Ever reminisce about those 'work to play to work' days? The ones where you would go to work, hit the bar hard-baby straight after, dance the night away, walk home in the light of a blushing sun, take a quick shower and go to work? Hell, you might even have managed to back up the next night too. Yeah, those days... ah, those days... hmmm, yes, those days...
How long does it take you to recover from a big night out these days?
For me it's three days, maybe four. Oh, okay, I'll be honest, it's at least 3 months.
These days a 'big' weekend involves scheduling more than one thing across the entire 48 hours. I panic if someone invites us somewhere on Sunday afternoon because there isn't enough 'recovery' time before work on Monday. And that's just a family afternoon out with the kids - don't even get me started on the meltdown that an actual night out night out involves.
I don't know when I got to be so feeble. The urge to 'punch through' just left me sometime in my mid-thirties and has never been seen again. It wasn't even because I had children (I nursed many a hangover for a good few years after that). I just got sensible and who can blame me? Being sick this week reminded me of how annoying it is to be off your peak - it hurts, yes, but even worse, you just can't get anything done.
So nowadays (should that be nowanights?), the idea of a boozy bar, loud music and actual dancing (ie, public dancing) just makes me squirm. All that drinking, all that posturing, all that yelling. By 10 o'clock I'm practically running out the door home to the joy of peace and quiet and a warm, loving man.
Does this make me old? I don't think of it as old, I think of it as clearing the way for today's feisty young folk. Yes, well. God knows, when I was one of the feisty I used to freak out to the max whenever I found out someone was at a bar and forgodsakeforty. Seriously, you're still out? Get a life, dude. So, it was always my ambition to not be that person and just look at me now - I've achieved my goal!
Am I old? Am I sad? Am I normal?
Are you still out painting the town red?*
* At heart, obviously.
** But I will warn you, red is such a nineties colour...
[Image by Jaz Marsh]