\"Why aren\'t you drinking\"
they asked
As I sipped a soft drink
at the bar
Choruses of:
\"You\'re boring\"
\"Come on, don\'t let me drink alone!\"
\"One won\'t hurt\"
echo against the glassware
My people pleasing attitude wants to help the people around me feel more comfortable
...at a big cost to myself.
So I order one
and then another
and suddenly I am alone;
the last person at the bar
One won\'t hurt.
I\'ve overslept.
I\'ve not eaten breakfast.
I\'m at work,
nursing a headache from hell.
One won\'t hurt that much.
I put off my workout plan until tomorrow.
I decide to buy takeaway instead of cooking with the vegetables I bought the day before.
I sit there numb.
Because with alcohol I am a shell
- barely functioning.
But still, I am functioning.
One won\'t hurt.
Until that one turns into another
and the lines of my healthy boundaries are so blurred that it doesn\'t even seem to matter anymore.
So the next time someone asks me
if I would like a drink
I hope I have the strength to put
myself first
and politely say
No.