51–60 of 290 posts
there are far better and stronger drugs you can do alone for introspection. a night by yourself on shrooms could change you more than 100 nights drinking alone, without the hangover or liver damage
I agree with everything in this article. Drinking alone is the best, particularly if you like to write while listening to music. The flights of fancy I used to go on! I wish I could still do it, but I found myself waiting for the liquor store to open up at 7:00 am to get rid of the shakes. Then when I tried to stop I couldn't. Long story short, after several rehabs, more stints in mental health lockup than I care to…
I have very strict rules I follow for alcohol consumption, if for no other reason than I'm the son of a man who was a functioning alcoholic for most of his life. I've read the big book, and consider it a source of wisdom, even if I perhaps don't follow all of the tenants contained within. The serenity prayer, which is AA adjacent if not (now) directly part of the AA wisdom is my personal lodestar, it's great wisdom o…
How some people can function while drinking every night is beyond my comprehension.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think being a loner is generally seen as unusual though isn't it? I enjoy drinking alone, exercising alone, traveling alone, sitting alone, working alone. I don't really think I'm that weird by objective standards, there are also things I like doing with people (I'm married and have a family), but as a sometimes introvert, I definitely value time alone, including relaxing with a beer. Related, when I went to univer…
No one shuns reading alone, listening to music alone, or watching a movie alone. Drinking alone is more dangerous than drinking with friends.
This wasn't always the case (before the Sony Walkman introduction in 1979):
"The idea that a person could listen to music on his own was strange and novel. In Capturing Sound: How Technology Has Changed Music, Mark Katz mentions that in 1923, Orlo Williams compared someone listening to recorded music alone to “sniffing cocaine, emptying a bottle of whisky, or plaiting straws in his hair” (Katz, 20). This was an obvious exaggeration, but he emphasized the strangeness that society associated with solitary listening"
https://walkmanproject.wordpress.com/communal-vs-individual/
Earlier quoted context omitted.
How? I was in cinema alone and no one cared. No one said a word to me.
Not the person you replied to, but a great example is my now-wife. When we had started dating over a decade ago, she thought I was nuts for going to see a movie by myself while I waited for her to finish her shift at work nearby. She genuinely couldn't believe I was doing that and thought I was weird for it. Obviously things worked out, but yeah.
I’ve even caught myself looking at someone by themselves and wondering with some level of suspicion “what/why are they out here” despite me doing the same myself.
This is poetic, but if you break it down into a syllogism, it's clear that this is totally stupid. Removing the flowery language, here are the claims and supporting arguments, along with my rebuttals. * Drinking alone helps you understand yourself better. - No it doesn't. It distracts you from that endeavor. If you sit at a table with no TV or phone and do nothing, you will have a significantly more interesting and h…
This magazine or blog or whatever seems to either be an elaborate joke or bait or something: >Are you guys for real? >Yes. While there is some satire involved, we believe to the very core of our >souls every word we write. >Who are you? >We are a group of functional alcoholics based primarily in Denver, CO. Included in our ranks are published novelists, filmmakers, English gentlemen, barflies, punk rock musicians, co…
Whenever I drink, I do it alone, and it's because I don't have much else to do. I'd rather be doing something else, but Covid has made the area I live in insufferably boring.
This is poetic, but if you break it down into a syllogism, it's clear that this is totally stupid. Removing the flowery language, here are the claims and supporting arguments, along with my rebuttals. * Drinking alone helps you understand yourself better. - No it doesn't. It distracts you from that endeavor. If you sit at a table with no TV or phone and do nothing, you will have a significantly more interesting and h…
Instead of drinking, all of these can be accomplished by taking a “spiritual retreat” for a weekend. It could be a trip into the woods, a religious retreat with other people, or a stay at a quiet hotel far from home. I’ve done all three. When I have to make the long drive to my parents for a mandatory family get together, I’ll book a hotel halfway to take time for myself. The idea is to get away from your normal envi…
The article jumps a bit fast from “drinking” and “getting drunk”, when there’s a line there that some of us try to not cross, social situations included. Otherwise yes, drinking alone, just like eating alone can be wildly enjoyable. I’d also warmly recommend to people who can do it to get mildly drunk once in a while (every year or two?). Do it with a trusting partner who stays clear, and check where’s the line and h…
Rather, I see people who normalize alcohol consumption on a pretty regular scale (2-3 times per week, each day per week, each weekend etc.) and of those, quite a few have a chance to increase their consumption to full on alcoholism IF there isn't some other reasonable constraint. Only drinking socially is such a constraint.
I have seen too many people who say: "I am fine to have a shot of this, or a glas of that" when in reality they drink a lot more than that.
Edit: That being said, the Hunter S. Thompson full on alcoholism lifestyle is a valid choice. Not everyone needs to be healthy and have a long, productive life or whatever. Some sort of nihilistic, self-destructive Zen philosophy can also be a net positive for the world, especially in the arts. I just personally think it's a choice that leads to a painful, sad and miserable end. The problem is - who really chooses this conciously? As long the author uses flowery language instead of just saying it's alcoholism as a lifestyle, I think something is amiss.
We are supposed to perform and add value to the world. Not become mystics and monks. That's the Zeitgeist slave's mentality. Doing unhinged introspection with the help of booze or other drugs is frowned upon as you you will realise that are not living for others but yourself on our shared pale blue dot in your personal short glimpse of experienced history and reality.