It’s only three weeks into the semester and many of us are already experiencing drinking fatigue.

I define that as such: It’s a Friday night and your energetic, excited friends — some with questionable drinking habits — are ready to rage, even if that means sitting in a living room and drinking four Bud Lights throughout a 90-minute movie. The thought of drinking alcohol is about as appealing as chugging a bottle of ranch dressing.

“I can’t,” your body pleads. The nausea. The heaviness. Your stomach is bloated. Your liver needs a break. Water is all you want and all you need.

But the pressure is there. You don’t want to be that person because you think someone will say you’re lame. You’re afraid you’re going to miss out on something (you probably aren’t) and your friends are super annoying.

Don’t be this guy: “You’re so lame! Why aren’t you drinking? It’s the freakin’ weekend! Chug! Chug!”

My response to the above is this: Screw it, do your thing and don’t let people bother you. But sometimes, we aren’t always so strong and the pressure sets in. That, or we really, really don’t want to miss out on a fun weekend. There are “only” 15 per semester, after all.

So if you’re concerned about your sleeping patterns, your liver and your caloric intake, and you can’t quite muster up the courage to just say no when you feel like it, there are a few ways to handle the situation.

For starters, sip on one drink a night. Slowly drinking your whiskey-coke concoction throughout the course of an hour or two is great practice anyway. Eventually, you’ll be out of college at a work event, and pounding away multiple Cape Cods isn’t exactly workplace appropriate. When you take it slow, you’re still out, still enjoying a drink and still part of the group, but you’re on your own time, and that’s legit.

Want to trick people into thinking you’re downing a vodka-Sprite? Consider putting your soda in a Highball — that’s a glass tumbler, in case you were wondering. Just stick it in the same glass and enjoy your refreshing soda.

Or, simply, keep busy. Go to a party and meet people. Play party games. Maybe dance the night away. Keep the energy up and the conversation interesting, and live in the moment. That’s part of the fun, right? The real reason you went out, right?

Lastly, drink for the culture. Enjoy the art of mixology and appreciate the flavor of a good craft beer or complex cocktail. Food culture is good culture. It’s hard to remember that if you’re wasted or blacked out. College is college, and trying new craft beers, types of wine and cocktail mixtures are all fun and engaging cultural activities. Just remember: All things in moderation.

Jillian Thaw is a magazine, newspaper and online journalism graduate student. Her column appears every Wednesday in Pulp. You can email her at jathaw@syd.edu and follow her on Twitter @jathaw.

Published on September 11, 2013 at 1:09 am