Liminal Thinking

Take a moment and jot down all of the things you think about alcohol. The place it has in your life, in society, in celebrations, in stress relief, etc. Think about what alcohol is “supposed” to do for us, how we’re “supposed” to manage it, all the things that media and marketing and our life experiences have told us about alcohol.

It’s possible that you may have written down things like:

• Drinking makes social events fun

• Fancy cocktails are glamorous

• People should “drink responsibly”

• Everyone drinks

• There’s something wrong with people who can’t control alcohol

You may also have written down some negative things about the way alcohol shows up in your own life. These experiences may feel at odds with the way we’ve been taught to think about alcohol; something cool, relaxing, glamorous, and fun. When we practice liminal thinking, we begin to consider that perhaps our lived experiences are the actual truth about alcohol, instead of the narrative that society has taught us. Or we open ourselves up to the idea that alcohol is technically a drug, a neurotoxin, a carcinogen. Or we shift our thinking from “I can’t drink alcohol” to “I don’t have to drink alcohol.”