I adore these slender glass bottles. They are of the elegant long neck style which host only the finest champagne of beers… Miller High Life. With the highs come the lows like ocean’s tide. I’ve hit rock bottom and been tumbled like a lost sock in the wash, but also have felt the sun kissed glory from the safety of the shore. Immaculately buzzed.
It’s been a life long battle striving to find that balance, taking my health for granted almost every step of the way. An old wise person once said to treat your body like a home and live in it for another 70 years. Well, I’ve basically been priced out of every other shoe box so better late than never to take my well being seriously.
Growing up and dealing with trauma, I learned to not only drink away my problems, but even justify it as a lifestyle. After all, alcohol is a perfectly socially acceptable form of self prescribed medication. So let’s raise a glass in toast to something, or drop to the floor when thirsty and miserable- always wanting more.
When I was a teenager, from about 13–20, I smoked weed just about every day. Then around 23 years old when I started bartending, I kind of just stopped naturally. It was just too difficult to interact with people at that level of service, in a busy downtown setting where you had to be on all the time.
Drinking went hand in hand with the lifestyle though– tastings, cocktail design, someone buys you a shot, you buy them one back, closing early and crashing your favourite last call dive, etc! I’ve felt so raw, too many mornings to count. I’m almost 33 years old and have surely included a drink of some sort in my day for more than half my life.
Then came along my Topo Chicos. I’m talking about the OG sparkling water, not your favourite new seltzer. It’s a brand from north Mexico named after Cerro del Topo Chico and has been bottled in Monterrey since 1895. My first first encounter with the brand was when buying their hard seltzers, which were born when Coca-cola bought the brand in 2017, then eventually collaborated with Molson-Coors to release them in 2021.
I’ll save my sips from mellows suds. If I’m not sipping a Margarita or flushing crisp lagers down my oesophagus then my non-alcoholic bevy best have a zing. Somehow this simple bottle does it for me. The plastic bottle versions down here are carbonated like hand grenades. Take my advice and have your server open it for you unless you are trying to remove a mess of wing sauce from your bib. Luckily you won’t have to worry about that with the glass, cleaner-tasting, bottle version.
I’m a long way from home, which was behind a bar in Toronto. Now in Sayulita, Mexico as I stare down the ocean, I want to learn how to surf. It’s an incredibly difficult and humbling endeavour. When I am faced with the force of the ocean I’m reminded of how difficult it was when I was younger and less experienced, working under pressure just to keep my head above water.
In learning this new skill I have had to reevaluate how I want to live, and confront the challenges in my life that have been holding me back. If I can learn to stand up for myself then I can also learn to move forward and guide myself back to shore.
I wish I could evolve into the better balanced version of myself that I desire to be organically, like when the “high times” chapter of my life came to a close. But maybe this more intentional and focused journey in my life will take more work to be successful in. Perhaps with greater rewards.
So what I’ve learned and wanted to share is that its okay to admit your short comings. It’s okay if you’ve needed a crutch to stand up to be confident and take on the world. Life is full of the same challenges, but our approach differs as we grow wiser and want to evolve. Sometimes you have to start all over again and be there for yourself. There are a lot of lessons we learn from the past, and if we’re honest with ourselves we can use those experiences to help us rather than haunt us.
It will be hard not to see drinking as a lifestyle for me. I love going out and being in the action… fine, one more Topo Chico please!
