I will never forget the writings of “ground score.”
The Zen of Drinking Alone
281–290 of 290 posts
Re: The Zen of Drinking Alone
#282When I drink, I tend to see it as a type of deep ancestor worship.
Some ancient parts of the brain, such as those that control breathing, are resistant to disruption because when they cease to function, you die. Others, like sex drive or hunger, are more resistant because they needed to function in all of your ancestors or you wouldn't be here. Thus these ancient structures must be robust, and that robustness has evolved over millions of years.
Alcohol selectively disrupts the more recent and and less robust parts of my brain. It brings instincts won at great cost to my ancestors over generations, forward to help guide my actions.
Re: The Zen of Drinking Alone
#283Earlier quoted context omitted.
How much do you drink a day, if its not too forward to ask? The answer varies where I might send you to seek help.
Enough that im horrified by it
Some people are horrified by a six pack a night, sone people are horrified because they keep a bottle in their desk to even things out during the day. Those require different treatment strategies.
Re: The Zen of Drinking Alone
#284I need to drink only to feel comfortable with people so I see no need to poison my body, when I'm alone :D
Still so I enjoy occasionally the taste of a good single malt.
Re: The Zen of Drinking Alone
#285Earlier quoted context omitted.
People are built differently. I saw a heist movie alone on my 21st birthday. I prefer movies alone, along with many other things like eating out. To your point, I would rather go alone to the movies or not at all. It's just a better experience. I live on 40 acres alone. I'm snowed in here currently, without a care. But I also own a bar, and bars make you lots and lots of friends. And I'm close with my family. I don't…
That was the point I was trying to make. I don't do any of those things alone but not because I don't like being alone. I curate my friends, preferring to have few, but who are reliable, I aim not to make friends with people I meet, and the ones I do have been the one's that have clicked. My wife, on the contrary _loves_ doing things alone, she'll happily go see a film I want to see without me if I can't find the tim…
I think drinking alone is probably healthier in a lot of respects.
Alcohol destroys relationships for a lot of people. If they drank alone, it would have a much smaller effect on those relationships.
Re: The Zen of Drinking Alone
#286My mother is a highly-functional alcoholic who, in her 60s, still drinks and smokes every day from 6pm to 1am, alone or socially, rain or shine - and she's done that for 30+ years. I'll spare you the gruesome anecdata that the habit produced over the years. Being an alcoholic is a recipe for hurting people around you. It might not happen today or tomorrow, but sooner or later it will happen, whether you understand it…
If you don't mind, I would like to hear some of the anecdotes.
She's still a productive and respected member of society, even in retirement, so I'd rather not humiliate her (or my dad, who is a fundamental abetter in so many ways) in a public forum.
Re: The Zen of Drinking Alone
#287Fun question: what's more "pathetic" in popular culture: Spending Saturday by yourself reading a book, or drinking a six pack? Until you are old (that is, no longer a relevant 18-40 advertising target), it is #2.
Kinda like its far more socially acceptable to be addicted to heroin than be fat (courtesy of Vince Neil).
This actually isn't that surprising. "Socially acceptable" is partially defined in our ad-saturated world by the advertising industry. Corporate america can't get you to engage in onanistic consumption during work, because that is THEIR time.
That leaves your leisure time for moving their wares. Social activities as an adult are dominated by access to alcohol, because the alcohol companies spend billions each year in cultural propaganda inserting themselves as the organizing basis of adult social interaction.
This reminds me that in my lifetime the "key demographic" went from 18-30 to 18-40, and we have the rise of "40 is the new 30". I think a lot of that is how advertising has shifted our culture to intense consumption rather than "adult" stuff like raising kids.
Re: The Zen of Drinking Alone
#288The rich "glamp" like the poor get homeless and those for whom company is a choice think doing things alone is ok, even a treat. Nothing wrong with it in my opinion, so long as one chooses to be alone or do things alone. I would just like to emplore such people to seek an alternative perspective that their experience might be drastically different if they did not choose the situation to start with. Chosing to drink a…
Any suggestions or resources on how to make friends or drinking buddies quickly when you have none in a location? Personally, I've had to move cities about every 6 months for the last 3 years while working from home. It's hard enough to make friends as an adult, let alone while constantly moving.
Looking for suggestions myself
Re: The Zen of Drinking Alone
#289Earlier 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?
High-functioning alky, here 6-10 9%+ cans of beer in an evening not a problem for me, day after day. On my days off I can start with the cans for breakfast. I 'preload' for social occasions, and time my 'sobriety' to be ok to drive. Breaking the habit? Have the will to stop. That's both hard and easy. But you didn't ask the question because you don't want to carry on so there's a plus. I drink as much regular milk as…
Where does the desire come from?
Re: The Zen of Drinking Alone
#290Earlier quoted context omitted.
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…
> From it I ascertained that the first two questions one should ask are when encountering something in life are, "is this actually important?" and "is this a problem I can actually solve or make a meaningful difference in helping solve?" - anything one can answer "no" to either of those questions one should just let go of, and try to focus one's energies on other problems. This puts succinctly something I try to prac…
Sometimes I find others who have the same life philosophy that I have, and I'd always wondered where they came to it from, but its just not one of those things you can ask.
I'm really glad there are others that were able to absorb the AA adjacent wisdom, and transform it into something productive like I was.