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The Zen of Drinking Alone

drunkard.com

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Re: The Zen of Drinking Alone

#231

Post by rzzzt »

watwut wrote: post #39
rzzzt wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Watching a movie alone in the comfort of your own home? I get that. Going to the cinema alone? Definitely shunned.

How? I was in cinema alone and no one cared. No one said a word to me.

Take a peek at sibling threads for some real-life examples.

Note that I was only reacting to the absolutes in the parent comment, not saying that I myself condemn people who go to the movies or do any "typical" group activity alone -- at the moment, I am also practicing the craft :)

Re: The Zen of Drinking Alone

#232

Post by ozfive »

bluedino wrote: post #197
donw wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What tools do you, or other HNers for that matter, have to share about breaking alcohol addiction? Especially covering the hard parts: what are the major hurdles to overcome?

I had a kid. So I just quit.

Congratulations! Whatever it takes to get off that wagon! Your child will thank you in old age for being around as a parent and not just dead.

Re: The Zen of Drinking Alone

#233

Post by weird-eye-issue »

warent wrote: post #187

For me the problem with drinking is that it amplifies all of who I am and not really any of who I want to be. I'm a happy kind person so it makes me happier and kinder which is fine, but then I'm also a very lazy person so it just turns me into the worst junk food eating couch potato. Not to mention the hangovers give me the worst anxiety, waking up in the middle of the night heart racing feeling like I'm on the brin…

The waking up in the middle of the night like that is a bit scary. Sounds like you are severely dehydrated

Re: The Zen of Drinking Alone

#234

Post by delusional »

kayodelycaon wrote: post #55
delusional wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

I’d just take them at their word they are functional alcoholics who formed a community around being alcoholics. If you think of it as a religion, maybe it makes more sense?

The "taking it back from the fascists" is just too much for me.

Re: The Zen of Drinking Alone

#235

Post by bambataa »

bourgoin wrote: post #203

My 2022 New Year's Resolution is to try out complete sobriety (caffeine excluded; this effectively means alcohol and cannabis). I've never considered myself to have a 'problem' with substances like some people I have known, but I sure have spent plenty of time in my life intoxicated alone. The resolution isn't an ambitious thing because I've been going this way for a while anyway. Over the years I've slowly come to a…

With weed, after I switched to vaping concentrate I found the experience much more empathetic. Like if I was watching something I would deeply feel whatever the characters were experiencing. Maybe it’s illusory but it does feel like I’m connecting to something quite deep. I haven’t really heard other people say that so I wonder if it’s common.

Re: The Zen of Drinking Alone

#236

Post by enaaem »

tempestn wrote: post #139
okareaman wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm trying to apply what I know to food and failing. Now is the first time I've tried dieting and I have a lot more respect for the degree of difficulty. You're right, the issue is very similar

I've hypothesized that a unique problem with unhealthy eating habits compared to other addictions is that you have to eat. I would think at least with something like alcohol or nicotine, what you need to do as an addict is fairly simple (which of course is different from easy). But you can't just cut out food entirely, so it's a much more complex issue trying to eat in a healthy manner. Especially since even being to…

One way to cut calories is to go fasting. Either you eat or you don’t eat all. It’s easier to control your urges compared to eating smaller meals.

Re: The Zen of Drinking Alone

#237

Post by krick »

It often happens with HN that I don't find particularly notable that some writings exist... of course there is somebody who would write pieces glorifying drinking alone, and I'm sure there are people who would truly believe in it. It's the fact that it's on HN and has 230+ upvotes that somehow makes this notable.

As I've said, it isn't surprising that it finds its audience, but this gets me thinking: if there was a similar poetic piece talking about "the Zen of taking heroin alone", would people be more inclined to see it as a satire or would they be more inclined to find some deep wisdom in it precisely because it's a bit more unusual and less romanticized than alcohol? Would it gather more upvotes?

And, well, I won't be seriously discussing the topic (it seems a bit silly to me), but since I've made the comparison: yes, I do totally think these are more or less equivalent things.

Re: The Zen of Drinking Alone

#238

Post by nefitty »

rainonmoon wrote: post #223
nefitty wrote: post #179

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was sort of forced out of that identity by COVID lockdown and domestic imperatives. I used to be proud of how many cans I could pound in a session before I got kicked out of a bar. Now, if I or anyone else do that, it's a huge pain in the ass. I still don't trust people that have never been drunks, though. There's something about the forceful rejection of social norms involved in becoming an alcoholic that I find r…

Drinking is so normative that not drinking became the punk ethos via the hardcore scene, straight edge etc. Two of the most punk guys alive (Ian MacKaye and Henry Rollins) have been sober longer than some people in this thread have been alive. Getting blackout has more in common with hair metal so if your hero is Nikki Sixx, more power to you.

Haha I get that. I love MacKaye and Rollins.

As I was growing up I found that "straight edge" and "hardcore Christian" overlapped too much for my comfort. I chalked it up to kids trying to exude a rebellious attitude within the safe confines of the Christian narrative. That didn't seem as authentic to me as the kids who started anarchist punk or satanic grind bands.

Basically, there were some behaviors that served as the narc test. Straight edge kids had a self-declared pass because of their morals. "I don't drink, see? I have an x tattooed on my hand." Those morals conspicuously seemed to align with what "good Christian kids" were taught to believe. This was outlined in stark relief as I realized more and more bands around me labeled themselves as "Christian".

I hadn't revisited that conclusion in a long time, but a cursory glance signals to me that the logic is still sound. It seems like it was my own allergic reaction to cynicism, which I think MacKaye et al might at least respect.

Re: The Zen of Drinking Alone

#239

Post by mawadev »

Whenever I drink, it's all fun and I'm buzzed, feeling funny... Then it starts to make me melancholic. This feeling doesn't stop when the alcohol is out of my system a few days after. It takes me about 3-4 weeks to feel truly "normal" again...

Can anyone relate to this or am I an alien?

Re: The Zen of Drinking Alone

#240

Post by [deleted] »

ruined wrote: post #216
coldtea wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> This magazine or blog or whatever seems to either be an elaborate joke or bait or something Or you know, part of the once respected in some circles tradition of self-destruction with style, before everybody started jogging and going vegan to live to 100 years old as a "productive" boring member of society...

but alcohol is so pedestrian. and socially acceptable. this is somehow even more pathetic than being a weed guy. style would require an edgier, more risque substance, and a narrative. but you'll never see it. i think even tweakers know better than to spend energy justifying choices to strangers

[deleted]
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