Straight from the pen: Jeroen

Another week gone, the weekend reached. I sincerely hope you are all doing well. This year, the idea that we have to bridge a certain period of time, even survive, is of course stronger than ever. These last weeks we have been challenged on several fronts. In your work, in relationships and friendships, in sports and social areas, even in everyday life. And so the '40 days without a drop' challenge also gets a significant additional handicap. At least, so it seems. I am – right now – very happy that I participate in this and started before that virus broke out. Everyone has to pay a lot of attention to their health right now. It helps enormously that you can sleep well, have a clear mind and that your condition is slightly better. Teasing your body and brain with alcohol is therefore a very bad idea these days. Therefore, do not see the crisis we are in, also the worries about it and the boredom and the like, as a reason to give up and start drinking again. See it as double motivation not to do that! We can make good use of the extra energy that fitting gives us.

If anything positive comes out of this weird and scary period, I personally think it's the great creativity of many people and organizations. The schools that provide our children with the best possible learning material and assignments, so that they can continue to develop at home. People who, in consultation with their employer, create a workplace at home, transfer communication resources in order to still tackle a few things. Grandfathers and grandmothers learning to skype, in order to catch up with their children and grandchildren. From the gym of which I am a member, instructional videos are put on the internet, to keep a little fit. Help networks are being set up, you name it. Many overcome an ingenuity they never knew they had! Everyone is looking for alternatives.

And that brings me back to us, dear IkPassers. Because before February 26 you were used to pouring a glass of tasty wine or beer at home in the evening, you could hit it quite a bit during the weekend and you never turned down one at parties. But now that we no longer drink, we also have to look for alternatives. Perhaps you have found it by now – or for a long time. I'm not quite sure myself yet. I've never really liked soft drinks, juices are for juices and many malt beers make you windy. Now there is a lot going on in the consumer world, and that is nice to notice. Indeed, producers are also regularly, some constantly, looking for alternatives. Other fuels, medicines, meat substitutes. My daughter is a vegetarian and we regularly eat vegetarian meals with her at home. There is more and more choice in the supermarkets and a lot of 'fake meat' is very good to eat. We recently ate a vegetarian sausage sandwich, which was almost indistinguishable from the real thing.

I also find the development of non-alcoholic beers promising. Years ago, instead of being a pilsner, I became a beer lover. I am (was) crazy about specialty beers, often the heavier the better. Besides the fact that some alcohol-free pilsners are becoming more and more tasty, there is now also a small number of 0.0 specialty beers available. It's not quite great yet, I like to eat some chips with it, but on a Friday evening at home it is very good to drink. It was also recently noted in the IkPas newsletter and I've heard about it before, but it would be somewhat difficult to recommend alcohol-free wine and 0.0 beer. Because it reminds people of the variants with alcohol and that would give your brain the same impulses, I understood. I then think: but without the unhealthy side effects; Then what is the problem?! But I'll leave it at that, I really appreciate all the efforts of the brewers to make a tasty 0.0. I think this search for alternatives is a wonderful development.

Good luck with the last two weeks of our challenge and we wish you all the strength for everything else. Take good care of yourself and where possible, responsible for others. Stay healthy and optimistic and consider each other more than ever.

Good weekend,

Jeroen