Why don't you drink ?

tbaymusicman

Why don't you drink?

I am not an alcoholic! i just don't drink because it fills me with anxiety how bout everyone else:D

colc1

tbaymusicman wrote: »

Why don't you drink?

I am not an alcoholic! i just don't drink because it fills me with anxiety how bout everyone else:D

Thats a fair enough reason...I drink very little been totally off it at times does nothing for me to be honest...

Sunnyisland

Why I don't drink

Not being able to commit to things with Family & friends because I know I'd rather drink
Lying
Having to get jobs and business done fast so I can drink
Not doing my jobs & business because I want to drink
Being so overweight, on my once athletic body - who is this???
My teeth wearing sweaters in the morning
Throwing up
Being broke
Constant dieting that doesn't work anyway
Trying to act sober on the phone
Screwed-up sleep schedule
Constant dehydration
Lying
Fuzzy head for most of the day
Forgetting entire conversations/trying not to let it show in subsequent ones
Bathroom issues - both extremes - nuff said
Guilt
Realizing I spent 3/4 of the weekend in the pub, and it was beautiful outside.
I could go on and on and on & of course this is just me and it is obvious that I Got/had/have a big problem with alcohol but they are some of my reasons.:)

hubba

All the above and my life was going in the wrong direction - drinking to pass the time, bored, stressed, anxiety, lack satisfaction, purpose, drive and so depression, more drink, self loathing, shame, more boredom, more drink to pass the time, blah blah blah.

Now my life is filled with healthy activity, solid goals and achievements, heaps of self respect, a calm mind and a MUCH healthier body. Yes, people wonder why I don't drink but I know. 6 months on Wednesday. My only regret is waiting so long to get here.

donallips

basically i cant it turns completely nuts when I drink people think I’m on drugs I reach a certain point I just won’t stop I have after a few drinks sculled back a big bottle of voka then fall over and pass out

bryaner

realies wrote: »

Why I don't drink

Not being able to commit to things with Family & friends because I know I'd rather drink
Lying
Having to get jobs and business done fast so I can drink
Not doing my jobs & business because I want to drink
Being so overweight, on my once athletic body - who is this???
My teeth wearing sweaters in the morning
Throwing up
Being broke
Constant dieting that doesn't work anyway
Trying to act sober on the phone
Screwed-up sleep schedule
Constant dehydration
Lying
Fuzzy head for most of the day
Forgetting entire conversations/trying not to let it show in subsequent ones
Bathroom issues - both extremes - nuff said
Guilt
Realizing I spent 3/4 of the weekend in the pub, and it was beautiful outside.
I could go on and on and on & of course this is just me and it is obvious that I Got/had/have a big problem with alcohol but they are some of my reasons.:)

Well if I had any of those symptoms I wouldn't drink either..

finnigan

I don't drink cause I love it so very very much

Samich

Don't need it. That's it basically. People who drink need it to have fun. Why else would they drink? Talking about the normal joe soap.

Lord TSC

Bad experiences with drunken father as a kid.
Don't like the taste
I get addicted to things very easily.
Don't enjoy the idea, let alone the actual sensation, of losing control of certain parts of myself.

dippyduck42

The worst side of me comes out after a few drinks and I nearly always regret it. I'm far better off keeping it to a minimum.

misty floyd

Samich wrote: »

Don't need it. That's it basically. People who drink need it to have fun. Why else would they drink? Talking about the normal joe soap.

That's not always true. Some drinkers can have fun without it. You can't say that a normal Joe Soap needs drink to have fun.

Ostrom

Tasted rotten the first time (age 15 I think) - assumed it was to be endured as an 'acquired' taste (never changed). Always felt sick after it, endured it on and off (very occasionally, maybe once a month) from 16-20.

I never consciously gave up, it just happened that longer amounts of time passed between drinks, and I could count on one hand the amount of times I've been drunk. Haven't had one in around 3-4 years now.

L.Jenkins

I'm approaching my 3rd year off booze. When I think about why I drank, I see it was a means of being alittle more outgoing but drinking habits were getting out of control, which I've stated in another thread. I think at the point I was getting angry. My wakeup call allowed me to direct my attention to other pursuits like running. It also allowed for some introspection and part of my drink problem was to do with how I identify personally.

I say this most of the time, I'm better off without drink and I save money at the same time which isn't a bad thing.

I'm 31 and never drank as such, tried it with the best buddy when we were about 14, didn't like the taste so never drank after those few times, I did like the warming effect from brandy though in fairness to it

J_E

I gave it a try in late September, I've had a few since then but can't say I really see it suiting me. It saves money too.

The Black Oil

Mainly the taste, well, with beer anyway - always seemed a bit chemical ish to me, not very enjoyable.

languagenerd

Just never started!
I remember reading a letter in the newspaper when I was about 15 about all the different accidents and illnesses that were alcohol-related and just thought "Why would you bother?!".

Things have changed since then (I'm 20 now), but I don't particularly like the taste (I've tasted quite a lot of drinks - a mouthful from a friend's or parent's glass) and I never felt like I needed it or that I'm missing out, so I'm not gonna start now.

Also, I really hate the idea of not being in control of myself!

opti76

i never liked the tase of it .. i drank cos all my friends drank ...

i become a different person after a few beers.. 3 beers lovely man 4 beers complete asshole. and i hate that guy


and most importantly i dont like waiting for taxis ... so i drive everywhere.

unreggd

Tastes like crap

and 'acquired taste' doesn't exist! Your taste buds just adapt to it when you force-feed yourself for ages

Nobody does that with food, so why do it with beer / wine?

The Black Oil

Yeah, the taste thing isn't always accepted...that you should drink anyway because it's so socially embedded in our culture.

razzlero

Drinking never appealed to me. I come from a family of non drinkers which is probably a lot of the reason. Also I have a lot of hobbies and I would rather spend time and money on them. Though I also just never saw a reason to drink... seems to be more benefits to not drinking to me.

fuglywugly

I dont drink because i dont enjoy it anymore, i used to drink to get pissed really, i had very few nights where id go for one or two they would nearly always turn into mad sessions where id end up with my head down the toilet and the worst hangovers ever, i would loose a whole weekend for the sake of a night out. I hated the feeling of anxiety the next day and the tiredness from not being able to sleep properly. Then theres the financial aspect, i could rarely afford a night out spending a fortune on alcohol and taxi's. Im not a complete teetotaler, although i could count on one hand how many drinks i had last year. I will still happily socialise in a pub with a diet coke and enjoy the social aspect of it, i have no problem not drinking at all in a pub but i'll be asked a million times whats wrong why am i not drinking? am i on medication? am i pregnant?!

FitzjamesHorse

Basically I was brought up in a "Pioneer" house which was ironic because my father worked as a barman for years.
I think my mother was a bit smug about not drinking. Both extended families had few "drinkers" and those who took a drink were frowned upon.
I think in the 1960s not drinking was more or less a "norm". Although I didnt actually become a pioneer until I wasa bout 28, I have never taken alcohol.
There was no peer pressure as I have never had a circle of friends. And as I was 18 in 1970 and lived in Belfast......going out was rarely sensible. As I looked much younger than I looked, I did not go into bars for fear of being embarrassed about "any ID"? and by the time I started going into pubs with friends for birthdays or such, Id already got to 24/25 without drinking so no point in starting.
Of course I regretted not being "cool" but as I got married at 30 to a non drinker, everything was ok.
We still dont drink.
One son drinks. One doesnt.
Both daughters in law drink.
Im retired now but in retrospect Im glad I never took it up. No health issues. No family issues.
No beer belly.

Im not exactly a regular Catholic but I tend to wear my fathers pioneer pin to family gatherings and its more of a gesture of respect to him.

Excedion

I dont really drink that much any more for a lot of reasons. I havent gone off it completely i just find myself drinking less and less. I think its mainly because it takes everyone I go out with gets drunk a hell of a lot quicker than i do so i end up sitting, sober, alone when everyone else is passed out and that is probably the single most depressing thing to do. Watching people get sick is another thing that puts me off going out drinking too

Temptamperu

I was treating bi-polar dissorder with drinking and weed. Drinking turned me into an asshole and so I lost most everyone I cared about. So I thought if its this bad at 30 what the s**t is forty gonna be like, so I quit both drugs and alcohol and went to the doctor and got put on medication and things are looking up.

tbaymusicman

All valid points thanks for sharing .I was just asking as sometimes i miss it like when my team all go for pints and im sipping lucozade and as you know after about 3 of them gets a bit sugary lol when i go to drink i just lock up completely as if im about to die(Which i know i am not as i am quite intelligent but my brain disagrees lol)

emzolita

I have Epilepsy but didn't drink before I knew I had it. I think the feeling of getting drunk reminded me of "being in a seizure".
Also I hate the way people change with drink on them, the nicest person can become an asshole, and thinks that being drunk is an excuse. Not for me at all.

baby and crumble

emzolita wrote: »

Also I hate the way people change with drink on them, the nicest person can become an asshole, and thinks that being drunk is an excuse. Not for me at all.

My Mum had a saying- what's in you when you're sober comes out when you're drunk.

I think it's pretty accurate.

Floppybits

I don't drink because I didn't want too. Never seen the attraction in it, 38 years old now and never drank.

woodchuck

1. It's ridiculously expensive
2. I don't particularly like the taste (except for some cocktails... but they're even more expensive :P)
3. The hangovers just aren't worth it

I still have the odd drink (toast at a wedding etc), but I rarely drink anymore because of the reasons listed above!

apoch632

I'm straight edge

zef

I never really took to drinking that much, yea as a teen an stuff, few cans n'all, but i would always get either morose or vicious, an i don't like being out of control either. Off it cos of meds five years, now off meds and not bothered with the drink at all . Had an Irish coffee or 2 over xmas , thats about it.

betsie

Samich wrote: »

Don't need it. That's it basically. People who drink need it to have fun. Why else would they drink? Talking about the normal joe soap.

That's very unfair i think, like i would consider myself pretty ordinary some weekends i drink, some i dont doesnt change the amount of fun i can have. but i do enjoy the taste of an ice cold glass of cider on a saturday night and ya it helps relax a bit after a long week as well dont really see a problem with that.

Caveman1

I'm off the drink as part of my new year resolution, I wouldnt be a heavy drinker 2-3 times a week, I feel great not drinking the hardest part for me though is when im going out with my girlfriend theres only so much 7up I can drink, or not having a glass of wine with dinner, although I cant see myself going back on it anytime soon as its great having spare money and not waking up with hangovers, its only when your off the drink you realise what a waste it is.

sunflower27

Hi all

I gave it up befor New Year for a couple of reasons. Mainly I was sick of relying on it to prop me up. I had been going through a bad time and was drinking more as a result since losing my job. 2011 was a pretty low time for me.

Drinking was affecting how I felt about my life. I was feeling very stagnant and I was de-motivated. These days I feel optimistic about the future

I didn't like myself when drinking either.

I also was worried about my health, although thankfully I had no side effects at all from giving it up - no bad withdrawal.

Financially I am so much better off as well.

I wish i had quit a long time ago but I suppose I wasn't ready then.

I used to read about people quitting and thinking all the talk about life being better was a fantasy, but i see now what they mean. Sobriety feels like a gift - and one that I cherish.

hubba

Welcome to the club, Sunflower27. Feels good, doesn't it? Sorry to hear about your hard times in 2011 - here's to 2012 being your year.

BunShopVoyeur

I've had to just stop completely recently. I have started to have panic attacks all the next day even drinking moderately.

x3wiggles

I don't drink because I was diagnosed with a mental condition that requires me to stay on long term medication that's affected by alcohol. The thing that annoys me is the fact that I feel like my friends are judging me or see me as a "dry shi*e" because I'm not having "drunken banter".
Idk about you guys but I get a glass of lucozade with ice in it and it looks like Bulmers so no one says much.
The past year, i've been put off my going out because when you're sober and everyone else is hammered, they get really really annoying.

sunflower27

hubba wrote: »

Welcome to the club, Sunflower27. Feels good, doesn't it? Sorry to hear about your hard times in 2011 - here's to 2012 being your year.

Thanks hubba

Yes, it feels great. Wish I had done it ages ago, but as said, I wasn't ready. I have a lot of hope that 2012 will be a better year. Was very glad to leave 2011 behind

Am happy to go out and not drink. Was out watching the rugby yesterday in the pub and not remotely tempted. I know people say it is not easy, but when you know how much better off you are without drinking, ordering an alcoholic drink doesn't even come into the equation.

I am still as much fun as I always was, only less the hangover and empty purse

jasonb

I'm 38 myself and never drank. I think I possibly tasted a beer when I was a teenager, and a vodka when I picked up a vodka & coke instead of my coke, but nothing apart from that.

My father was an alcoholic, as was my uncle, and my stepfather too. Strong reasons obviously, but apart from that, I also don't like the taste / smell of it, and don't like losing control.

The pub-culture isn't for me, and I hate drunk people doing stupid things but it's "ok" because they've a couple of drinks on them.

Fairly standard reasons I'd imagine?

J.

a fat guy

Essentially I was in a rut and wanted something to change.

Drinking just made me feel as though I was in an even worse rut, so I gave it up.

I'm also after cutting down on videogames majorly, cutting down on bad foods and starting to eat veggies a lot more.

I plan on beefing up over the summer too.

Ah, it's good to feel alive...

Strawberry Fields

A psychiatrist got me to stop after they locked me in a psyche ward for 8 weeks. I realised I was ****ing my life up, was sacked after the christmas party, one of many nights I don't remember, I was drinking to get obliterated and wasn't happy until I'd reached oblivion which messed my head up made me aggressive and often lose touch with reality.

Ape X

Can't handle it. Not in the sense that I get aggressive or anything... I just have a very low tolerance for it, and apparently there's a very fine line between my being tipsy and wanting to puke. This line lies around the four pint mark!

Coincidentally, this realisation happened at about the same time I first went onto anti-depressants, so it just seemed like a no-brainer to officially knock drink on the head and become a veritable tee-totaller.

another new one

Unlike everyone else who's explained they're valid reasons of bad experiences etc I've never drank because the pure thought of letting go of myself and not having 100% control of myself scares me half to death!
Dunno how anyone who drinks can do it to be honest

redzerologhlen

I dont drink because I have a few people in my family that are fond of it and I dont ever want to go down that road. Also there are lots of things I want to do that drinking would clash with. Used to go to the pub with the lads when I was younger and not drink but have given up on that because my tolerence for drunken s**t talk is low. Lucky enough to have a girlfriend that rarely drinks to keep me sane :pac: :pac:

Dwellingdweller

I... don't know!

Willard

there was a time back in collage when I would have drank out of a wellie & I smoked like a chimney. My father died from the smokes four years ago & it made me get my act together. I'm now the fittest i've ever been, I've replaced one social scene with another, Its easy to refuse a drink of a sat night when you know your going for a 70-100Km cycle sunday morn with the tri-club & TBH even if I wanted a drink now I couldnt hack more than three, binge drinking like they do in this country requires practice.

FishBowel

Causes cancer.

libnation

I actually think the foll

libnation

Me giving up drink was so out of the blue. It may have been the fact that I found my friend asleep under a car but I literally just decided to give up (my decision was cemented after coming to this forum and seeing reccomendations for Allen Carr).

Anyway since I've stopped, i swear to god my (sorry for crudeness) bowel movements have improved immensely (again sorry). Also my skin is better (don't know why!?). Most importantly anxiety levels are down (again not sure of the science but they are!)

Weight loss has been made so so so much easier also!

I've also noticed that I get more stuff during the week. It's weird how a Saturday night starts a chain reaction of messing up Sunday sleep which messes up Monday productivity which causes Tuesday to be manic and exhausting leading to Wednesday and thursday being days where you need something to calm your nerves. Take drink out of this equation and it makes a massive massive difference, not joking. Still lots of stress but much easier to put tabs on it.

So basically I'm not really sure why I gave up but I know why I'll never drink again. Although my friends have been so cr*p about it. A*seholes.

gillapino

@Libnation, my friends were crap about it too, but its get better, after starting new hobbies and a new college course i made a lot more new friends who accepted that i didnt drink, and well i still see my friends, which are still mad for the drink, but just meet up during the day or try hang out when there isnt drink involved, bit awkward when there talking about there nights out and parties, but i just know that scene isnt for me!