Who: Blair Thomson
Lives: Singapore
Loves: art, his dog Hercules, and partner in work and life, Elena
Does: collects, sells and obsesses over art
Find: Addicted Art Gallery
I haven’t touched alcohol in 20 years. I was diagnosed with a complex medical condition and alcohol doesn’t interact well with the medication I need to take. But there is an expectation in my industry to attend events and drink. My way of dealing with people who judge me for not drinking is to laugh. I could tell them about my health but do I really need an excuse not to drink?
It’s crazy that we have this herd mentality that alcohol is the norm and everything else isn’t. We’ve been conditioned to believe that a socially acceptable drug is the standard response. We forget it’s actually harmful.
I think that being an abstainer has given me more advantages. I’d say my business acumen and EQ is better. I hear about people doing these 30, 90 and year long challenges who report feeling more lucid, patient, energetic and positive. I guess I’m benefitting from 20 years of that.
A shift of focus towards good drinks for drinks sake should be the point. I mean, who cares if it has alcohol or not if it tastes good and it's satisfying?
I dabbled with non alcoholic drinks years ago, but they were sugary and didn’t taste great. Recently though, I was invited to a tasting and got to sample the ISH brand from Denmark. I tried their GinISH and was surprised. I think I even exclaimed a little! It was the most enjoyable drink I’ve had in years.
While I’m used to being the non-drinker in the presence of drinkers, it was nice to feel a part of the experience of “proper” drinking. There’s no reason really why adults shouldn’t have access to adult drinks options – whether they contain alcohol or not should be neither here nor there.