Half bottles! I love having halves of champagne for just that reason.
I’m about 15 years into building a deep cellar of the wines I most like to drink and while I might sometimes temporarily grow tired of a particular variety or region, I never get fatigued with wine in general. And while I like beer and cocktails, there is always a wine I would rather drink. If I were buying off the shelf, or restricted to restaurant lists or bar pours, I would feel differently. But having lots of different wines in the styles I like, wine is always my first choice.
True Dat, if you are sitting behind a keyboard and monitor in the air conditioning. Very insensitive of you considering the catastrophic circumstances. I expect more out of you left coasters.
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Robert, you seem to recognize what is going on. Forget the wine issue - its symptomatic. I would like to give you some pretty good advice that I read recently about such circumstances. I’ll quote: “Things are going to take time so maybe just take a month away from wine. I think most of us are feeling some version of PTSD and the depression is real. This is along time to be unmoored from normality. We cant fast forward things we have no control of so deep breaths and give yourself time and permission to heal”
Let yourself work through it. Seek out more help if needed.
Best.
-Jim
I have the opposite issue. Not having much fun or enjoyment from anything else right now, and having more time when I would describe myself as bored at best (and mildly depressed at worst), I find myself more frequently turning to two consistent sources of pleasure…Music and wine…It may well be that my enjoyment of wine is somewhat diminished in this environment, but it certainly beats the “joy” of searching in vain for anything new and worthwhile to watch on Neflix or Amazon Prime…It’s far too easy to “accidentally” consume an entire bottle of wine in an evening right now, when my goal is always to limit myself to half a bottle…
I think I am feeling generally anhedonic these days…we are in the same club, Robert!
(Edited to remove my whining.)
say no more!
Robert, I’m glad you took some time to be outside. Hiking / trail running has been medicine for me over the past few months. I hope it provides some pleasure and relief.
I hear you. My consumption was up quite a bit early in quarantine, but I’ve since scaled back. It was too much of a good thing. Video games, which I hadn’t played in years, have picked up the entertainment slack.
Maybe get a physical exam? It seems strange that wine is not having an effect.
Robert, hang in there. This is a shitty time in some respects, based on a # of things popping around us that I am not happy about either. I’ve had my days too recently but being outside, as I was today to play a round of golf with another Berserkers, it does help. Break away from the news for a bit, find an outlet like you did by getting out, and then see how you feel. If you need a friendly voice man, PM me. I went through some tough depression in my past, I’m happy to lend you an ear, brother.
Sometimes I feel like this, but then I think of the hardships endured by 90% of the world, or how people lived 100, 200, 300 years ago, the Dark Ages, and Roman times and quickly I start feeling like I’m pretty damn lucky!
Good idea with the hiking. I think hiking can be some of the best medicine (unless you’re trying to treat bad knees)! This time of the year, there might not be anything better than spending a few days in the high Sierras in in/around Yosemite or SEKI (where’s it’s not too hot) to get away from the noise and really refresh the soul
Thanks everyone for the kind words of encouragement and those sharing their struggles. As a retired mental health nurse, I understand the difference between clinical and situational depression. I just needed to express it out loud. It is legitimate to be un-nerved by the state of things but I also have to acknowledge that my bumming about a glass of wine is a first world problem indeed.
I just miss being social and wine is a large part of my social interactions.
Anton, This is my whining. Thanks for sharing yours, however briefly. Sometimes we just need to let the pressure release…
Very glad hear you got out in nature. More hiking. If you feel you need to let the suffering out, Nature is the best listener.
You have said that you spent 40 years working in mental health and so you should know this better than I do - seek out help.
Times are often really bad. In the last 100 years, we have had World War I, the Spanish Flu, the Great Depression, WWII, Korea, the Bomb, the McCarthy hearings, Vietnam, the Oil Crisis and accompanying recession and inflation from about 1974-1983, 9/11, the Great Recession and now this.
At the same time, we have found antibiotics, vaccines for many illnesses, the end of Hitler, the post-WWII boom, the technology boom, increased rights for minorities and women, longer life spans, greater ability to travel and communicate with people all over the world and, most importantly, better and better farming practices and winemaking in Burgundy. In the year 1900, there was democracy in the US, the UK and some former UK colonies and a few other countries. Through fits and starts, by today there are a lot more democracies now than there were then. Although it won’t be smooth and there will be ups and downs, I firmly believe that by the year 2100, there will be more democracies than there are now, fewer people living in extreme poverty, etc.
My guess is that the ultimate outcome of Covid-19 will be a much greater understanding of viruses and treating them. For example, see Science | AAAS The technologies being developed to fight Covid-19 will lead to other drugs and vaccines for other types of medical advances to treat many other viruses over time. Over time, if better treatment of just people with the flu could reduce deaths from the flu 2022-2023 U.S. Flu Season: Preliminary In-Season Burden Estimates | CDC , maybe we will save more lives long-term than we are losing in this horrible year. My guess is that we will have another 6 months to a year of what we are going through and then, if we act to minimize damage now, we will have a new economic boom as people who are still earning money start spending it - there is a lot of pent-up demand out there. For now, wear a mask and socially distance to get through this. And, maybe a good Burgundy is just what you need to get out of your funk.
Good luck to you and I hope that you get help.
Sometimes venting/talking is one of the best medicines.
A good whine might not take the place of a good wine but occasionally it’s exactly what you need.
Sorry to hear that Robert, and I hope you’re able to work through it soon. I’ve been through it. Multiple times. The first couple I didn’t know what it was.
Then one day I realised that I wasn’t getting joy from anything. Not wine, or anything else. That’s when I knew something was wrong.
Now I know some of the warming signs and I can see it coming. And with wine in particular I don’t push it. If it’s not bringing me pleasure I’m as well off dumping it down the drain.
Robert, even though I have given you my encouragement above, I’ll add a specific suggestion that works for me. Physical activity! If you are able, doing some type of physical activity for a period of time to bring some level of fatigue can work wonders. It can be, but does not have to be, “exercise” like jogging, bike riding, exercise machines, etc; it can be working in your yard, gardening, repainting a room, going for a brisk long walk through a park, etc. Sometimes inertia gets pretty heavy when you feel down, but once you start you are on your way. FWIW.
Some simple meditation practice can do wonders as well.