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Ask HN: How did you stop drinking?

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Re: Ask HN: How did you stop drinking?

#191

Post by voxelghost »

serial_dev wrote: post #141

It is not the same, but I quit smoking recently. Some things that worked for me: * Find the reasons why you started this bad habit: I was a lockdown smoker: the best part of the day during the lockdowns for me was when I went out to our balcony with my wife and we had a coke and cigarette. What is the reason why you enjoy drinking? Can you get similar results without drinking? My wife and I started going for a walk w…

For quitting smoking your last three points are the ones I identified as critical to success as well. In addition one more:

* A mindset of , yeah you want a smoke right now - that's fine but you can probably wait another 10 minutes right? Then 10 minutes later, if you could go 10, you can probably go another 20? And hopefully you'd find something else to occupy yourself with by then.

Re: Ask HN: How did you stop drinking?

#192

Post by pfortuny »

throwaway2037 wrote: post #132
pfortuny wrote: post #130

Sometimes you just need to impose your point of view. It will feel wrong the first time but thence, people will let you do as you please. Just try. If they do not accept you, they are not worth the company. "No, I am not drinking any more tonight. Really, no. I am leaving, because I want to feel OK tomorrow." Sad, angry faces, whatever. If they do not respect you, they are not worth it.

Re: "not worth the company": I like this comment. Yes, depending upon your culture and social group, peer pressure is brutally hard to resist.

The first time I did this there were angry faces and comments. However, thise people do respect me and at the same time, who really holds a grudge about something that happened under the influence? They remember very little.

EDIT: sonlong as you do not try to IMPOSE your ethics on them.

Re: Ask HN: How did you stop drinking?

#193

Post by zachrip »

wfrew wrote: post #75
SkyPuncher wrote: post #59

I've cut back by switching to non-alcohol beer. I've found that I enjoy the taste of beer, but I don't enjoy how shitty alcohol makes me feel. NA beer tends to solve that for me. Lots of good options coming out. * Just the Hazy by Sam Adams is top tier. * Athletic brewing is solely NA beer - lots of different varieties. * Heineken 0.0 is great * O'Douls amber is surprisingly passable as well I suspect the options wil…

Seconded! I'd also add that NA beer also tricks my brain into not feeling awkward when I'm at a bar with friends who're all drinking. Have also noticed that some NA beers make me feel elements of what I previously attributed to being hungover.

What elements are you referring to? Just curious. Maybe it's a calorie thing?

Re: Ask HN: How did you stop drinking?

#194

Post by jiggywiggy »

marginalia_nu wrote: post #149

I've found it easy to stop a great deal of such behaviors by examining not what they promise to deliver, but what they actually brought. I.e. don't look forward, look backward when making decisions. Alcohol promises a great time. Alcohol delivers a hangover and regrets. Junk food promises a great time. Junk food delivers poor health and regrets. Going to the gym promises hardship and struggle. It delivers health. I'v…

I agree overall it's great advice.

But it's also very boring.

And maybe not everyone needs it, but letting go, breaking your own & other moral rules, at times can be a very benificial thing.

Re: Ask HN: How did you stop drinking?

#196

Post by johncoltrane »

I blacked out at a party when I was 18. The morning after, I had no recollection whatsoever about half of the evening despite my friends telling me how funny I had been and all. That momentary loss of time and control scared the shit out of me, enough to make me stop right there and then. That was thirty years ago. Thirty years without a lapse.

Re: Ask HN: How did you stop drinking?

#197

Post by j_crick »

cassonmars wrote: post #91

I used to put away a liter of vodka a night. I kept it up for years, accumulating a solid decade of heavy drinking. I was miserable. It was souring my relationship. The stress from work, personal life, and declining mental state of course made me feel even more compelled to drink. I was becoming a shell of my former self, and my dreams were becoming strictly that. I had a confluence of events that changed my course:…

How often did you drink a liter of vodka a night?

Re: Ask HN: How did you stop drinking?

#198

Post by vl »

SkyPuncher wrote: post #59

I've cut back by switching to non-alcohol beer. I've found that I enjoy the taste of beer, but I don't enjoy how shitty alcohol makes me feel. NA beer tends to solve that for me. Lots of good options coming out. * Just the Hazy by Sam Adams is top tier. * Athletic brewing is solely NA beer - lots of different varieties. * Heineken 0.0 is great * O'Douls amber is surprisingly passable as well I suspect the options wil…

+1 for NA beers, I’m drinking them instead of real ones since the beginning of pandemic.

In last couple years NA beers really got way better than they used to be.

Guinness NA is great. Heineken 0 is great. Clausthaler Grapefruit is great.

Re: Ask HN: How did you stop drinking?

#199

Post by khazhoux »

tonfreed wrote: post #82

I still enjoy a tipple every so often, but I found going to the gym really helped me cut my alcohol consumption down to nearly zero. Knowing that my weightlifting will be impacted if I drink is a very strong deterrent.

Similar. Now, I've only ever been an extremely light drinker, but earlier this year I simultaneously:

* Dropped drinking down to near-zero

* Started working out, with a no-excuse policy (b/c I know I will backslide if I skip a gym session)

* Cut out ice cream, cheese, most treats. This one hurts, but eating fatty foods works against the time and pain I'm putting in at the gym.

* Stopped gaming (tendonitis)

I found it was much easier to make all these changes together, than in the past when I try to just fix one axis by itself.

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