Unabhängig - Vom Trinken und Loslassen

It's a good time for feminism. It's also a good time for sobriety. Why we drink and why we should stop - an autobiographical plea for clarity.

For years, alcohol consumption has been declining in this country, but there is one group where it is on the rise: educated, well-off women over 30. Strange, isn’t it? Aren't these the women who, despite a 50-hour workweek, still find time for exercise, monitor their diet, and have made mindfulness their life motto? Yes, exactly those women are the first to pour themselves a bottle of wine after a hard day at work. Many of them finish it.

Eva Biringer was one of them for years. She drank to relax and reward herself, to switch off, to comfort herself, to compensate, and to function - to meet expectations and to numb many feelings. More than once, she woke up in the morning with no memory of the night before.

Through her own story, she aims to raise awareness: for the reasons that lead more and more women to reach for the bottle far too often, and for a society that does not want to see what drives them to it. With razor-sharp intellect, she dissects her own addictive behavior - one that resides in all of us - sheds light on literature, studies, and statistics surrounding alcohol, and explains why it is worth choosing a life of clarity.

Alcohol numbs and robs us of our natural feelings while simultaneously amplifying other emotions, foremost fear and depression. We drink to forget unpleasantness, but also to feel something at all. There were times when I could only cry when I was drunk. The next day, I felt even more ashamed for fulfilling the cliché of the suffering woman so perfectly. I took it with humor and a sarcastic Facebook post.