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Leo Tolstoy on why people drink (2014)

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Re: Leo Tolstoy on why people drink (2014)

#11

Post by shortcake27 »

ProllyInfamous wrote: post #2

People ~~do~~ abuse drugs to escape seemingly-insurmountable problem(s) in their life. "The opposite of addiction is connection" ——Gabriel Maté I have been "clean" from a past life for 14 years. Every day is a challenge.

Eh, I don’t think it’s that deep. I take drugs because it feels good and I have a good time, so the risks are worth it. I have zero interest maximising my lifespan at the expense of enjoyment. I’ll never understand why the general population is so hell-bent on preventing people from enjoying their own life.

Re: Leo Tolstoy on why people drink (2014)

#13

Post by sublinear »

Wow this reads like something from the prohibition era. It's not just possible, but common to drink responsibly. The pain and dissonance has more to do with immaturity than the booze itself. Not everyone who drinks turns into a wannabe Socrates or Caligula.

Re: Leo Tolstoy on why people drink (2014)

#14

Post by glonq »

One of the reasons why I don't drink is that I like being me. Specifically...

- I like who I am when I'm sober, and don't expect that I would like 'drunk me'.

- I like being in full control over what I experience and how I experience it.

- I also enjoy remembering (and not regretting) those experiences.

Re: Leo Tolstoy on why people drink (2014)

#15

Post by hackhackerschor »

ldjkfkdsjnv wrote: post #5

Call me crazy, but as a highly analytical person that has spent 70% of my waking hours in the last five years working on something technical, my social skills are best when I'm hungover. The logical analytical side of me is diminished and I am much more "normal". I have a much higher rate of success on dates with women when I have a really bad hang over and then a few drinks. It does feel like a lobotomy, and that's…

Are you sure you mean hungover?

Re: Leo Tolstoy on why people drink (2014)

#16

Post by kibwen »

shortcake27 wrote: post #11
ProllyInfamous wrote: post #2

People ~~do~~ abuse drugs to escape seemingly-insurmountable problem(s) in their life. "The opposite of addiction is connection" ——Gabriel Maté I have been "clean" from a past life for 14 years. Every day is a challenge.

Eh, I don’t think it’s that deep. I take drugs because it feels good and I have a good time, so the risks are worth it. I have zero interest maximising my lifespan at the expense of enjoyment. I’ll never understand why the general population is so hell-bent on preventing people from enjoying their own life.

There's an important distinction to be made between recreational drug use and habitual drug use, though the line can be blurry. For individuals who are predisposed to start at recreational and end up at habitual, it can be better to abstain altogether.

Re: Leo Tolstoy on why people drink (2014)

#17

Post by Etheryte »

shortcake27 wrote: post #11
ProllyInfamous wrote: post #2

People ~~do~~ abuse drugs to escape seemingly-insurmountable problem(s) in their life. "The opposite of addiction is connection" ——Gabriel Maté I have been "clean" from a past life for 14 years. Every day is a challenge.

Eh, I don’t think it’s that deep. I take drugs because it feels good and I have a good time, so the risks are worth it. I have zero interest maximising my lifespan at the expense of enjoyment. I’ll never understand why the general population is so hell-bent on preventing people from enjoying their own life.

Send your regards to Nixon and his public relations team for that last part (see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_on_drugs).

Re: Leo Tolstoy on why people drink (2014)

#18

Post by belfalas »

"When a man is sober he is ashamed of what seems all right when he is drunk. In these words we have the essential underlying cause prompting men to resort to stupefiers. People resort to them either to escape feeling ashamed after having done something contrary to their consciences, or to bring themselves beforehand into a state in which they can commit actions contrary to conscience, but to which their animal nature prompts them.

A man when sober is ashamed to go after a prostitute, ashamed to steal, ashamed to kill. A drunken man is ashamed of none of these things, and therefore if a man wishes to do something his conscience condemns he stupefies himself."

- Tolstoy (from the article)

Re: Leo Tolstoy on why people drink (2014)

#20

Post by fisherjeff »

Blahah wrote: post #9

Drinking slows down my brain and reduces the number of threads running in parallel. Sometimes very useful to enable normal-passing interaction in social environments. Or just to be able to focus. Lots of people with ADHD drink to achieve a more single threaded experience. Edit to add: I don't meant to encourage drinking as a tool for managing ADHD. It works but it's a blunt and dangerous tool. If you're at that point…

Took me way too many years to understand this
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