I had a beer once, vile stuff, have not been into it ever since. So, your average Weizen?
I started drinking a lot like last year. Uni life you know?
I’ve never started drinking alcohol, so I didn’t have to stop it.
Up jogging.
I’m not a non-drinker, but staying fit got me in the frame of mind to cut back.
Just getting older and looking around the whole drinking culture. I didn’t want to be stuck in some stuffy bar tucked away in a corner drinking my health away just for the sake of a social life. I went out to drink because it was the easiest way to socialise and meet people.
Having said that, it is increasingly difficult to meet people and make friends when you don’t drink. Even when you go to a bar and just sit there not drinking, everyone ends up on a different level and it’s just boring.
It took nothing major at all for me to stop. Just a healthy understanding of what it would eventually do to me physically while also weighing in on the fact I was doing it to be social. There are other ways to be social and I cannot argue that I feel healthier now than I have in the last 10 years
I bought V8 and now money that I would spent on alcohol, I need to spend on fuel
You should try my method of realizing both of my parents have issues with alcohol, and not wanting to risk the same thing happening to me. It’s rock solid.
Losing weight, I still drink (get drunk) once a month, but drinking every week I was eating more along with it and getting fatter lol
Just growing older i guess? Well first i mostly switched to weed. Not with the intention of drinking less. Just because i preferred it and doing both at the same time didnt work well for me. So i prioritised weed.
Then just growing older, got a gf and a job and cut back on the weed. Didnt stop drinking. Just dont feel like it often anymore and now i drink 1 to 3 beers or wine glasses maybe twice a month and get drunk maybe 3 times a year. As opposed to 2-3 times per week in high school and university times (and 5-6 times a week during my exchange semester).
Stopped being fat, now one drink is enough to get me fucked up
In 2011 with a face full of what i thought were zits i showed up at a dermatologist. After some trial and error with 90 days of antibiotics and tallow breakers he prescribed me Metronidazole. While leaving he told me to stop drinking alcohol. I didnt… after one day of using the cream and a ‘couple of beers’, my face was one itching surface that just wouldnt stop. It drove me insane.
That was the day i did stop drinking.
Turns out i had acne rosacea which usually is influenced by alcohol consumption [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosacea](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosacea)
When I was drinking at like 5:00 am to feel normal
Nothing. I took part in “Sober October” in 2019, ditched the “default evening beers” and kept it that way. Sometimes I buy myself one(!), or order one at a restaurant, but that’s it. Never missed it.
I took part in Sober October for general health concerns. One litre beer each evening is not healthy and sometimes it already wasn’t two beers but three. Got me worried and Sober October came just right.
Gout. That will teach you quickly to stay sober. I still have a beer every once in a while, but nowhere near what I used to.
Last time I drank, I got very ill. Decided that there was no reason to go through that again.
I had some really wild years and it was absolutely normal for me to have a beer or 3 every day. Grew older and hangovers started being more severe after lesser amounts. Accidentally – as silly as it sounds – had a weekend with no drink and just realised that I love this feeling of not having a headache, being thirsty and waking up early full of energy. I still drink sometimes during social events but not always and not as much. Lost lots of weight thanks to that with no effort
I watched my brother go from being a party animal in his 20s, to picking him and his friends up from the bar in there 30s, to calling the ambulance on him in his 40s because his liver can no longer process and break down alcohol. He has so much as a sip and it sends his blood pressure sky high or it bottoms out.
He’s stopped drinking but struggles with it for sure. I never really started because he was already in the middle of his descent into alcoholism when I turned 18
Haven’t given up alcohol, I just moved away from drinking every night. Now if I have work in the morning or I’ve been at work that day I will not drink, I did this together with my partner in an effort to help with her weight loss and mental health.
I didn’t stop, I drink still. I just never had a problem with it, I drink responsibly, not a lot. I go for quality over quantity. My goal is never to get drunk, it is just to enjoy my drink.
It probably helped that I was always an outsider who didn’t socialize much so I was never influenced to drink a lot by my peers.
Kids I’m amazed that anyone can drink and have kids , why risk anything that could interfere with that precious precious sleep?
Drinking didn’t solved my problems only added to them, so I decided that I suffering through the misery called Life with a clear head.
Ah yes, an appropriate question to ask Europe, the largest association of former alcoholics.
Training for marathon/half-marathon events.
Since running 50-70 km a week is a lot of effort already you don’t really feel like sabotaging your progress by drinking alcohol!
Non-alcoholic beer industry has also made great strides in recent decade offering a great alternative.
Being diagnosed with Meniere’s disease. Alcohol might trigger Meniere’s attacks. I rather live without alcohol, than have vertigo and lose my hearing. Not that I drank much anyway, maybe glass of red wine here and there.
I drank Hennessy once and unironically lost my taste for it… low key traumatized.
I’m probably blessed and cursed at the same time, because I do not like the taste of alcohol. At all. I’ve tried numerous drinks over the years. I just get an unpleasant burning sensation in my mouth each and every time. So at some point I just started to refuse alcoholic drinks altogether. No point in drinking something that I don’t enjoy.
Still annoying though that at fancier restaurants you basically only have two choices of drink: water and/or wine. Maybe a beer, depending on the dish. Ordering anything else feels out of place. Yes, waiter, I’ll have a coke with this €40 lobster!
Nothing. I was in the ICU for one week with acute pancreatitis. Then 3 more weeks laying in a bed all fucked up. That woke me up pretty good
You don’t have to take anything unless you’re an actual addict. Just stop. No-one who is worth your time will give you any grief about soft drinks or non-alcoholic beers. And if you don’t want to go to pubs there are a gazillion alternatives. Pick something you are interested in, and find the local club.
Gout.
Well, I’ve always had gout ever since I turned 18, but I didn’t know until I was 29.
Alcohol, and especially beer, contributes to elevated uric acid levels and can trigger gout attacks.
The thing is, if you have gout, not drinking isn’t going to cure it either, it just reduces the likelihood of flare ups from let’s say 50 per 10 years to 48 per 10 years.
Now I’m on proper medication and haven’t had a flare in 7 years, but I’ve cut down drinking.
Also not being a student anymore and having a full time job means that there are fewer occasions where drinking seems like a useful investment of time.
I still drink 5-6 beers every weekend, but that’s it.
One time me and my brother didn’t have jobs, no money and no food. His mom gave him 20 euros. He said, go buy wine, cigaretts and if there is something left buy bread….it hit me so hard. Saved my life…
I have tried a considerable number of psychoactive substances and realised, after years of recreational alcohol use, that alcohol was the least fun, most damaging, most embarrassing, most expensive, least rewarding, and least enjoyable substance I could use. So, I decided to stop altogether.
I now mostly use psychedelics and some other substances recreationally, but no more alcohol.
31 comments
I had a beer once, vile stuff, have not been into it ever since. So, your average Weizen?
I started drinking a lot like last year. Uni life you know?
I’ve never started drinking alcohol, so I didn’t have to stop it.
Up jogging.
I’m not a non-drinker, but staying fit got me in the frame of mind to cut back.
Just getting older and looking around the whole drinking culture. I didn’t want to be stuck in some stuffy bar tucked away in a corner drinking my health away just for the sake of a social life. I went out to drink because it was the easiest way to socialise and meet people.
Having said that, it is increasingly difficult to meet people and make friends when you don’t drink. Even when you go to a bar and just sit there not drinking, everyone ends up on a different level and it’s just boring.
It took nothing major at all for me to stop. Just a healthy understanding of what it would eventually do to me physically while also weighing in on the fact I was doing it to be social. There are other ways to be social and I cannot argue that I feel healthier now than I have in the last 10 years
I bought V8 and now money that I would spent on alcohol, I need to spend on fuel
You should try my method of realizing both of my parents have issues with alcohol, and not wanting to risk the same thing happening to me. It’s rock solid.
Losing weight, I still drink (get drunk) once a month, but drinking every week I was eating more along with it and getting fatter lol
Just growing older i guess? Well first i mostly switched to weed. Not with the intention of drinking less. Just because i preferred it and doing both at the same time didnt work well for me. So i prioritised weed.
Then just growing older, got a gf and a job and cut back on the weed. Didnt stop drinking. Just dont feel like it often anymore and now i drink 1 to 3 beers or wine glasses maybe twice a month and get drunk maybe 3 times a year. As opposed to 2-3 times per week in high school and university times (and 5-6 times a week during my exchange semester).
Stopped being fat, now one drink is enough to get me fucked up
In 2011 with a face full of what i thought were zits i showed up at a dermatologist. After some trial and error with 90 days of antibiotics and tallow breakers he prescribed me Metronidazole. While leaving he told me to stop drinking alcohol. I didnt… after one day of using the cream and a ‘couple of beers’, my face was one itching surface that just wouldnt stop. It drove me insane.
That was the day i did stop drinking.
Turns out i had acne rosacea which usually is influenced by alcohol consumption [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosacea](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosacea)
When I was drinking at like 5:00 am to feel normal
Nothing. I took part in “Sober October” in 2019, ditched the “default evening beers” and kept it that way. Sometimes I buy myself one(!), or order one at a restaurant, but that’s it. Never missed it.
I took part in Sober October for general health concerns. One litre beer each evening is not healthy and sometimes it already wasn’t two beers but three. Got me worried and Sober October came just right.
Gout. That will teach you quickly to stay sober. I still have a beer every once in a while, but nowhere near what I used to.
Last time I drank, I got very ill. Decided that there was no reason to go through that again.
I had some really wild years and it was absolutely normal for me to have a beer or 3 every day. Grew older and hangovers started being more severe after lesser amounts. Accidentally – as silly as it sounds – had a weekend with no drink and just realised that I love this feeling of not having a headache, being thirsty and waking up early full of energy. I still drink sometimes during social events but not always and not as much. Lost lots of weight thanks to that with no effort
I watched my brother go from being a party animal in his 20s, to picking him and his friends up from the bar in there 30s, to calling the ambulance on him in his 40s because his liver can no longer process and break down alcohol. He has so much as a sip and it sends his blood pressure sky high or it bottoms out.
He’s stopped drinking but struggles with it for sure. I never really started because he was already in the middle of his descent into alcoholism when I turned 18
Haven’t given up alcohol, I just moved away from drinking every night. Now if I have work in the morning or I’ve been at work that day I will not drink, I did this together with my partner in an effort to help with her weight loss and mental health.
I didn’t stop, I drink still. I just never had a problem with it, I drink responsibly, not a lot. I go for quality over quantity. My goal is never to get drunk, it is just to enjoy my drink.
It probably helped that I was always an outsider who didn’t socialize much so I was never influenced to drink a lot by my peers.
Kids I’m amazed that anyone can drink and have kids , why risk anything that could interfere with that precious precious sleep?
Drinking didn’t solved my problems only added to them, so I decided that I suffering through the misery called Life with a clear head.
Ah yes, an appropriate question to ask Europe, the largest association of former alcoholics.
Training for marathon/half-marathon events.
Since running 50-70 km a week is a lot of effort already you don’t really feel like sabotaging your progress by drinking alcohol!
Non-alcoholic beer industry has also made great strides in recent decade offering a great alternative.
Being diagnosed with Meniere’s disease. Alcohol might trigger Meniere’s attacks. I rather live without alcohol, than have vertigo and lose my hearing. Not that I drank much anyway, maybe glass of red wine here and there.
I drank Hennessy once and unironically lost my taste for it… low key traumatized.
I’m probably blessed and cursed at the same time, because I do not like the taste of alcohol. At all. I’ve tried numerous drinks over the years. I just get an unpleasant burning sensation in my mouth each and every time. So at some point I just started to refuse alcoholic drinks altogether. No point in drinking something that I don’t enjoy.
Still annoying though that at fancier restaurants you basically only have two choices of drink: water and/or wine. Maybe a beer, depending on the dish. Ordering anything else feels out of place. Yes, waiter, I’ll have a coke with this €40 lobster!
Nothing. I was in the ICU for one week with acute pancreatitis. Then 3 more weeks laying in a bed all fucked up. That woke me up pretty good
You don’t have to take anything unless you’re an actual addict. Just stop. No-one who is worth your time will give you any grief about soft drinks or non-alcoholic beers. And if you don’t want to go to pubs there are a gazillion alternatives. Pick something you are interested in, and find the local club.
Gout.
Well, I’ve always had gout ever since I turned 18, but I didn’t know until I was 29.
Alcohol, and especially beer, contributes to elevated uric acid levels and can trigger gout attacks.
The thing is, if you have gout, not drinking isn’t going to cure it either, it just reduces the likelihood of flare ups from let’s say 50 per 10 years to 48 per 10 years.
Now I’m on proper medication and haven’t had a flare in 7 years, but I’ve cut down drinking.
Also not being a student anymore and having a full time job means that there are fewer occasions where drinking seems like a useful investment of time.
I still drink 5-6 beers every weekend, but that’s it.
One time me and my brother didn’t have jobs, no money and no food. His mom gave him 20 euros. He said, go buy wine, cigaretts and if there is something left buy bread….it hit me so hard. Saved my life…
I have tried a considerable number of psychoactive substances and realised, after years of recreational alcohol use, that alcohol was the least fun, most damaging, most embarrassing, most expensive, least rewarding, and least enjoyable substance I could use. So, I decided to stop altogether.
I now mostly use psychedelics and some other substances recreationally, but no more alcohol.