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 haven’t stopped drinking in the deliberate sense, but more taken to making the most of my time, which is difficult to accomplish with a hang over. As well as looking after overall health, not just the drinking, but it’s one of many things to watch.
I truly and honestly am a “social drinker”. I don’t drink alone, which really cuts out a lot of it.
My friends don’t primarily go to bars as a central activity. I still drink with them on certain occasions, but it’s more like a couple of beers while doing something else.
These days I average probably a six pack of beer a month (some months maybe only 1 or 2 beers, other months maybe a bit more than 6 so it averages out), and maybe one hard cocktail a month at a fancy place to eat.
It’s actually quite nice to get a proper buzz after two beers these days.
I’ve also simultaneously cut out 99% of soda. I still enjoy beer, but Coke/Pepsi now tastes weird and off-putting. Only various root beers, ginger ales, vanilla, and Dr Pepper types taste any good to me, though I probably drink fewer sodas than beers now.