Since it's Sunday, it's story time!
On day 9 of my Dry July challenge, here's a metaphor to think about why so many of us use alcohol to support us - as we think.
Day | Sunday 9th July |
|---|---|
Days without alcohol | 24 |
Funds raised | $2,664.70 |
Badges earned | 1 week Dry |
I'm feeling | Reflective |
Thin Air
In 2018 I trekked to Everest Base Camp in Nepal with a group of friends. After that experience, I read John Krakauer’s book Into Thin Air his account of the disastrous 1996 climbing expedition where kiwi climbing guide Rob Hall perished near the summit of Mt Everest along with a number of his mates and clients.
One of the characters that stood out for me in that story is that of Anatoli Boukreev, a Russian climber who was (somewhat controversially) one of the heroes of that day. He was remarkable not just for his courage and physical abilities but also for the fact that he refused to use oxygen on his climbs.
Mt Everest stands over 8,800 metres above sea level, which is not much lower than the cruising altitude of a commercial airliner. There really isn’t much oxygen available up there and almost every climber carries supplemental oxygen.
So why didn’t Boukreev use it? In his world view oxygen was a crutch that would prevent him from building up the innate strength to be a great climber. He also believed that using supplemental oxygen could create a false sense of security and lead to complacency among climbers, and that relying on one's natural ability to acclimatize and endure the high-altitude conditions was a more authentic and challenging approach.
Alcohol as a support
So how does this relate to alcohol?
Too many of us use alcohol (and other drugs) to help us to cope with the stresses of the modern world.
That's mostly because it does work - sort of - in the short term. A drink can help us to temporarily relax and to deal with the pain of a bad boss, worries over money, the future of the planet or the argument we just had with a loved one.
But the next day those problems are still there, and we still have to face them, only now we’ve maybe got a hangover as well.
If you want to get the summit of Mt Everest, tick that item off your bucket list and never go climbing again, using oxygen is certainly recommended. But using an oxygen cylinder at sea level is probably less so.
There’s a good argument to be made that by abstaining or cutting back on alcohol, we liberate our minds from its numbing effects. Maybe this could allow us a deeper understanding and experience of the full spectrum of human emotions. Psychology tells us we need to experience our emotions fully to be able to deal with them properly.
Without the haze of alcohol, we might just gain heightened self-awareness and an ability to navigate both the highs and lows of life with purpose and clarity.
Reflection
No-one can agree whether Anatoli Boukreev’s refusal to use supplemental oxygen made any difference to his rescues of the ill-fated climbers on that day in 1996, and I have yet to read his book on the subject so I’m not sure either.
He tragically passed away in 1997, caught in an avalanche on the deadly Annapurna, known for its treacherous and challenging climbing conditions. His body was never recovered. I’m pretty sure that he was one of those people who lived his life and faced the greatest of challenges without fear right to the end.
For me the strength of Boukreev’s controversial beliefs is a great template for how we should all face our challenges without fear and artificial supports as best we can.
And so, on my 9th day of Dry July and the 24th since I've had an alcoholic drink, I hope you will enjoy my little reflection.
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