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Ask HN: What to do instead of drinking alcohol?

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Re: Ask HN: What to do instead of drinking alcohol?

#31

Post by popemarijuanavi »

PaulHoule wrote: post #25

Of all the benzodiazepines it is particularly pleasant to have a Valium or a Xanax and go to a party. It has an effect very similar to alcohol but doesn't have the physical toxicity. If you have even minor anxiety symptoms you probably won't have a hard time getting an ℞ for Xanax from your primary care doc for 30 pills or so, particularly if you intend to substitute it for alcohol. Even though those drugs are very s…

>>You probably won't have a hard time getting an ℞ for Xanax from your primary care doc for 30 pills or so, particularly if you intend to substitute it for alcohol.

Not in the United States. Try getting a script for Xanax and you'll be lucky you don't get reported the DEA re: our opioid crisis.

Re: Ask HN: What to do instead of drinking alcohol?

#32

Post by _zjmt »

I'm a very big fan of good alcohol-free beer. There are some good ones, here in Europe at least. 7% of the beer sold in the Netherlands is alcohol-free based on recent reports last year. The cheap stuff in the states tastes silly, but if you can find a good brewery that makes it, I recommend as an alternative.

Re: Ask HN: What to do instead of drinking alcohol?

#34

Post by jowdones »

I was never able to give up alcohol completely, but reduced the amount and frequency of drinking.

I drink coffee but can't drink six of them in a row without risking a heart attack, while a sixpack of beers gives me only a mild headache next day.

Tried smoking, really tried to catch the habit but they don't do nothing for me. Feel nauseated, also at some point I smoked a packet (20 cigarettes) in a row - never felt so sick in my life. At least with alcohol you throw up and feel better but when stuff's in your lungs what can you do?

Maybe if it were legal here as in Canada or California, I'd try weed. But it's not so I'm stuck with alcohol on occasion.

Re: Ask HN: What to do instead of drinking alcohol?

#35

Post by krastanov »

A lot of the answers here thoroughly confuse me. It seems like a completely false premise that alcohol is required to (1) have fun (2) let loose (3) remove inhibitions. Consume a minor amount of alcohol/sugar/drugs if you want to, sure they are damaging, but stress is damaging too, and even oxygen is carcinogenic if you use too much. But do not believe people that tell you that you need an externally delivered chemical to have a normal de-stressing night, whether it is night-club-filled or board-games-filled.

Re: Ask HN: What to do instead of drinking alcohol?

#36

Post by andybak »

marginalia_nu wrote: post #16
iqanq wrote: post #10

Don't stop drinking. Live your life. You only have one. Are you going to worry about an air conditioner falling on you while you walk down the pavement?

Is all you want to remember when you look back at your life a bunch of hangovers and stupid things you did?

Not everyone who drinks does stupid things or gets hangovers. (I can't remember experincing either very much over the last 10 years. When I was younger maybe.)

Re: Ask HN: What to do instead of drinking alcohol?

#37

Post by abirch »

neom wrote: post #4

Diet Coke, Documentaries, Weed, Hackernews, Discord, Teenage Engineering, Documentaries, Documentaries, Documentaries. As someone who drank v.copiously all day every day for years, it's somewhat easier than you might imagine, just gotta stick it out till you're in a new routine. (BTW something very unexpected, I had zero sweet tooth when I was a heavy drinker, gave up booze and a month or so later I was craving cake…

“I traded one addiction for another. But golf is the crack of sports. Once I took it seriously I loved it. It absolutely saved my life,” [Alice] Cooper said in Golf Digest magazine

Re: Ask HN: What to do instead of drinking alcohol?

#38

Post by popemarijuanavi »

popemarijuanavi wrote: post #31
PaulHoule wrote: post #25

Of all the benzodiazepines it is particularly pleasant to have a Valium or a Xanax and go to a party. It has an effect very similar to alcohol but doesn't have the physical toxicity. If you have even minor anxiety symptoms you probably won't have a hard time getting an ℞ for Xanax from your primary care doc for 30 pills or so, particularly if you intend to substitute it for alcohol. Even though those drugs are very s…

>>You probably won't have a hard time getting an ℞ for Xanax from your primary care doc for 30 pills or so, particularly if you intend to substitute it for alcohol. Not in the United States. Try getting a script for Xanax and you'll be lucky you don't get reported the DEA re: our opioid crisis.

Also, the drunk high and Xanax high are not compatible. If you can't enjoy being sober around drunk people, you won't enjoy being Xanax'ed around drunk people.

Re: Ask HN: What to do instead of drinking alcohol?

#40

Post by kroltan »

You can train your friend-circles to be non-alcoholic tolerant pretty easily (just buy non-alchoholic beverages on nights out as casually as you would an alcoholic one). That way you can still have the social interaction.

And now for a completely left-field suggestion, online games have also become way more mainstream as a social tool lately, so you might get along with doing that (and I don't mean just traditional "Gamer games" like shooters or whatever, but things like Gartic Phone or online tabletop/improv with a few friends over a voice/video call). I know a bunch of stereotypically "party people" ("what? games? that's for nerds") who have taken the pandemic to become a bit more comfortable with virtual entertainment, and they seem to be having a blast.

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