Goldilocks and the Three Liars

About eighteen months before I ditched the Witch and became the Bitch, I suffered with a bout of vertigo.
The main symptom of vertigo, is a horrible unbalanced feeling, even when you're sober.
The first time I experienced this, it was possible that I was still drunk from the night before, so when I swayed and had to catch onto the bathroom sink to stop me falling over when I got up to pee in the middle of the night, I just mentally filed the experience away, and didn't mention it to anyone.
The next time was first thing in the morning, and it was a rare morning after an alcohol free day.
When I was walking down the hallway, I staggered, and my husband thought I was having a stroke.

One visit to the doctors, and he diagnosed vertigo.

During the consultation, he asked me that question..

How much do you drink?

Without even blinking I answered

Oh I have a couple of glasses of wine, about four times a week

Poppycock! ( I have waited a long time to use that word)

Of course I lied. I lied to my doctor, my friends, my co-workers, myself  about how much I was drinking.

But here's the weird thing. I lied because I was embarrassed about how much I was drinking, and because I was in denial.

And there is a stigma associated with drinking too much and having a "problem".
As we all know.

NOW, I lie about NOT drinking.

Oh I've given up because I get so much heartburn/ I'm on a diet/ doing a challenge for charity/insert your own excuse here

OR, I surreptitiously drink AF beer or wine, so that no -one notices. (A kind of lying, I think)

And the reason I am lying?

Because there is a stigma associated with NOT drinking!

It's like the three bears :

One Bear Drank FAR TOO MUCH!
One Bear Drank NOTHING AT ALL!

And the last Bear Drank "JUST THE RIGHT AMOUNT!!

Except the last Bear is a BIG HAIRY LIAR!!

Just food (porridge) for thought xx