Has anybody here quit drinking alcohol?

mat cauthon

JupiterKid wrote: »

I gave up the booze almost a year ago. My drinking had got out of control and I was on the edge of a very slippery slope so I packed in my drinking. I miss it from time to time, but then I remember the sh*t it caused in my life so I have no regrets.

There are so many advantages to not drinking - feel better, feeling healthier, more sharp minded, sleep much better and I eat better. Plus I save a lot of money in the process.

The biggest drawback to being a non drinker is the booze soaked social culture in Ireland and feeling excluded from some circles. I cannot think of a major social event where booze isn't involved.

Would anyone be my quitting buddy?

Wompa1

mat cauthon wrote: »

Would anyone be my quitting buddy?

I think I'm going to give it up until next October (My brother is getting married and I'm the best man...would only be drinking for my brother because of the whole sober and being dry at his stag stigma)

You can be my Phil Hartman and I can be your David Crosby!

SarahMs

Had to stop end of Oct for health reasons..... had one glass of bubbly and a glass of wine on Christmas day and I really enjoyed them, the taste I mean. I appreciated so much more then going out on a Friday night.

Also I prefer life without hangovers..........

TeddyTedson

I bow to the sXe

fonecrusher1

I don't drink a lot, i'd say an average amount. I know my limits. Thing about christmas though is that it tends to blur my limits or more specifically my perception of them. Example; Had a few beers on xmas eve then had a lot of beers on xmas day & then more on st stephens day. On the 3rd night of drinking i was saying to people im going to have a cnut of a hangover tomorrow & guess what?...i did.
Poisoned i was. Woke up with a jumbo headache,sick stomach & generally spent the day laying on the couch half watching tv between having fleeting thoughts of despair brought on by my condition.
Basically i can't drink for more than 2 nights in a row. If i do im fcuked the next day. I suppose its a good thing.

I can't see myself giving up drink because honestly my drinking is religiously restricted to a few drinks on friday & saturday night. And thats it. Its the junkfood that i consume when i have a few beers in me that i need to reduce.

mikemac

candy_pants wrote: »

Like another poster, I actually started to drink when I was legal to which is a bit unusual

Me too, I never had alcohol in a pub until I was 18, that can seem unusual to some people

Wompa1

feelingstressed wrote: »

Me too, I never had alcohol in a pub until I was 18, that can seem unusual to some people

in a pub? that's not that unusual...most teens go bushing don't they?

mikemac

Well I should have been clearer, never touched alcohol until I was 18
In a pub or in a field with a few cans, whatever

But I'm going away from the thread title, just saw candy_pants post

Wompa1

feelingstressed wrote: »

Well I should have been clearer, never touched alcohol until I was 18
In a pub or in a field with a few cans, whatever

But I'm going away from the thread title, just saw candy_pants post

I was nearly 19 by the time I took my first drink and it was because as the only sober person at my sisters 21st I got asked to mind the young cousins. So I started kicking back drinks like nobodys business.

I drank maybe two more times after than and then not again until I was nearly 21

Oh and I regret that decision big time!! BIG TIME! The waiting to drink decision that is, girls don't like sober guys! start knocking back the booze and they are all over ya. Sad.

Dravokivich

Stopped drinking for a year when I was 20...

mikemac

Yeah, I didn't for a long time but here in the wilderness we call the Midlands, there were no taxi's and back then there were a handful of hackneys to serve 8,000 people. This was before deregulation, bad times

A two hour wait wasn't uncommon

So drove on my nights out. Having a few drinks wasn't worth it for all the hassle of getting home

Since then, the longest I was ever off drink was about 6 months, lost a lot of weight and saved plenty.
I wouldn't be a big pub drinker at all but I enjoy a bottle of sparkling Jacobs Creek and a DVD for a night in

bryaner

Right I'm off for a pint, all this talking of drinking is getting me thirsty..:D

WesternZulu

I would absolutely love to give it up.

It's something that I think about more and more the older I get. I'm 25 now and the hangovers are getting worse and worse along with the self pity feeling the day after.

Getting fed up of spending a fortune out when the money could be better spent on countless different things.
I think that once you get to your mid 20's the novelty of drinking and getting hammered every weekend wears off.

The one thing that I'm finding is that I'm not experiencing anything new or different from nights out, I'm getting bored of the whole spending a bomb, not knowing my limits, forgetting half the night and dying a death then the next day...and doing the same thing the next weekend, and the weekend after etc.

I'll admit I love the craic of drinking when everyone is out in the pub, not drunk but socially lubricated. It is hard to beat that atmosphere and if I do ever give up drinking then that is what I will miss most, not the crowed nightclubs and hangovers.

But on a whole I am getting bored of drinking but the again unfortunately there is feck all to do besides in this country.

Duckjob

nizo888 wrote: »

Expect to lose a few friends too. I used to meet up with a few guys to watch the Rugby games but after I quit the booze I was told I was only invited if I was drinking.

Good riddance. You're well rid of f**king idiots like that.


I'm not a tea-totaller, never have been - but I find myself having less and less interest in drinking a lot the older I get (in my 30s).

Last time I was really drunk - probably sometime 9-10 mths ago. Next time I'll be drunk? - no idea. I've nothing against being drunk - in the right atmosphere among the right mates it can be a right laugh, but I don't see the point in going out to "get drunk".

Also, the last few years my eyes have really opened to the amount of drunken bollockry that is accepted is normal in our going out culture.

To drink or not to drink should always be a straight decision, nothing more or less. If you have to summon up willpower to quit and are counting the days you have been without drink, then respect & good luck, but that alone should tell you you have a problem that needs to be nipped in the bud now.

Refugee from RealLife

I quit drinking 3 and a half years ago, for many reasons, the main one being I was a pi$$head who was always too drunk to realise that I was slowly losing everything.

Woke one morning and in a brief moment of lucidity I realised that I was in a bad way, living in crap, broke and in debt though I was still drinking 7 days a week.

That day I decided that was it, and haven't drank a drop since.

Life is so much better, problems are sorted, health is better, money is no longer a problem and most importantly I have regained the respect of the people most important to me.

I am now a 100% teetotaller but can still go out and enjoy myself but the reality of where I was headed is still a very sobering thought.

teresminor

Used to drink every second day or so 'cause was working 2 really social jobs and we were all mates so would head out after work. Never got to any kind of worrying state 'cause I always knew when stop but still drank way more than I should have for a few years in my early 20s, like a lot of people.

Decided to pack it in because as I got older I'd stopped drinking regularly and was getting whopper hangovers from one or two drinks. It wasn't worth it anymore, particularly as I'd started a very heavy postgrad. Hadn't drunk at all in six months til christmas when I had a few glasses of wine. Like most people here I genuinely don't miss it in the slightest. I actually hated feeling tipsy and uncoordinated at christmas and not being hungover on saturdays when you have to get up and study makes a huge difference. People always presume I've had a few anyway 'cause I've no problem getting up for a dance or sing or whatever sober. Figure you may as well fake the confidence drink once gave you!

I enjoy nights out a lot more now, less potential for drama, nights out cost a tenner or something and I can spend the saved money on clothes or nice food or something instead. Most of my friends have been cool about it, so long as I come out and have a buzz nobody cares. I think if you were standing in the corner going 'tut tut oh you drunk morons' or reporting back what they did the next morning it'd be a different story but i'm sufficiently close to my drinking days to know not to behave like a insufferable twat about it I still like pubs though I can't spend all day there, clubs and gigs are more fun then they were when I drank but it is a shame that pretty much everything in Ireland requires you to carry a pint glass to blend in.

FutureGuy

I'll have a beer now and again when out with the lads but never drink at home or when out for dinner. Benfits? Good health, good skin (compared to people my age who smoke and drink. I'm 33 but often told I look mid-twenties), lots of disposable income, productive weekends to name a few.

nizo888 wrote: »

Ah I didn't take it personally or anything. That is just the way things are here. And these are not young guys in their early 20s I am talking about. Early 40s actually. Like the groups of girls you talk about they only have the heavy drinking and 'hilarious antics' that comes with it in common.

Good fcuking riddance. I cut such friends out of my social circle many moons ago and am much the better for it. If someone can't think of a good way to pass an evening without resorting to heavy boozing, it's a sad state of affairs imho.

chicken fingers

I´m not old, but I would say that I´ve spent maybe 50k on booze since I started drinking (10 years ago).
I dont "need" alcohol to have a good time, that much is for sure. So many non-drinkers will smugly inform you that they dont "need" alcohol to have a good time. And therefore they are better human beings than a drinker.
Fhuck that shiite. I dont "need" to climb mountains, surf waves, travel around the world, swim in rivers, sunbathe on a beach, skydive, go camping etc etc to have a good time.
But I DO do those things. I dont "need" to, but it certainly does result in me having a good time. And I´ve spent more money on any of that than I have on drink

How about having a few, getting tipsy in your local, waxing lyrical about the topics of the day and enjoying yourself with friends.
IMO its much sadder to get your entertainment from smugly laughing at those who are drunk while being sober. I mean, are you in the pub alone or are you laughing at your "friends".

nacho libre

I gave it up a few months ago.

amjon.

I stop drinking for large chunks of the year due to sporting commitments. In the off season I do drink a bit and then couple of times at xmass but that is really pretty much it. Was drinking last night for what will probally be the last time before next September. Was in a serious push bike crash after drinking a few years ago and have never really looked on drink the same since. Lost any enthusiasim for it, it has gotten to the stage that I have to force the first 2 or 3 pints down if I'm drinking and even at that my mates would probally still be 2 or 3 ahead of me at that stage. It is a horrendus waste of money and time in my opinion. I really wish it wasn't as entrenched in our society as it is.

Censorsh!t

A year ago I took about 5 months off drinking because I thought it was causing a stomach problem.

I saved so much money, it was crazy, while these days, my tolerance is crazily high, so I must drink loooads to get drunk (because there really is nothing worse than being out sober with a load of drunks), and then a fifteen euro taxi on top of that. Ridiculous.
I am planning on not drinking for the next few months .

CrazyRabbit

When I stopped drinking casually, I stopped getting arrested for doing stupid things. I'm one of those people that kinda loses all sense when very drunk.

Now, I rarely drink...perhaps just a new years eve, or weddings etc. Even then, I limit my intake.

Drink is great, the more the better I say!!!!

Liam Byrne

Never needed to give it up, because I never saw any appeal in getting completely blotto and puking every weekend.

starbelgrade

JupiterKid wrote: »

I cannot think of a major social event where booze isn't involved.

No-one drinks at funerals.

Well, not if it's their own.

syklops

starbelgrade wrote: »

No-one drinks at funerals.

Well, not if it's their own.

We are on page 8 of mostly honest and mature comments by a large portion of the boards community. And then you come in with that? Do you honestly think that is funny? Are you seriously expecting thanks for that?

Grow up or leave the thread.

starbelgrade

syklops wrote: »

We are on page 8 of mostly honest and mature comments by a large portion of the boards community. And then you come in with that? Do you honestly think that is funny? Are you seriously expecting thanks for that?

Grow up or leave the thread.

Don't be such a tool.

It's very unbecoming.

mynamesjay

It'd be lovely to grow up in a country where people based there enjoyment and social circles around joint activities other than drinking. Like sports or performing arts... Currently my lifestyle is shaped around nights out and I never wanted it to be - its just what I grew into. Hard to change. Nights out without drink can be incredible, the few I've had, or horrible. Its really dependant on the venue. And most places aren't up to much in Ireland because we except such low standards because most people are tanked up. Cheap drink alone can be a basis for a nightclub in Ireland...

double GG

I haven't drank since the 3rd September, I started college in September too so it was hard at first with peer pressure but really I haven't even looked at an alcoholic drink since and to be honest I haven't even felt tempted.

It's 4 months now. My aim was to not drink till Christmas, after I spent the summer in Sunny Beach Bulgaria working in a party crew which included a lot of free and very cheap drink.

Don't get me wrong I still go out and have fun and all, just stick with my ice and water.

What can I say about the advantages of not drinking.

1. - No Hangovers
2. - Lots of money saved
3. - The joy of being able to wake at 8 the next morning
4. - Watching other people make an eejit of themselves
5. - Being able to remember the night before
6. - Not getting sick all over the place

Endless.


However as a college student money is always tight. Since I'm not drinking I have that extra bit of money to put away.

I say Congrats to those people giving up the drink.


Probably the best 4 m

Sephiroth_dude

Went off it for the month of febuary last yr,was tough enough but no hanovers,saved money,I was gasping for a pint though come march first,I was thinking of going off it for january this yr but then I decided I'd have a few beers yesterday :rolleyes: