What is Grey Area Drinking?

Grey Area Drinking was a term coined by Jolene Park, it describes drinkers who are somewhere between take it or leave it and rock bottom.

Being a Grey Area Drinker myself actually kept me stuck for a long time, I didn’t recognise myself as at rock bottom, or drinking in the morning, or drinking sprits and therefore didn’t have a problem, right? I was high functioning, working in a corporate leadership role, exercised several times a week, ate relatively well (unless hungover), I even practised yoga.

Although I might not have been struggling to those looking in, internally there was a big struggle going on. I’d silently berate myself for failing yet again to moderate. I’d set lots of rules around my drinking - I’ll only drink at weekends, 3 nights a week, only one glass per sitting. I’d stop drinking for several months but then take it back up again and somehow seemed to be worse than before.

It was all mentally pretty exhausting, confusing and a little lonely. It was a dark dirty secret I didn’t dare voice out loud.

If this resonates you are certainly not alone, you don’t have to hit a rock bottom to want to change your relationship with alcohol. It might be a little daunting at first but you will never hear anyone who has stopped drinking say they wish they’d never stopped - usually they’ll tell you they wish they’d done it sooner!