311–320 of 600 posts
> how to get out of just hating yourself when you fail?
Realise that failure is part of a process, completely normal, to be expected, and is not a character trait or a state of being (let alone an unrecoverable state).
One drink; one water is also a great way to drink. It'll slow your consumption and keep you hydrated.
All else fails, my grandfather's advice: pick two liquors you dislike the taste of and drink those, you'll never get drunk (because you dislike them).
My hack for stopping (after yet another bender) was turning it into an identity for myself: I am now a person who doesn't drink alcohol. I think creating identities for yourself in this way is effective for many habits.
I wrote about why I chose to quit in 2020: https://whatshouldyoueat.com/2020/03/15/quit-alcohol/
and how it felt after a year of no drinking in 2021: https://whatshouldyoueat.com/2021/02/28/a-year-sans-alcohol/
good luck
Everyone has different experiences, my path was admittedly much easier than many other people. I haven't had any alcohol in about 2 months. Prior I was consuming 1-3 drinks per week, almost exclusively beer, and almost never 3 drinks in a day. I got sick with COVID, found a podcast episode talking about the effects of alcohol and thought I'd give it a listen. [1] The long and short of it is that alcohol is harmful to…
> alcohol is harmful to a laundry list of biological processes I was told that there's no organ in the body that it isn't harmful to.
https://sites.duke.edu/apep/module-2-the-abcs-of-intoxicatio...
Earlier quoted context omitted.
>Alcohol promises a great time. Alcohol delivers a hangover and regrets. One beer? Also Alco often delivers crazy social interactions that may be very desired >Reading a book promises struggling and boredom. It delivers wisdom and inspiration. I've never once regretted it. I wish, a lot of books that ive read were mostly waste of time e.g dragon book
> One beer? Actually, yes. If you are someone who only drinks one beer, then your low tolerance means even that single drink will leave you leaving crummy afterwards. Not a full-on "oh dear god please don't mention eggs around me" crummy, but just groggy, headache-y, and so on. This is me. I only ever drank maybe a glass of wine or one beer every couple of months, and finally realized it was easier just dropping down…
Magic Mushrooms during an Amsterdam visit. I was drinking heavily, half a liter whiskey per evening every day for a few years. I also didnt think couldnt stop, the urge to drink, and the inability to stop once i started seemed to be just too strong. And that despite me despising how stupid i got while drunk. It really wasnt a fun addiction and realistically i was on my way to drink myself to death. After the trip the…
This is an interesting approach that seems to (finally) be getting more attention from a research perspective as well. When you mention mushrooms during an Amsterdam visit, it makes it sound like it was a one time experience. Is that correct? Have you been regularly taking mushrooms during that 4 year period? Or did you simply never need to drink after one mushroom dose? If it's the latter...that is truly remarkable…
But the alcohol was a one time thing, something just rewired. I never felt that effect subside. I already didnt like it but felt just stuck, in addition to the urge to drink. I had a sip during the afterglow and the idiocy of it was just blatantly obvious. Funnily enough that wasnt the intent for the trip. It was just a really amazing side effect.
I wish i could give a better explanation but it has been 4 years and my life moved on since then. Its not something i think about unless the topic comes up. But it was such an important fork in the road for me that i found it important to mention. See it as an +1 for anecdotal experience.
I also agree with the obvious potential, "How to change your mind" from Michael Pollan is a great book on the topic.
If you're at a BYO party, bring some silly drink you never had before. Never had orangina? bring some to the party. try that CBD seltzer, etc. there's dozens of kitch drinks in every corner store.
At home, stop restocking. work thru your liquor cabinet, even the stuff you don't normally drink.
lastly, find other substitutes. night on the couch, you want a beer? get into herbal teas. make a bag of popcorn. there's so many fun treats out there.
If you are offered a shot or other social situation, don't beat yourself up for saying yes. the goal isn't to be perfect it's to replace most situations with an alternative.
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…
When taking a new action (or new inaction), you can even feel worse before feeling better.
It's a good idea but the temporal component skews everything.
Habit formation, even if it's a new habit of not doing something, is something that's worked for me in the past.
Alcohol is a slow killer. Physical addiction takes about 10 years to form. First, it's barely noticeable. People think it's age, and "after 30 hangover lasts for 2 days". But that is not actually being hang over. It is the symptom of alcohol withdrawal. Mild one at first, but more severe as physical addiction settles in. Drinking 3-4 days a week seems like "okay". However, it basically means drinking whenever withdra…
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These symptoms can arise even when you drink just once a year.
I'll also add that a 12 pack over a weekend is a lot. A 12 pack would last me a month or more.
Something that personally annoys me is the constant push to put more and more alcohol in beer. I want to enjoy a good beer, but don't need 12 ounces with 8%+ alcohol. Because of that I mostly drink wine now because I can more easily control the pour. A 1/4 to 1/3 glass at dinner is enjoyable with few side effects, and a bottle can last ~week.