As someone writing about alcohol I am often asked to tell my own story. I find it very difficult to know how to respond.
It is not that I don’t have one. I do. I even wrote it down once. But it is never the right moment to tell it.
Lived experiences make a huge contribution to the discussion around alcohol, giving us the insider perspectives we need.
The openness of Labour MPs Jonathan Ashcroft, Liam Byrne and Caroline Flint has had an enormous positive impact.
At the same time adding one’s own tale into the mix can, in some circumstances, have significant drawbacks.
Not being the story
Journalists of all kinds typically avoid talking about themselves because it obscures the broader stories they try to tell.
We would hardly tolerate a political journalist book-ending each piece with an update on which way they were leaning.
Like them, I typically cover stories involving many thousands of other people, not just me. I am just a tiny drop in this ocean.
Alcohol is odd too. There is no perfect amount of personal experience of it that make us more credible when talking about it.
Too much and some will think we are probably shaped by it. Too little and they will wonder if we can possibly know the subject.
Suffice it to say, I hope, I am somewhere in the middle, like most people, neither unaffected nor the most affected.
Researching my book shed new light my experiences, making me see them afresh, and of myself as part of a vast continuum.
This motivates me to listen to other people, and try to explore the research with imagination, empathy and critical thought.
Striking a balance
Hearing stories and ideas beyond our own experiences is a vital part in assembling the jigsaw puzzle of alcohol understanding.
That said, we can also often have good reason to keep our own experiences to ourselves. And we have every right to.
We all share things in some circumstances and not others, and the same is true here. It is up to us.
It was a decision I agonised over. While I could see some positives, I could also see downsides. Would it add or subtract value?
I concluded that telling my own story comes second to uncovering and telling stories beyond myself.
Journalists are by no means the only ones with circumstances not always wholly suited to telling their own stories.
So, if there is a story I would tell about my own alcohol experience in the hope it helps others, it is this one. ■