As if anyone actually cared, right? Well, I'm gonna tell you anyway. It might surprise you because there is this untrue and unfair stigma surrounding the country folk that I lovingly refer to as rednecks as being backwoods or backwards. There is also an unfair characterization that we are all a bunch of drunks that take out our problems on our wives or girlfriends by beating them. I wouldn't say that domestic violence is any more common with redneck couples than it is with any other segment of society. If I had to guess I would say that the very tight family unit actually ensures that this happens significantly less in the redneck community than others. I don't know anyone that has had these problems and most of the people I know and hang out with are pretty damn red.
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We do get stressed with our lives though and often for the same reasons that anyone else would. Our jobs, our relationships, our kids, our friends. Lots of things. I believe that we deal with this stress a bit differently than other people do though and I think our ways are actually pretty good.
One thing that I do to unwind with my friends is to go fishing. We do this about once a month, sometimes more often. Me and the boys all have traditional jobs in a M-F sense, and there are some fishing holes quite near our town since we are right on the sound that leads to the Atlantic. Me personally, I prefer fresh-water fishing but my buddies tend to enjoy deep water fishing. Thankfully, since I have the largest truck I normally get to dictate where we are going. We tend to go to the nearby lake where we will not be hassled about having permits and if we are feeling really lazy and just want to get on with it, we don't even bring a boat with us. Fishing on the shore of the ocean is a pain in the ass as you are almost always bottom dragging and losing your bait, so this is one more reason why I tend to enjoy the lake where we can use "bobbers" as well. Plus we don't have to worry about accidentally hooking a child who is swimming.
Another way that we deal with stress is that we meet at the Elks Lodge almost every night around 530pm. We don't get drunk, but we just have 2-4 beers and then everyone heads out. During that time we do like most people do and gripe about our coworkers and my friends who have children will tell us how little Jimmy is screwing around at school and other such nonsense. It's a real load off my mind and is a major part of my mental health maintenance.
Not long ago I had a borderline drinking problem and it was kind of ruining my days because of frequent hangovers. Therefore I will cut myself off before a 6 pack is consumed almost without fail. This is another untrue misconception about rednecks in that it is widely believed that we all have massive drinking problems. This couldn't be further from the truth. We do know a guy here and there that is always drunk but honestly, we don't really tend to get along with people like that and we think they are screwups because they are. Rednecks might not dress all fancy but we are relatively normal people who just happen to like the outdoors and guns more than city folk do.
Now here is where the redneck in me will be exposed for what people tend to think of us. I don't really do much else to de-stress. I have never been to a therapist because the boys at the bar are my therapy. I have never been on antidepressants or anything like that because we tend to look after one another and the other good ol' boys are truly there for you if something is bothering you. I've been on both sides of this spectrum and am very appreciative of the company that I keep. I think that having quality, not necessarily quantity, of friends, is one of the most important things in life and I really don't know how I would get by if it weren't for my pals down at the Elks.
If you have a chance to join an Elks Lodge I highly suggest you investigate it. It is a private club that you can only get into if you are invited by an existing member, but for the most part we are quite welcoming and rarely reject anyone. When you do join you have access to all Elks Lodge locations in the world, and there are quite a few of them!