Am I the only one alive who doesn't drink?

Maybe this is the wrong forum to ask this in, LOL!

I don't drink alcohol and never have. A combination of seeing how drunk people act, and not liking it, being a emetophobe, not being able to stand the smell or taste of alcohol, fear of sexual attack, and stories of my drunken grandfather (who I was only allowed to meet once in my life) may have shaped my decision. It was a decision. I made it when I was about 13 and other kids were starting to drink. I also decided about the same age not to smoke tobacco.

Now, I have experimented with a lot of substances. But I did so because I saw benefit in the effects or the after effects.I only did these in very safe enviroments, where I knew what I was taking and doing. I could find, in my reseach, no good effects or after effects of alcohol, so I never took any.

Does anyone else not drink? Did you make that decision before you ever experimented, because of a bad experience, or because of abuse? If you drink "recreationally" what do you get out of it, that you couldn't get from being sober? I find when I am around people who are drinking, I can be sillier as they get drunker, (probably no one will remember how silly I got LOL) I am pretty talkative, so I don't need it as a social lubricant, and in situations where I am quieter, and not wanting to talk, I am usually around strangers and don't want to be out of control anyway.

Am I missing something? Aside from lowering inhibitions (not something I usually have a problem with) what does it do for you IF you imbibe?

Just wondering.

 

yes

 

I have had exactly seven drinks this year. three of those were Guinness on my birthday in Feb.

I drank half a glass of white wine on New Years, and have had two after work beers that were offered at the right time to be very appreciated. Dead hot summer afternoons.

Coffee/alcohol drinks are so that you are sure to be wide awake while you are sick.

I haven't drank to excess for over 5 years, and then the 10 before that were weekend drinking years.

I went 2.5 yrs. w/o a drop, with no troubles.

 

I don't drink either. Not only can it lead to addiction and destroy lives, but being drunk makes one look like a fool.

 

I don't like to drink, and I hope I never do. I had the chance to today, and I turned it down


My dad used to have a problem when I was younger, he got violent when he was drunk.... Just remembering all that turns me away from alcohol.

 

It was funny, the reaction to my 2.5 year disinterest in booze as a whole.


It took 6 months for my family to stop offering me drinks. lol

It was standard for me to have explain myself...lol I never understood that.

It was like they thought something was wrong with me.......cuz I wouldn't

drink............

I drank maybe ! beer a week for the previous years .

 

I went through decades of saying "NO thanks." to people who wanted to get me drunk. LOL. By 42 people have either given up or think I am a recovering alcoholic, because they don't ask me as much anymore (maybe not as many want to get in my pants as when I was 19 LOL )

 

I like your sig. It is a great commentary on those who hold the view that loving your child is akin to spoiling it......never could grasp that. My brother and his wife were guilty of holding their first born boy all the time, whenever he wanted to be held.....apparently that was considered spoiling? too much love huh?

 

i drink but i dont get drunk!
ppl lose self control and end up doin stoopid things!
i dont see any fun in it really,
id much rather live my life than try and block it out with momentary satisfaction that alcohol gives

 

i usede to drink a lot. then i descovered weed. i dont know that many people who prefer being stoned over being drunk. i do. drinkning can be heaps fun, dont get me wrong.. but if ever theres a choice, ill choose weed over alchohol.

still, i think everyone needs to get drunk. everyone should get high. it just teaches you more about yourself.

 

same here.
i kinda get afraid wen im around ppl who are drunk

 

Thanks, Blackguard! I like my sig, too. It is actually a little change of the old feminist adage "Feminism is the notion that women are human." I thought it applies to children even better. Our society has little tolerance for children and the love they need and the "inconveniences" they cause adults. But that is a different thread.

 

I would also like to hear from people who do drink, and what it does for them.

Thank you all for the responses. I didn't know I would get so many.

 

I had a couple of experiences in highschool, and I will never do it again. I feel that alcohol is a nasty drug. It makes me people over exaggerate simple emotions such a super happy, angry,horny, sad, lazy, etc. I just do not dig how it is used so carelessly in this society, and what it does to our livers.

 

ive only drank 10 days out of this whole year. one day i drank a whole bottle of bacardi rum and a whole bottle of viva cuervo tequila. another day i drank 7 beers. another day i drank a bottle of peppermint schnaups. another day i drank a bottle and a half of Jack Daniels. another day i drank a bottle of white merlot wine. another day i drank a bottle of peach mad dog. another day i drank a bottle of champaign. another day i drank 5 beers. another day i drank a bottle of bacardi razz, good stuff. and at last on the 10th day i drank a bottle of scotch. that was a crazy month !

 

What did that binge do for you? Good or bad? I am just trying to figure out what people are getting out of it. No judgements at all, it is just something I have never understood. Only looking in from the outside, though. It is one drug I was really never willing to try. Even in the crazy days.

 

I dont drink either. I did though when I was young, in middle school, skipping school to get drunk with my friends And in the last few years I have drank some socially, but I dont like to drink...I dont really like the taste of it, and I dont like being drunk. Im usually the only one ordering a Pepsi at the bar while everyone else is slammin' beer after beer. I dont really see the appeal....so many people drink.........But I guess it's just not for me. Alcoholism runs in my family on my dad's side though.....although I dont think that played into me not drinking...I guess I just dont like it.

 

There was a good 9 mos. where I didn't drink. This was after I got horribly drunk at a party and threw up and blacked out (first time). I stuck by my ganj and I was fine. Eventually I started drinking again, mainly because of college and social expectations. Now I party every weekend.

I remember the first time I drank, I did it with a bunch of close friends junior year of highschool. It was at a friend of mine's house, her dad was gone so we were able to drink without inhibition. I had an incredible amount of fun. All of my freinds were pretty drunk and we were all being goofy and overall it was really fun. After that I wasn't able to drink much, mainly because it is inconvienant. I started smoking more weed, until i pretty much exclusively smoked weed, but I still drank if it was convienant (place to do it, didnt have to drive, etc.). After the aforementioned party I quit drinking for a long time.

Now that I have done many substances I can tell you something of the nature of alcohol. It has very little depth. Almost any other drug has more depth than alcohol. It is extremely temporal. One will not gain anything while drunk that has any lasting value (unlike psychadelics or speed or what have you). For those with inhibitions alcohol makes social situations much more enjoyable, even in moderate amounts. It is certainly a social lubricant, especially with people that you are not especially close friends with. I remember when I used to drink I would get a very distinct sense of euphoria and mood lift. I no longer get this from alcohol. I think it may be because the other drugs as well as my own growth have given me a deeper sense of true happiness.

I think that the primary action of alcohol is that it distracts people. Its sort a phenominon that I have seen in many people, even without alcohol. Sometimes people get so wrapped up in the moment that they forget about being self-critical or considering their own actions. While drunk people become so wrapped up with engaging in whats going on at the moment that they don't step back in their minds and think, "wait a second, what the fuck am I doing?!"(which is why people do stupid things on alki) I think that I have gained control through other substances that I have too good of a grasp on whats going on to become sufficiently distracted to enjoy alcohol.

Thats basically it. Overall I think that if you are a deep person you will probably enjoy alcohol less than if you are a vain shallow person, so your not really missing out. But I still do have good times on alcohol. Also, unfortunately, weed isn't legal, so the social implications tell me that its right to destroy brain cells with alcohol and enlightening myself with weed or mushrooms makes me an evil druggy that no one should associate with.

 

I went through my "drinking phase" in my younger years, experimentation and peer pressure and all, as many people have. But now-a-days I am not much of a drinker at all.

I am prone to migraines and I find that drinking sets them off. I still have a few drinks here and there, on ocassion, but it's few and far between. I also don't care for the "out of control" feeling of being drunk. And the spinning when you lay down to go to sleep and the hangover the next morning... blah.

I much prefer smoking pot.