Thinking of giving up the booze.

[Danny_Boy]

I'm seriously considering packing in drinking (alcohol) all together. To clarify I'm not a massive drinker but I am a binge drinker. The reason I'm considering this is because every time I drink I feel like rubbish. I either get a headache instantly or feel awful all day the next day and it's at a point now where I don't feel I enjoy drinking anymore. Has anyone else done this and would you recommend it? My main concerns are missing out socially, being labelled or questioned if I say I no longer drink etc.

 

I don't think I have a problem with alcohol I just feel like my love affair with it is at an end. I only really drink once a week (Saturday) I rarely drink at home unless it's a special occasion.

[Halibut]

If it feels right to stop, stop. I went for three years without a drink a while ago and it was fine; my social life didn't stop, it was just a bit different. I guess people did ask me why I wasn't drinking, but it was no big deal.

[spilldig]

I was a lot better when I got the weekly units under control. I stick now to the old recommended weekly unit value of 21 which works for me. They did drop it to 14 which I think is too low. Years ago 8 pints of beer used to be considered a safe amount to drink on a Saturday night and that's 16 units there in 1 night. The trouble I found is that you are considered a wimp if you try to cut down, so I tended to have one good night's drinking and then nothing for the rest of that week. The problem is that the UK has a very heavy drinking culture.

[Danny_Boy]

If it feels right to stop, stop. I went for three years without a drink a while ago and it was fine; my social life didn't stop, it was just a bit different. I guess people did ask me why I wasn't drinking, but it was no big deal.

 

Thanks, it does feel right, I can't remember the lasts time I enjoyed drinking, think it's become more of a habit than something I actually enjoy.

 

---------- Post added 14-12-2016 at 09:55 ----------

 

I was a lot better when I got the weekly units under control. I stick now to the old recommended weekly unit value of 21 which works for me. They did drop it to 14 which I think is too low. Years ago 8 pints of beer used to be considered a safe amount to drink on a Saturday night and that's 16 units there in 1 night. The trouble I found is that you are considered a wimp if you try to cut down, so I tended to have one good night's drinking and then nothing for the rest of that week. The problem is that the UK has a very heavy drinking culture.

 

That's pretty much what I'm like now I don't drink all week but then I probably have my weekly allowance in one day. It's got to the point though now where I don't enjoy it anymore and the the hangovers are killers, I feel rough for a couple of days.

 

I do have a group of mates who I go out with regularly and they will definitely think of me as a wimp, I'm tough enough and old enough to deal with the jibes that will no doubt come my way.

Edited December 14, 2016 by Danny_Boy

[L00b]

My main concerns are missing out socially, being labelled or questioned if I say I no longer drink etc

 

One thing I've never adopted over here, in 20-odd years, is your binge drinking culture. "Stupid" doesn't begin to do it justice. Drinking to get trolleyed, wtf is the point of that?

 

I'm anything but a tea-totaller: I'll have a glass or two with a meal, or a glass or two when entertaining, perhaps the odd 'proper' drinking session at a party once in a blue moon (I'm generally not bothered, so tend to prefer to drive and let Mrs drink instead, so 1 drink tops and then pop), and that's it.

 

Never caused me any grief with family, friends or acquaintances. Those few that did, never progressed to even 'acquaintance' and I'm none the poorer for it

 

If people think less of you for not drinking (much, or at all), I daresay perhaps have a think about whether they are worth knowing/socialising with?

 

[joke] what next? don't go veggie in case you get ribbed by carnivores? [/joke]

[Danny_Boy]

 

One thing I've never adopted over here, in 20-odd years, is your binge drinking culture. "Stupid" doesn't begin to do it justice. Drinking to get trolleyed, wtf is the point of that?

 

I'm anything but a tea-totaller: I'll have a glass or two with a meal, or a glass or two when entertaining, perhaps the odd 'proper' drinking session at a party once in a blue moon (I'm generally not bothered, so tend to prefer to drive and let Mrs drink instead, so 1 drink tops and then pop), and that's it.

 

Never caused me any grief with family, friends or acquaintances. Those few that did, never progressed to even 'acquaintance' and I'm none the poorer for it

 

If people think less of you for not drinking (much, or at all), I daresay perhaps have a think about whether they are worth knowing/socialising with?

 

[joke] what next? don't go veggie in case you get ribbed by carnivores? [/joke]

 

I completely agree, but it's just the way it's always been for me and my group of friends. I go out on Saturday either to the match or to watch football and then stay out most of the day / night. I'm not a lout or a trouble caused and in fairness although I do binge drink I very rarely get plastered drunk. I just don't know how my relationships with my current group of friends will be if I stop drinking. I don't mind drinking pop and driving etc but I know what they're like if I turn one drink down never mind if I stop completely.

[L00b]

I completely agree, but it's just the way it's always been for me and my group of friends. I go out on Saturday either to the match or to watch football and then stay out most of the day / night. I'm not a lout or a trouble caused and in fairness although I do binge drink I very rarely get plastered drunk. I just don't know how my relationships with my current group of friends will be if I stop drinking. I don't mind drinking pop and driving etc but I know what they're like if I turn one drink down never mind if I stop completely.

I'd like to think that you realise, that what you are describing above is a typical peer pressure environment.

 

Short of bullying, but far less so than short of the mutual respect which you should expect from your social circle (in a reasonable, not necessarily ideal, world).

 

So the first, and arguably main, burning question is: is your drinking affecting your health and/or your life?

 

If yes, then the next and logical one is, is your health and/or your life more or less important than your social circle?

 

If more important, then the last and still logical one is, are you willing to sacrifice some or all of your social circle (if that's what it comes to) to achieve your purpose?

 

I don't mean to sound like a life coach, but yours is a relatively easy problem to understand and solve. It may require a healthy dose of courage (others may call it selfishness) to do so, that said.

 

In a different-but-related-way, I'm still in the throes of quitting the tabs myself (can take the French out of France, but harder to take France out of the French ), and it's costing me socially (decades-long best friends still smoke like chimney stacks, no quitting in sight, so I have to avoid them a good while, otherwise one social call and I know that I'd be straight back onto 10-a-day plus patches), so I have an idea of the issue and commiserate

Edited December 14, 2016 by L00b

[Danny_Boy]

I'd like to think that you realise, that what you are describing above is a typical peer pressure environment.

 

Short of bullying, but far less so than short of the mutual respect which you should expect from your social circle (in a reasonable, not necessarily ideal, world).

 

So the first, and arguably main, burning question is: is your drinking affecting your health and/or your life?

 

If yes, then the next and logical one is, is your health and/or your life more or less important than your social circle?

 

If more important, then the last and still logical one is, are you willing to sacrifice some or all of your social circle (if that's what it comes to) to achieve your purpose?

 

I don't mean to sound like a life coach, but yours is a relatively easy problem to understand and solve. It may require a healthy dose of courage (others may call it selfishness) to do so, that said.

 

In a different-but-related-way, I'm still in the throes of quitting the tabs myself (can take the French out of France, but harder to take France out of the French ), and it's costing me socially (decades-long best friends still smoke like chimney stacks, no quitting in sight, so I have to avoid them a good while, otherwise one social call and I know that I'd be straight back onto 10-a-day plus patches), so I have an idea of the issue and commiserate

 

It's not affecting my life in the fact that I miss out on things due to drink etc and it's not affecting my health (I don't think) other than feeling rubbish for a couple of days after. There is definitely peer pressure in the group I hang around with but it's only light "banter".

 

I quit smoking 11 years ago and was definitely one of the best things I've done although it was bloody hard. I worked out the other year the amount I'd saved and it must be around the £28k mark now based on an average of £7 a pack since I quit and now and based on the 20 a day I used to smoke.

[rudds1]

I gave up drinking 30 years ago and never missed it one bit .

[Glennis]

I have not had a drop for years, probably about twenty plus years. It wasn't a conscious choice, just lost interest in it.