SPEAKER_02 0:00

Welcome to Mildly Thriving. I'm Kimberly and I'm Merrick.

SPEAKER_03 0:04

We're two average millennials who aren't failing but aren't always thriving either. And we're out to prove that Mildly Thriving is thriving enough.

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Please make sure you're subscribed and following us on the social medias.

SPEAKER_03 0:14

And if you're feeling really nice, you could give us a five-star review wherever you listen to podcasts.

SPEAKER_02 0:18

Now let's dive into this week's episode. Hi, Meredith. Hi Kimberly. How are you doing? I'm whoa. I'm great. How are you? Uh well, apparently my voice is annoying, so only when you do that.

SPEAKER_04 0:37

And let's be honest, only all the time. You don't actually talk like that. Yeah, it would be annoying if I did. Oh, that makes me think. I have a question. Oh, what's up? Do I mumble? Am I hard to understand sometimes? Do I talk too quietly? I don't think so.

SPEAKER_02 0:55

Why did someone tell you that you're a mumbler? Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_04 0:58

Why can't I think of who said that recently?

SPEAKER_02 1:01

Do you need to tell them to turn up their hearing aid?

SPEAKER_04 1:04

Maybe. Uh I have been so I have this fear of being too loud, and I have been told, especially if I've been drinking, that my volume increases and I'm not necessarily aware of it. So uh I think I have this fear of being too loud. But I was told recently that ah, it was on my girls' trip. We were talking in the car. Um, and I was told that I don't project very well. And mumble's not the word, but it's like I'm talking under my breath. Like I don't realize that I'm like not projecting very well. Were you in the back seat? No, I was in the front seat. It started as a conversation of the person in the back seat couldn't hear me, and like, which totally normal. But they both said, like, yeah, it is hard to hear you sometimes. And I thought about it, and it happens to me at work a lot, especially during presentations. I think I'm being like way too loud, and I'm not doing it consciously, but I have been told during multiple presentations, Meredith, speak up. And I'm like, I I didn't think I wasn't, I feel like I'm yelling. And so um, I was just curious if I am a mumbler or if it's hard to understand me sometimes.

SPEAKER_02 2:20

From my point of view, I have a really hard time understanding anyone anyway. So um like I'm just but it's just par for the course. Yeah, like yeah, yesterday I started volunteering in a friend's classroom. I love this so much. Yeah, and yesterday was the first day, and she teaches like it's special education, but these are kids that just need a little extra one-on-one help. My friend went around the classroom and said, All of you, you know, introduce yourselves so that Kimberly knows who you are.

SPEAKER_01 2:56

I heard two of them may be like, I am Silva and I'm senior.

SPEAKER_02 3:03

And I'm like, Okay, hi.

SPEAKER_04 3:07

Uh oh, it's so nice to meet you. Yeah, what? Whoever you are. Well it's like the it's like the girl, the the girl from Pitch Perfect. Have you seen Pitch Perfect? Yeah, where she's like whispering, just like it and it's like if you're listening well enough, like she says some random shit every time, but she's whispering. I remember that. It's like I did a turnip county.

SPEAKER_00 3:30

I ate my twin in the womb. I killed my husband. She's like, wait, what? What I'm not getting anything.

SPEAKER_02 3:40

Yeah, that's the yeah, that's pretty much what what happened. So cool story, bro. Yeah. Yeah. Um okay.

SPEAKER_01 3:47

Um do we want to recap what we did last weekend? Sure. What did we do last? Oh, never mind.

SPEAKER_04 3:58

Yes, we do. Yes we do. Somebody asked me yesterday what I did uh last weekend, and I like struggled for a good minute of like, I don't remember what I did. And then I was like, oh, I went to a hockey game, and then I trailed off and was like, This, you're not the person I should be having this conversation with because I think I was at like a coffee shop or something random. And then my friend almost shit in her car. Yes, guys, gals, everyone, it almost happened. I thought it was gonna happen. I also thought it was gonna happen. Yeah. I thought I was going to hold Kimberly's hand while she shit in an alley in downtown Seattle. Uh, but I'll let her tell you the detail.

SPEAKER_02 4:45

Yeah. So um I started taking a new medication and um apparently you can't eat greasy food, which I now know. And we had gone to a bar and uh ordered cheese fried cheese curds, which is always a great idea and would never make anyone sick, even on the most um normal of stomachs, correct?

SPEAKER_04 5:06

They were so good, but I mean we were all feeling it. We had we had mac and cheese, chicken strips, yeah, and cheese curds.

SPEAKER_02 5:15

Yeah. It's kind of like what what were you what did you expect? Yeah. Um, and then we went to a the Seattle Torrents hockey game. Which was fantastic. Which was which was fun. Well, it would have been better if they there was like some scoring, but you know, other than that, it was fine.

SPEAKER_01 5:33

It ended up it was one to one. Yeah, then they lost in a shootout or something.

SPEAKER_04 5:41

Yeah, but they gave it a hell out. Yeah, it was like a sudden death. Yeah. Yeah. Those are such violent uh terms. Um and Brandy Carlisle dropped the puck. Like that was cool. I mean, I don't know that Kimberly knows who Brandy Carlisle is because she lives under a fucking rock.

SPEAKER_02 5:57

I do know who that is. I thought I had been listening to some of her music, and it turns out I was wrong, but I'm I was recognized the name. Um but yeah, then you know, if we're getting ready to leave, I was like Oh, wait, no, no, back up.

SPEAKER_04 6:15

We were having the best time, and Kimberly wasn't even drinking, and it was us and another friend, and me and the other friend had been drinking, and then Kimberly, Stone Sober, was like, Let's go get Flash tattoos. And I was like, Oh, yeah, you don't have to tell me twice, like, I'll get anything you want. And then we're like riding this high of like, this is so much fun, let's go get tattoos, and then we start leaving, and I was like, So are we getting tattoos? And then I was like, I don't feel so good.

SPEAKER_02 6:43

And I had like gotten like hungry, and then I got kind of nauseous, and then we're like walking to the car, and I was like, I don't like this feels this feels weird. Then we get in the car and we're driving to leave Seattle, and it's like, oh, this this is not this isn't good. And you know that you're in downtown Seattle, you're not going to find a bathroom.

SPEAKER_04 7:06

You can't go into a gas station, you can't like it's like your typical large metropolitan downtown where it's nothing but one ways, and there's zero place to park, even if you did find a bathroom. And we're just like, and it was just like, guys, this is happening.

SPEAKER_02 7:26

Yeah, it was like, oh yeah, like I'm I'm starting like I'm starting to sweat and I'm really hot and like you know, and I'm holding it in because I'm like, I don't, I can't trust fart, like I don't, I don't know. And you know, my friends didn't bring their gas masks, and so I was like, guys, I like I'm starting to get panicked and flustered. And so then I I I'm like, I find me a place, and then I'm like, I can. And I turn around the the corner, you're like, there's an alley. And then our other friend is like, oh, that's a that's a one way, and then you know, there's I turned on the wrong way on a one way, and but there were no cars coming, and we were not, we were fine. We got into the alley. Uh and I got out of the car and I was like, okay, is this happening? And like kind of like standing up made my tummy feel a little bit better.

SPEAKER_04 8:13

And then um I she before she got out of the car, she goes, somebody find me some napkins. I was like, okay. And she has like a new car, so it's like, oh my god, it's like perfectly clean in here. Thank God there were some star, thank god for Starbucks. There were some Starbucks napkins on the ground. My whole glove compartment is filled with Starbucks napkins. Mine used to be for this reason.

SPEAKER_02 8:38

Yeah, mine used to be, and I've I've gone, I've gone through all of them. So I'm going to, I need to restock uh the car. Um but then I get out of the car and and I'm in the alley, and then there's a security guard that starts to walk by, and I'm like, she's freaking out.

SPEAKER_04 8:56

I was like, dude, I'll talk to him. We'll say we lost your cell phone. We're just looking for it. It's fine. Why is she why is she shitting?

SPEAKER_00 9:05

She lost her cell phone. It's fine. She lost it. She swallowed it, so we're figuring it out right now.

SPEAKER_02 9:16

Yeah. It got a little weird there for a minute.

SPEAKER_04 9:19

But he like it was like some young kid. And like, I think as soon as he saw that we were normal looking non-crackheads, that he was just like, Oh, this is fine. I'm just gonna keep on walking. He didn't even approach us, he just like smiled and nodded and I was like, Have a great night. Uh and then Kimberly panicked and was like, I can't shit here.

SPEAKER_02 9:39

I can't. Uh and so then I said, Find me, find me a bathroom. We're like within uh like two blocks. And um, our other friend found uh like a bar, but it had a line out the door.

SPEAKER_04 9:54

Because Saturday night in Seattle.

SPEAKER_02 9:56

Yeah. And so then I was like, that's not gonna work. Like I don't have time to stand in line. So then uh she finds another place and it it's like this high high-end um darts place, and I I ran in. I, you know, I I may have like mowed some people over. Um, but I made it. I get into the bathroom, and then the girls are like, There's no toilet paper in there.

SPEAKER_04 10:18

And I'm just like, so I went, I went, and then uh can can since we're here, can I share um the best text message thread I've ever received in my life that I'm going to save forever?

SPEAKER_01 10:35

Yep, yep, yep. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 10:37

That we so we had a group chat going for the weekend. The three of the three of us that were together. Yeah. Uh Kimberly says, It's flowing or no, she says, OMFG. It's flowing out of me like lava. And I just sent like a bunch of skulls back. And she says, I'm dying, period. 100%. And then our other friend says, Glad we found you a real bathroom, then. And then a couple minutes goes by, and Kimberly says, Y'all should get drinks, period. Next message. Maybe sleeping bags at the most. And that was when we ordered drinks, and we're like, Well, I hope she's okay. Good luck to her. And then uh she comes out, we have a conversation about how she's feeling and what we think happened. Because we did forget to mention that she also had an ice cream cone at the hockey game. So she was really, really testing the the boundaries of her medication. Sure did. And uh thank God. Well, thank God our friend, our friend and I ordered a drink because then we had to stay for a minute to finish our $18 drinks. Oh my god. Uh sorry, sorry about that. No, they were delicious, and uh it's standard around here, but I did think it was funny. It's advertised as a fucking darts bar, and you walk in and it's like it looks like a hotel fancy glitzy like dart boards in the back.

SPEAKER_02 12:04

Yeah, it was like 1920s inspired, like you know, Great Gatsby kind of esque.

SPEAKER_04 12:11

And uh everyone there was 15 years younger than us, but it's fine. For sure.

SPEAKER_02 12:15

And we were also like in our uh like jeans and like our pride shirts because it was pride night at the game. Uh yeah, so we just looked like somebody's mom, basically.

SPEAKER_04 12:28

Like I I looked like so I wore those same pants and uh the jean jacket that I had on over my shirt to work the next week. And as I'm putting it on, I was like uh did you ever see the parent trap? Yes. I look like Jessie from The Parent Trap. Wasn't it?

SPEAKER_01 12:48

Isn't her name Chessie? Oh, is that it? Yeah, or like or like Fethy?

SPEAKER_02 12:57

No, I swear to God, it sounds like Jessie, but it's like Chessie or Sessie or I have to look it up now.

SPEAKER_04 13:07

But yeah, I was anyways, um I looked like a soccer mom. Yeah. Um what was the name of the nanny in the parent rub?

SPEAKER_01 13:35

It's Jessie with a CH. Did I just blow your mind?

SPEAKER_04 13:41

Yeah, I've been telling everyone I look like Jessie, and maybe they don't know what I'm fucking talking about. Ugh, whatever. I know and I don't care.

SPEAKER_02 13:51

Yeah. So, um, so then you all sat down and had drinks, and I sat there and rehydrated a little bit, uh, and waited for round two. And round two came, and um then I I sat in the the bathroom and uh heard people come in and they're like, My God, it smells in here. She was texting us again.

SPEAKER_04 14:17

She's like, Everybody's talking about how bad it smells in here, and I feel bad. Like I did felt really bad. We've all been there, and if anybody wants to make you feel bad, then I then we'll just leave.

unknown 14:31

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 14:31

I had my like uh uh spritz hand sanitizer, and I'll just like sprayed it.

SPEAKER_04 14:37

Used half the bottle in the just spray it in the toilet and it'll like the film on top of the Yeah, it's like poopery, except uh it kills bacteria.

SPEAKER_02 14:47

So yeah, that was my fun, that was my fun experience. And um, I hope that'll be talking about it forever. Yeah, I hope that that never happens ever again. Uh I think our other friend really enjoyed uh watching me sweat, but I think everyone is relieved that I did not shit my pants and then uh spend what 50 minutes then in the car.

SPEAKER_04 15:10

I will I will say, like, I am a good and supportive friend, or at least I like to think so. And I never would have made you feel bad, and I would have done everything I could to help you because I that sounds like a horrible position to be in. But I was genuinely worried about the prospect of driving 45 minutes in a shot-smelling car. Yes, myself included. Not because I don't love you as a friend, but because I know how strong my gag reflex is and how weak my stomach is when it comes to smells. And I was like, are we gonna be going highway speeds and I'm gonna have to have my head out the window for 45 minutes?

SPEAKER_02 15:47

Yes, you definitely would have had to. Yeah. So uh thanks, thank you for being thank you for being supportive. You're welcome that I did not uh shit my pants.

SPEAKER_04 15:57

Thank you. And thanks for uh thanks everyone for coming along this journey. Uh we continue to say that we're a podcast about uh mildly thriving in life, but we continue to prove that we're just a podcast about almost shitting our pants, which is really a good barometer of mildly thriving.

SPEAKER_02 16:16

I yeah, I agree, I agree. And my uh I this was a reminder that my days are numbered. I think about it all the time.

SPEAKER_04 16:25

So yeah. Those muscles are weakening by the day because I'm getting older and it will happen.

SPEAKER_02 16:32

Um okay, anyway, what what do you want to talk about? Do you want to talk about our um do you want to talk about it? What do I want to talk about?

SPEAKER_04 16:43

What what are you telling me right now, Kimberly? Uh that was it. That was that's all I got for you.

SPEAKER_02 16:49

Shit pants shit pants shit story. No. Um no, you want to know what we're talking about today?

SPEAKER_01 16:56

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 16:57

Um, we're gonna talk about uh alcohol. Oh. So um I don't know about you, but I drink way less than I did in in the past. Yes. And I've had phases of like, oh, I'm not drinking a lot. And then I've had like during the pandemic, it was like I was drinking three quarters of a bottle of wine a night, like because like I think we were all just trying to like get through life, you know? Because like what else was there to do? It also was like a signal for me to that like the day, the work day was over. Oh yeah. And so it's like, okay, like, and then I would put my AirPods in and like make dinner while drinking um, you know, a glass of wine, and then I would have another one, and then you know. So um, but I do think there is a this cultural shift away from from using alcohol. And I kind of wanted to talk about like the why. I did some research and found a few articles that were kind of talking about the the actual numbers and how um how things are shifting. So I thought we could just like chat about that. I love this. And we can give our own hypothesis and hypotheses of why we think that this is happening. Um I have thoughts.

SPEAKER_05 18:29

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 18:30

So the reason I wanted to talk about this is I was watching a documentary about the history of Seattle, and one of the things that they went in and talked about was during prohibition and alcohol became illegal and kind of the underground um you know, industry, yeah, that that shot up because of prohibition. And I paused it and I turned to Josh and I said, you know, I think if prohibition happened now, I wouldn't I'd be like, eh, well, whatever. But I said if they made uh weed illegal again, I would be, I would be furious.

SPEAKER_01 19:09

Um, but like alcohol, I'm like, eh, I feel like what ev. But yeah, I yep. I felt like that for a long time.

SPEAKER_04 19:20

I still I'm still trying to be good about the weed scenario, but I that's for different reasons. I think about it every day. I miss it every day. It like it proves to me that addiction is real and that like you can be addicted to it. Uh but but also as I've gotten older, I think I've recognized that like a lot of my drinking motivation in the first place was social. And so I like I have bottles of wine in my house that I haven't touched in ever, because uh I don't drink at home by myself, hardly ever. And uh nowadays, like even going out, like I'll have one drink, but the only times that I like really push it are on cruises because it's like you got that drink package, and you're just like, I'm gonna get my money's worth. And uh, but then you know, I'm very conscious of like, I'm not gonna take my medication and I'm not gonna mix a bunch of things together. So uh yeah, I definitely think about it more in general because I'm just like, how is this gonna affect me? And I notice how it affects me in so many different ways, how horribly I sleep after even having a couple of drinks. Because even the night in Seattle, I have four drinks total, but it was over a span of like however many hours.

SPEAKER_02 20:44

Oh, and then it even got extended because somebody else.

SPEAKER_04 20:54

And then the next day I felt like d dog shit. And I was just like, How?

SPEAKER_02 21:01

How? So I I totally, I totally agree. And I've always been somebody who gets hungover, and like if I don't sleep well, then it I feel even worse. So I was kind of like, well, day drinking is better because then you get to go to bed at a reasonable time. And then it's kind of like, why am I doing this to myself? Like I'm trying to do all of these things, like working out and eating better, and then I I drink so that I can have fun and have a little more social lubrication. And then I feel like shit for two days. Like a couple weeks ago, I think I had two glasses of wine because I bought some white wine for a recipe that I was making, and I felt like shit for three days afterwards.

SPEAKER_04 21:51

And I was like, I think mine's a a different one too, because of like how much sugar's in it. Um, I don't I don't do white wine anymore. Like if I can help it, it gives me pretty bad heartburn and I do think it makes me feel worse. I do love red wine though, and I I think there have been many times in my life where I'm drinking socially because other people are drinking, not necessarily because I wanted something. But nowadays I drink because I genuinely like what I'm going to drink. Like it's rare that you're gonna find me downing something that I don't want because just because someone else is doing it. Um, but like I like the taste of cocktails. I genuinely like the taste of a dirty martini. I know that's probably weird for many people, but I I do. Um, and I love red wine. And if I drink something, it's usually because I genuinely like the taste of it. And yeah, but which I'm sure is going to come up nowadays, there's mocktails for everything. I posted a picture recently of uh in my little uh monthly recap, there's like a neon green drink that I had when I went out. Um, and that was a mocktail because it was I was driving home by my like it was the day I was hanging out by myself. It was one of the best drinks I've had in a long time.

SPEAKER_02 23:10

I loved me a mocktail. Like I would rather if somebody was like, here's a literally like a martini or anything that tastes like alcohol uh besides wine or like a strawberry lemonade, I would rather have like fresh squeezed lemonade. Like, hell yes, I would rather have that. But the fact that alcohol kind of makes things feel a little woozy and like so I don't know. The other thing for me that I don't like about drinking is that it just goes right through me. Like I have I have to pee. Oh yeah, I was like, do you shit? No. No. Um, but wine, specifically red wine, doesn't necessarily do that to me. And so I that's one of the reasons that I prefer it, is that I don't some of the time I don't end up, or most of the time, I don't end up like, oh, well, I have to pee every 10 minutes. Because it's think about that's so inconvenient.

SPEAKER_04 24:09

Yeah, I think about that too, especially getting on flights, because it's like the standard is like, oh, let's have a drink at the airport, which I do like doing, uh, because I like there is just the nature of being at the airport is anxiety inducing to me. That's why I always get an aisle seat, because I know that even if I didn't have alcohol, I'm gonna have to go to the bathroom. And I like I hate the idea of walking across two strangers to go to the bathroom multiple times or even once.

SPEAKER_02 24:39

Yeah. No, I I don't drink on flights or like if I know I'm gonna have to be in the car or you know, in situations where you you don't have access, quick access to a bathroom. I'm like, this is not this is not worth worth it to me. I don't I think I think I would drink a lot more if I was somebody with like a steel bladder.

SPEAKER_04 25:03

And yeah, I could I could see that for myself too. I like sometimes the positive effect of like having one drink and being around your friends and like a lot of studies that show that cultures that like drink socially and have that like regular social rapport with people, those cultures live longer. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 25:25

It's the community aspect. I don't know that the it's not is the alcohol contributing to that in a positive way.

SPEAKER_04 25:31

I don't know, maybe but it's not it's not harmful, it's not causing harm. Right. Like people are still living into their hundreds and having a glass of wine every single day. Now, does that mean that the wine is causing you to live longer? No, but it is proven that social interaction does. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 25:52

Um, okay, there's a couple articles that I found that were really interesting. And there was a Gallup poll survey, and I don't know exactly when it was, but it was fairly recent, and it found that 54% of US adults say they drink alcoholic beverages such as wine and liquor or beer. Um, but that's lower than at any other point in the last three decades. I believe that. So in the entirety of, you know, kind of our lives, that that has been this shift. And and we're seeing it, we're feeling it within our within our circles, but it's a nationwide trend. The survey also found that many used to believe that moderate drinking was harmless, maybe even beneficial, but that belief is shifting. And even those who do drink are drinking less. And so before the pandemic, the government data showed that alcohol was trending up, which I think is interesting, but they were seeing that less young people, so that Gen Z category was drinking less. So about two-thirds of 18 to 34-year-olds believe moderate drinking is unhealthy, up from the four out of 10 in 2015, which that's a decent jump, right? Yeah. And then it's saying that older adults are less likely to see alcohol as harmful. About half of Americans age 55 or older believe this, but that's a substantial increase too. In 2015, only two in 10 adults age 55 or older thought alcohol was bad for their health.

SPEAKER_01 27:36

I have some guesses on that. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 27:41

Why? What are your what are your guesses? The generational differences in like health effects and um substance abuse and recognizing substance abuse. I think psychology and mental health has come a long way in the last 50 years. Uh and nobody used to talk about their problems, they'd drink away their problems. And that's a very extreme example, but like that's what you did, and that was normal. And I think I think a lot of people were functioning alcoholics and just nobody talked about it. And yeah, I I think maybe this is the generation that is the children of those people that either saw it and took the same path, or saw it, recognized it and went the opposite direction. And I think we've been through enough decades of serious health effects of people drinking too much and seeing what it can do. And so people are choosing not to do that. Also, mental health is more of a topic these days and it's more accepted. And I think the younger generations are more willing to talk about the issues that they're going through instead of using something to mask it. Right. Um, and that is a very blanket reason. I realize that's a big generalization, but like those are just the thoughts that come into my head based on personal experiences with my own family.

SPEAKER_02 29:18

Yeah, I hadn't really thought about the mental health aspect. Um, one of the things that came to mind is that the original survey in 2015, and then now this survey, you know, a decade later, in that time, we've had a bunch of states legalize marijuana. I didn't even think of that. I I didn't smoke weed. Like as a teenager, I maybe did it a few times, but to me, it was kind of like I the consequences are not worth getting high for a day or whatever.

SPEAKER_04 29:54

Well, yeah. And I worked in uh emergency services for 10 years. Even when it became legal, I wasn't allowed to. I wouldn't have gotten a job. And so it was still this very like foreign concept to me. And I had done it a couple kind of times in like high school and college, and I just didn't, I was like, um, way too anxious for this.

SPEAKER_02 30:14

Uh and you're like, I'm doing something so illegal. Whereas like drinking was still kind of socially acceptable. Like you're you could get it like from your parents, like you know, you could get into their stash, or like there was so much more access to it. Whereas like weed would get you into so much more trouble.

SPEAKER_04 30:31

Not only was it more socially acceptable, it was socially encouraged. Yes. Like you're like for the longest time, you're weird if you don't drink. Yeah. I like I've experienced that far more than uh having a drink with people.

SPEAKER_02 30:48

Yeah. And I think there's that that that's a shift that's that's coming.

SPEAKER_04 30:52

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 30:53

Or or has has happened is that when somebody says, Oh, I don't drink, it's not like, oh, they clearly have a problem. That's the only reason that you wouldn't drink. And it's like, no, there's a lot of people that are just like, no, I could take it or take it or leave it. Um, but I think that I think that weed becoming legal in a lot of states. And then also the um there was like the hemp bill a few years ago that happened that allowed um THC that's derived from hemp as long as it's below a certain percentage. But there were ways for people, even in states where weed was not legal, that they could get THC um through the Delta eight and delta nine. And oh, that's right. And that's a thing that might be going away, but I think that weed becoming legal has played a big shift in this that we maybe don't we don't realize.

SPEAKER_04 31:56

No, I didn't even think of that. And that's I think it's probably true.

SPEAKER_02 32:01

Yeah, because I know for me personally, if weed hadn't become legal, I probably never would have started using it or try or tried it. Same. Because number one, I can go to the store and I can buy it and I know exactly what I'm getting. There's, you know, dosage and you know, it's in a package and I can portion it out. And you when you buy something from like a drug dealer, like, why the hell would I trust this drug dealer?

SPEAKER_04 32:30

And I'm too anxious to do something like that, anyways. Like, I would have done it in social situations. Like, I'm not gonna pretend that I was smart enough to be like, I'm gonna think about everything that's going into my body, because I wasn't. I was more concerned about peer pressure. And so I like done it if my boyfriend gave it to me or something, but like, no, as I got older, I didn't start regularly smoking weed until I was like, what, 33, 34? And it and it was because my sleep schedule was so fucked up from working nights and I was consistently working nights and trying to manage a social life with people who don't work nights or weekends. And so I was killing myself and I needed help sleeping. And somebody gave me an edible, and I was like, Am I gonna get in trouble for this? Uh but it was like magic. I was like, oh my God, I haven't slept like that in years, and I very quickly was taking it every day, and then I uh left the law enforcement field and was no longer like worried about getting in trouble and was just like, oh, I can do whatever I want. And so I started smoking regularly and also taking edibles, and I was doing it every day. Uh, but but to your point, I was coming home and smoking weed like most people would come home and have a drink.

SPEAKER_02 33:57

Yeah, so I I think there's that you're repl you're kind of replacing one thing with another that's maybe a little less harmful, but still may not have like I definitely think that marijuana has more benefits than alcohol, but it can still be something that isn't good for you.

SPEAKER_04 34:19

Yeah, I was gonna say it's still addictive, it's still a drug, and it still alters your brain chemistry, and you still have to think about everything you put into your body, you know. I was trying to make a genuine effort to understand my brain and my body and how everything plays together. And so that meant starting from scratch. And yeah, but do I miss coming home and smoking weed every day? Every day. I miss it every day.

SPEAKER_02 34:48

Yeah, I had a friend for a while. Like we would get together, and that's that's what we did. It's like we would smoke joint and you know, watch a documentary, yeah, or find competition. Yeah, and then and I would just eat and gorge myself, and so it's like, okay, you can't that that was another thing. Yeah, like that's not a good, that's not good for you.

SPEAKER_04 35:12

That's that's unproductive. In those moments, I do think it has benefits. Like I miss being able to relax that way because I am naturally high strung and I do like I have a stressful job and life is stressful in general. And yeah, I it was a nice way to unwind, but it's like uncontrollable in the amount of not just the amount of food I want to eat, the type of food I want to eat. I'm not over here gorging myself on carrots.

SPEAKER_02 35:45

It's like I'm so high right now, I just want some baby carrots.

SPEAKER_04 35:49

And shit, there are some times where I've like something sounded so good, and I ate myself to the point of being so fucking sick. Yeah. And and it it there was actually a time where I was like, oh, this it is proving to me the effect that weed has on that. Is like I was so full I was uncomfortable, but thinking about something that sounded good to eat, I still wanted to eat it. Yeah. Which is crazy.

SPEAKER_02 36:17

That appetite stimulation is real. Like, do I want to eat a whole a whole box of crumble? Yeah, I do.

SPEAKER_04 36:26

Am I gonna feel good about it later?

SPEAKER_01 36:28

No.

SPEAKER_02 36:30

No. So it's like a hangover from alcohol or a hangover from all the shit that I ate. There there have been times where I've been very conscientious and have a little more self-control. And it's like, okay, like I'm just gonna like do some yoga, do some meditation, like relax. And then there are other times where I'm like, oh my god, let's order everything.

SPEAKER_04 36:55

So taco bell. Oh, ooh. Give me a Mexican pizza right now. No?

SPEAKER_01 37:02

Yeah, no.

SPEAKER_04 37:03

So I'm kind of hungry now.

SPEAKER_02 37:04

I'm not gonna lie. It's like lunchtime. Um, yeah, so I just thought that that was like such an interesting thing. But I do want to point this out that nicotine use is up with Gen Z.

SPEAKER_04 37:21

Oh. Fucking vape pens and zins are everywhere because it's like, because I do feel like there is a slight factor, slight health factor. People are, I think, more conscious of what they put in their body nowadays, especially younger generations. But it was the cigarettes that are killing you because of all the other shit that's in there. Uh, but I don't know that I mean, I've never used nicotine, so I can't say anything.

SPEAKER_02 37:49

That's because we were kind of that generation where like the public health initiatives to get people to not smoke were were huge. And that was a huge cultural shift because you smoked on planes, you smoked in restaurants, people smoked in the doctor's office at school.

SPEAKER_04 38:06

Like my grandma smoked from the age of 16 to the age of 70 something. But also, I had to watch both her and my paternal grandpa die of lung-related diseases due to smoking. And so, like, I also had that, like, my grandma died of COPD and my grandpa died of emphysema. And like from a young age, my grandpa was like, Y'all will never, he's like, I I don't give a shit what you do, but I don't ever want to see you smoking. And it was just like, I don't it he didn't even have to convince me. Like, I didn't want to, it smelled bad. I never had the desire, and I'm so glad because I do like, no judgment on my friends, but like I have a lot of friends and relatives that like use the vape pens and the zins, man. Like it's going out of style and it they're so expensive. And oh really, so is weed, but yeah, it's it's pretty expensive. I don't know what a pack of cigarettes costs now, but um I think it's pretty outrageous from what it used to be. And I just I don't know. I don't like I see in social situations of like, oh, I have to make sure I bring my Zins with me, otherwise we're like stopping somewhere to get more. And I'm just like even with weed, I wouldn't have been like that. Like if I forgot it, like, oh well. But yeah.

SPEAKER_02 39:25

No, then well, nicotine is like super addictive, and and our generation was very much like no, no, and like nicotine patches were coming out, and people were really trying to quit smoking, and then smoking has been banned from from all these situations. And now, like I remember when I was in Europe a couple years ago, I was like, oh my god, there is so much smoking, and people are smoking.

SPEAKER_04 39:52

I thought the same thing.

SPEAKER_02 39:54

Everyone smokes in Europe still, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 39:57

And it was like, oh But it's all hand-rolled cigarettes. Oh, really? Yeah, everyone I saw had like the little hand-rolled cigarettes, like they had like bags of tobacco. Uh but I also think, I mean, they do this with weed pens too, but like who doesn't want to taste like strawberry banana or whatever it is that like all of the vape pens are flavored like now? Like cigarettes stink, I think, and are gross.

SPEAKER_02 40:23

It's horrible. Uh but yeah, I actually went to the weed store um this week and I literally bought a vape pen because it was so cute. I was like, I love the color. It says like tranquil on it, and I was like, oh my god, it's so cute. Um, but I remember last year I pulled up in front of like a smoke shop and I was gonna go into like the UPS store next door, and they had these like cute pink and like colored vapes, and I was like, oh my god, those are so cute. And I was like, why you don't use nick, like don't start that.

SPEAKER_04 41:01

Um they're marketed to children.

SPEAKER_02 41:03

Yeah, like that's basically like cute.

SPEAKER_04 41:05

Yeah. It's like, oh, but I need that because it's pretty. Like it's adorable. Ooh, shiny. Ooh, piece of candy. Yeah, I'm that's some that's a habit I'm glad I never picked up was nicotine.

SPEAKER_01 41:20

But me too.

SPEAKER_02 41:22

Yeah, I uh uh so yeah, I just I think that's such an interesting cultural shift, and I wanted to hear what your what your perspective was on that, but then also um share these kind of really interesting insights. And I'm I'm very curious how Gen Alpha and and Gen Beta are gonna treat alcohol and weed, especially now that it's been declassified as a schedule whatever to a schedule less drug. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 41:59

Mm-hmm. I should know the answer that I don't, but I know what you're talking about. Um yeah, I'm not I am not anti-alcohol by any means, nor am I anti-weed. I'm I'm pro either way, but you know, just like anything. I think most of us have a problem with moderation, and that's where it goes wrong. So but like I don't want the option to not be there, but I do think it's cool that uh like mocktail bars or like uh I think I saw an article recently because I I pay attention to stuff in San Diego now. Uh San Diego's opening like an NA brewery. To me, that doesn't make any sense. I I get it, but knowing more than one person who loves beer, uh I get the motivation. Like if you genuinely like the flavor of beer. And there are certain situations that I do. Um I think my problem with beer is how full and bloated it makes me feel. It's like eating liquid bread. It is, but like I have such a hard time, especially having a meal and then having one. Like, I like beer, but I don't want to feel gross for the rest of the night. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 43:19

I don't I like cider, which I think is good, but like again, I have to pee every, you know, five minutes and it's just like whatever. Yeah. I can take easily back. That was a great topic choice. I love that. Thank thank you. I thought it was I thought it was interesting and having that thought of like, would I really care if I never had another drink? And I'm sure that if if the if it was prohibited and you you couldn't, I'd be like, what the fuck? Like the option's not there, it you want it more. Like that right. I think I would miss to happen. I would miss wine.

SPEAKER_04 43:57

I I would too.

SPEAKER_02 43:58

I've I really enjoy a glass of red wine. Yeah, but I wouldn't like if they were like no more hard liquor, it'd be like, oh, okay. Like Yeah. I think I could do without hard liquor too. But and but yeah. Yeah. So that was it. That's all I've that's all I've got for you. So great. What a way to send us into the weekend and to a girls' night. Yes. I hope that you oh yeah I'll see you later tonight. Yeah. Um okay well on that note I think this is a good reminder that mildly thriving is thriving enough. Maybe we got it. I don't know. I don't find out I don't know anymore but yeah.

SPEAKER_04 44:36

I don't know.

SPEAKER_02 44:38

All right that's it all right bye bye