so to fill the silence, I usually play a new podcast. Sometimes they’re religious, but every Monday there’s a new episode of Girls Gotta Eat … and this is far from religious. They’re funny woman who bring up serious topics of conversation and it’s almost like going to therapy, but way cheaper.

Last weeks episode they spoke with Amanda White, who is a therapist and author of Not Drinking Tonight, and they spoke about the infamous “dry January” and defining your relationship with alcohol. White talked about knowing from a young age that her relationship with alcohol was anything but healthy. She said that one of the things she reflected on was: with any negative thing that happened, what was the common denominator? Her answer was always alcohol. Bad things happened when she drank. This doesn’t mean that something bad always happened when she drank, but even if that’s the case, there was still anxiety the next day.

The truth is, I feel the same way. I definitely don’t think I have a drinking problem, but there are people in my life who do and when you’re watching from afar, you can see the damage it’s doing. Drinking is so normalized by society and to some extent, I get it. You want to go watch a football game with some friends? Great, go to West 6, grab a drink and watch.

Though where the line blurs is using the drink as a crutch for something else. Calming nerves? Drink. Hard day at work? Drink. Get a new job? Drink.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m the person going to West 6 to pretend to watch football and getting a drink, but it’s the drink part that I’ve been debating on. I don’t need it, it’s more of a social tick.

I was rereading Mark in the bible the other day and there were a few verses that caught my attention:

For everyone will be salted with fire. Salt is good, but if salt has lost its saltiness, how can you season it? Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one another.

How does salt lose it’s saltiness when it is, by definition, salt? When you’re cooking, it’s easy to tell when something is over salted. You can taste it. In life, it’s a little bit more difficult.

You can’t really tell when something is over salted without paying closer attention. You have to focus on what you’ve done and what you’re doing to get a broader scope.