Drawing Insight From Wine

Wine. Or Beer. Whatever your imbibing drink of choice. For most of us it can hold a peculiar offering of pleasure and pain. And with the ban on non-essential items, many of us, depending on our personal stock levels of wine or beer, are required to examine how we feel about the relationships we’ve nurtured with this beverage.

So for today, if you still have some left (if not grab an empty bottle) take either a wine or beer bottle or pour yourself a glass and sit yourself down for a draw and a think with your drink.

  1. Get a comfortable with your wine or beer still life. (not like you need instruction on how to with this one)
  2. Begin drawing the bottle or glass and its contents.
  3. Don’t be overly critical of your drawing, just enjoy the release in creativity. And sure – while you’re at it, enjoy the intermittent sip. (like you needed an invite right?)

While you draw your drink, give these some think (ing time):

  1. Is this an occasional thing for you or a dependency?
  2. Do you drink to feel good or drink to feel better?
  3. Notice when the impulse comes up in you – that ‘I need a drink’ feeling or thought and start paying attention to what was happening just before it. What shift in your mood spurred on the desire for a drink? Or is it merely habit.
  4. How do you feel the following day? Good? Bad? Energised? Tired?
  5. If you haven’t had anything to drink in a while because you ran out of stocks and are now drawing a label, an empty glass or empty bottle – how has the absence of the beer or wine made you feel?

These are all just gentle starting points to question whether you’re happy with your relationship to alcohol. I’m not a psychologist so none of this is a curated alcohol support therapy. They were just questions I’ve begun to ask myself that have helped me gain more clarity on how I engage with wine and beer and have helped me redefine how I want to going forward. None of this is easy. But I have found drawing while thinking about this to reveal much insight to me.

I hope it lifts veils for you too.

At the end of today, if you feel inspired to you can share your drawing and drawing insights in the comments and we can just chat about our common journeys together. No therapy – just human connection on similar struggles and joys. x

Skills

Posted on

March 26, 2020

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