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On why I gave up drinking in my early twenties

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Re: On why I gave up drinking in my early twenties

#81

Post by chihuahua »

pcurve wrote: post #16
chihuahua wrote: post #7

I have to admit I simply don't understand drinking alcohol. Apparently it affects me differently from most people. The only effects I get are that I feel tired, and my field of vision narrows. Neither of those are pleasant. I wish I knew how other people feel when they drink alcohol.

Everybody also gets the tiredness and narrowing field of vision. How much do you drink? For an average 175lbs male to feel buzzed, he would need to drink 2 pints of beer (or close 1 1 liter) on relatively empty stomach quickly. To feel drunk, it would require at least double that amount if not more.

> How much do you drink?

These days, a single sip of wine when my wife is having a glass of wine with dinner. When I was younger, I'd have a glass or two of wine, or a pint of beer. But I always concluded that I'd feel better without the alcohol, so I cut back to the minimal amount.

Re: On why I gave up drinking in my early twenties

#82

Post by holler »

issa wrote: post #18

This sounds very strange to the uninitiated, but I grew up in a part of the punk music scene that was rebelling against drugs and alcohol. As someone who has never had a drink, I've never seen the appeal, and I always wonder why more people don't give it up. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Straight_edge

Same reason people don't give up their morning latte, a relationship, food, behavior, or anything else that brings them pleasure.

Re: On why I gave up drinking in my early twenties

#83

Post by chihuahua »

gsich wrote: post #12
chihuahua wrote: post #7

I have to admit I simply don't understand drinking alcohol. Apparently it affects me differently from most people. The only effects I get are that I feel tired, and my field of vision narrows. Neither of those are pleasant. I wish I knew how other people feel when they drink alcohol.

This is normal, especially with beer/wine. That's why some people switch to cocktails or mix stuff with Red Bull/Coke, the sugar keeps you awake.

OK, but presumably other people experience some kind of positive/pleasant effect? I don't get that at all.

Re: On why I gave up drinking in my early twenties

#84

Post by aussiesnack »

I'm a drinker in principle, as in not being a teetotaller, but am just not attracted to drink very often. I probably have less than a bottle of wine and half a dozen beers a year. Same with drugs. I've tried most of the common ones, including those considered very addictive, but was never tempted to make a habit of any of them. Likewise food - I'm not an over eater and am in my late '50s the same weight I was 3 decades ago (though a little fitter since taking up running, which along with other sporty activities I abjured with exaggerated horror in my youth).

None of this has taken the slightest effort or even any consideration to be honest. Neither is this easy sobriety a consequence of some sort of well-managed successful life (au contraire - it's a mess).

Perhaps some of us just have naturally temperate temperaments.

Re: On why I gave up drinking in my early twenties

#86

Post by chordalkeyboard »

divan wrote: post #60

I never tried alcohol and never felt compelled to. As a kid I wondered what's happening with those drunk people I had a chance to see. So I read some books in library about alcohol (my mother was librarian, so that was my internet back then). It all just made sense and I decided that don't want to even try. I was asked to try alcohol by parents and relatives, I was ridiculed and insulted by classmates (drinking someh…

> The whole concept of using poisonous chemicals to alter your brain state was and still is very alien to me. I just don't get it. Willingly disrupt your body's functions on a cellular level hoping for something good, while all the scientific evidence points only to the bad? Still don't get it.

So in the ancestral environment they fermented grain (first by accident, then on purpose) which became a means of preserving the calories from competitor organisms. This phenomenon probably co-evolved with agriculture and predates written records.

Note that in the Epic of Gilgamesh, Gilgamesh (agricultural) and Enkidu (a 'wild man' which would imply he came from a pre-agricultural, foraging people) were to fight but they gave Enkidu beer and a woman. This probably indicates that beer was something the agriculturalists had and the 'wild men' did not.

Re: On why I gave up drinking in my early twenties

#87

Post by holtkam2 »

I think my New Year’s resolution is going to limit my alcohol consumption to 3 units / week. I think of it as a tool for building relationships… for me 1 or 2 drinks goes a long way to opening up and having a good time with someone I’m trying to get to know (going on a date for example, or maybe catching up with a long lost friend). But outside of that application, I find that alcohol has no place in my life.

Re: On why I gave up drinking in my early twenties

#89

Post by robocat »

divan wrote: post #60

I never tried alcohol and never felt compelled to. As a kid I wondered what's happening with those drunk people I had a chance to see. So I read some books in library about alcohol (my mother was librarian, so that was my internet back then). It all just made sense and I decided that don't want to even try. I was asked to try alcohol by parents and relatives, I was ridiculed and insulted by classmates (drinking someh…

I hope you stick with it. I know too many people who tried addictive substances and failed badly. Specifically I know people who began by drinking just one glass with dinner, but over decades end up with chronic drinking behaviours.

We all “know” the obvious reasons for not drinking. Anecdotally, I see plenty of unobvious health outcomes, like long term negative mental health outcomes from boozing (such as memory issues - I suspect there is a spectrum of memory issues before Korsakoff syndrome).

Also anecdotally, drinking seems to lead to all your social group being drinkers or alcoholics. I unfortunately know very few who don’t occasionally drink to excess (New Zealand has a strong drinking culture).

Re: On why I gave up drinking in my early twenties

#90

Post by divan »

hamburglar wrote: post #74
divan wrote: post #60

I never tried alcohol and never felt compelled to. As a kid I wondered what's happening with those drunk people I had a chance to see. So I read some books in library about alcohol (my mother was librarian, so that was my internet back then). It all just made sense and I decided that don't want to even try. I was asked to try alcohol by parents and relatives, I was ridiculed and insulted by classmates (drinking someh…

> Yes, being drunk seems to be like removing your psychological self-defence, which builds trust, especially in a high-stake business relations. But it's not the only way to build trust, for sure, and definitely doesn't justify the damage alcohol does to the body. Not trying to convince you to change your mind, but you seem to be missing some information: I'd wager that for the vast, vast majority of people, "drinkin…

You're right. In post-soviet countries people generally drink to get intoxicated on purpose. In Europe and US, from my experience, drinking culture is much more healthy. I do have respect for that. Yet, if alcohol was invented today it would be clearly classified as worse drug then heroin, for example, and would be banned.

Discussing that one country has more helthy heroin mass-consumption culture than another country hopefully sounds odd to everyone.

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