I stopped drinking alcohol some years ago. Before that I hardly consumed any alcohol at all for many years, but in my college years and maybe some years after that, I drank socially like “everybody else”. But I gradually kind of got tired of dealing with the bad feelings (physical and emotional), so I drank less and less.
And maybe because I drank less and less, even one beer often just made me feel kind of bad, so then I just stopped altogether. Anyway, I’m curious if this has happened to anyone else? And how do you go by it socially? What do you order at a bar? Maybe I’m a little afraid to go to places that has an “alcohol culture”, even if there are some places I would like to go. I don’t want to drink, but at the same time I don’t want to appear weird about it either.
I don’t drink nearly as much as I used to. Not that I ever did a lot anyway. But after having my child I noticed drinking made me way more impatient instead of relaxing me. Now I really only drink when my wife and I go on a date. I do partake in a good THC gummy fairly frequently now though. They are quick and easy to make you feel good and I don’t get that impatience from it. But I normally take it after my child goes to bed anyway. Helps me sleep and doesn’t make me feel bad the next day.
Same here. I bought a big bottle of gummies and cut them up into smaller cubes. Now I can just pop a cube or three for however much I want to feel that day.
I have shifted the occasional cocktail or two after work to a vaporizer bag of home grown indica. Still a crutch, but I won’t feel like death the entire next day.
Your replacement sounds amazing
Sativa for me. Give me a good, smooth sativa and I’ll clean my entire apartment and catch up on my chores.
My body stopped responding to alcohol like it once did. I was never a big drinker but through my 30s, I’ve slowly stopped feeling any sort of buzz and instead get anxiety and insomnia. I’m also having a harder time handling cannabis, a little bit can send my heart rate through the roof. I’m sure I’ve got some health issue contributing to these changes but haven’t figured it out yet.
Hey thanks for writing this out. I noticed these exact changes a few years ago, but I don’t have enough self-awareness or articulation to have expressed it the way you did. I am relieved that my bodies reactions are not unique.
When I was younger drank like a fish, full bottle of whiskey, vodka, rum, at a time. I’m turning 45 in a few days and last drink I had was 3 weeks ago. Last time before that was several months. I’ve gotten to the point where I’d much rather just have water.
It wasn’t gradual, but I didn’t make a deliberate choice either. It was during 2020. My fear of covid (I did get it, it was hell) outweighed my desire to go to the liquor store. By the time places were opening up again, I realized my life was a lot more livable without the blackout binges. I’ve felt really weird about it ever since then, that I don’t really have an inspirational “I chose to do this, it was my strength and willpower to get better” quitting story since it was purely from literally not being able to, but I try to just be grateful because it really was destroying my life.
similar thing happened to me. i think it’s important to remember it’s literally easier to can’t do something than choose not to do something.
I was a binge drinker. I would buy a big bottle of whiskey and drink until I fell asleep, then wake up and start drinking until it was gone. Then I’d be sober for a while and eventually binge again.
I had a sort of similar gradual experience with quitting. I was enjoying it less and less, mostly just getting depressed and feeling sick from the constant changes in body chemistry. I went from being blackout drunk 2 days a week to 2 days every other week, and then every month or so. At one point I realized I had been sober for 50 days and decided I needed to be done with it forever.
Now I’m at 200 days and almost never think about drinking. I have basically zero desire to drink, all I can think about is how bad it made me feel.
I don’t go to bars or really socialize in person at all. I would recommend trying to find other ways to socialize that don’t involve bars, but I have known sober people who can happily hang out with people who drink.
There are a lot of people like me who are deeply envious of people who somehow just drifted away from alcohol.
I stopped after a last hangover and 20 years of heavy drinking.
I decided to, so I read the book “this naked mind” as I was told it is a good start and it seems to have worked on me. It’s only been a bit more than a month now, but I don’t feel like drinking and I don’t even think about it so that’s cool.
Good luck on this journey.
Work in progress over here myself 🙋
It’s really simple to stop…its not easy for a lot of us but very simple… hope you do what ya need to do friend
I stopped drinking about 35 years ago. I wasn’t a big drinker. I was living in London and after a night out preferred to drive home rather than get the night bus or a cab so I just stopped. I would have a glass of lemonade or a coke when out with friends. It only took about 5 years for my friends to stop trying to cajole me into having a drink.
The safe toxic limit of alcohol is half a glass of wine per year.
Alcohol is implicated in 50% of reported sexual assaults.
Alcohol is a leading causal factor of vandalism, violence and death.
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LSD is known to be therapeutic for people suffering from PTSD, OCD, anxiety and treatment resistant depression.
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The number of times I think “A drink sounds good” is zero, and always has been. It doesn’t relax me or reduce my inhibitions. My wife likes to drink though, and it does those things for her. She definitely enjoys it more when I drink with her, so I do sometimes. I actually kind of enjoy the taste of a good tequila, but would pretty much always prefer a good root beer.
So I drink as much as ever, but if I lived alone it would be pretty much never.
This is so interesting. I’m not in a relationship now, but if I was and my partner would like to drink, what would I do? I don’t know. I don’t really want to rule out potential partners if they enjoy some drinking. So did me being alone this time make me go from one beer to zero, or would I have gone to zero anyway.
Yeah, I for sure understand. And to be clear, there’s zero peer pressure for me, it’s just I know it enhances her enjoyment. And it’s not really much of a negative. I mean, if I drink too much I get the swimmy head and stuff, but I just stop short of that.
I sort of envy people who get the buzz, relaxation, reduced inhibitions, and whatever. I just don’t.
I intentionally stopped drinking about 10 years ago. I found that post divorce me was drinking more that I was comfortable with. So I stopped.
I do not think I was an alcoholic, but there seem to be many definitions for that word. I may start drinking again someday. But we will see, no plans now to start again.
I am not at all opposed to people drinking. I will even go with you and be the designated driver. But many bars really do not even try to accommodate non drinkers. I have had some fucking awful spicy virgin marys.
I do think that THC gummies are healthier than drinking. But I have really slowed my use of them because I think they were affecting my already bad memory.
With all the health implications of alcohol that’s not a bad problem to have. Might be worth remembering that any time you do go somewhere that’s heavily “alcohol culture” there’s a lot of people there wishing they were you.
I would drink on the weekends, most every weekend. Didn’t matter if I was alone playing games or out with friends. Ever since I had a kid 6 months ago I rarely drink at all. I’ll have a beer when going out for supper or a beer when out with friends. I mainly stopped because I didn’t want to feel shitty while trying to deal with a baby. Now I find if I have more than a couple beers in a night I’m feeling crappy which is crazy considering 6 months ago I was drinking 6+ a night on the weekends. I don’t miss drinking at all and much like yourself I find they just make me feel kind of bad.
I don’t drink any more for the same reasons. There’s plenty of people who don’t drink at all due to whatever choices like religion, health, etc.
If people ask I just say “nah I don’t drink because of health complications” 99.9% of people don’t push any further. I just order water or a soda if I’m feeling it. What im drinking isn’t anyone’s concern.
The weird part is thinking you’re appearing weird. Literally noone cares. Go have fun.
Yeah, I think this is how it is. I think I’m appearing weird even though people probably cares less than I think. I guess it is why I wrote this question. I’d like to know how people got over this phase and stopped worrying. Blaming health complications feels somehow dramatic… but maybe I’ll use that one if someone really pushes and it’s half true in my case anyway.
I have never really enjoyed alcohol. If I’m at a social event and someone hands me a beer I’ll drink it. Or, if I’m in 500 year old pub in London I’ll order one. But the last beer I brought home my wife cooked with after it sat in the fridge for months. And I have never let myself get drunk.
