9 ms·

Alcohol is a problem exactly insofar as it negatively affects your life. The problem is that, like all drugs—indeed, all vices of any kind—the thing itself is e

by ellius 9y ago

Alcohol is a problem exactly insofar as it negatively affects your life. The problem is that, like all drugs—indeed, all vices of any kind—the thing itself is exactly what will convince you that it's not causing problems. If you live a long, full life, if your health and relationships aren't suffering, who's to say there's anything wrong with it? But it's very hard for an individual in it to know that those things are true.

justonepost 9y ago
It all adds up. The evidence is pretty broad and conclusive that alcohol is neurotoxic and reduces your life span. It's important that we do make clear to our children the dangers so they don't fall into addiction out of complacency. All to often cigarette smoking and drinking is normalized. Now of course we have to deal with marijuana. Have a few glasses once a month is probably ok, same for other drugs I am sure. But it's all too easy to slip into habit. There are ways to create joy In your life that don't require chemicals. We don't teach our children about this enough. Stories like this could stressed that.
- jdavis703 9y ago
  Drinking -- at least for me -- has never about joy or being happy. The only happiness I really get from a drink is enjoying a new, novel flavor, not dissimilar from the joy of tasting a new food. For me the main reason I drink is to medicate my anxiety. My anxiety is both a blessing and a curse. It motivates me to work harder, but at the same time causes me to fear social interaction. With alcohol I can temporarily tolerate being in close quarters with people I'm loosely associated with, such as acquittances, family and colleagues. But for me it's a medication primarily, not something to get "high" off of. I am certainly not the only one who drinks in order to maintain the appearance of some semblance of a normal life.
  - songbirdstew 9y ago
    Anxiety is no joke, and I'm not trying to be patronizing as I'm sure you might have considered this, but why not get a prescription for anti-anxiety medication, or try other therapeutic approached? Depending on what kind of insurance you have, it could end up being less expensive than an alcohol habit.
hug 9y ago
I'm an alcoholic. I'm an alcoholic but I don't have a problem, and I don't see what it is about alcohol that would possibly cause people to think they're not problem alcoholics. I drink "too much", by which I mean I definitely exceed the so-called healthy amount of four standard drinks a day over the long term, and just between you and me I also exceed that amount over the short term, if you know what I mean, but as I said earlier I also think that I don't have a problem. I know alcohol is a vice, but it's not a vice I just have, it's a vice I luxuriate in. It's a vice that gives me comfort and pleasure and just sometimes a little bit of pain, but never regret. It's not a habit, it's a hobby. Every weekday morning, after a night of drinking beers at the pub with friends, or after a bottle of wine while playing video games, or after sharing stories with a bartender at a cocktail bar, I wake up, I shit, I shower and I shave, and I head to work on the train among all of the healthy, non-alcoholic commuters. I achieve what I need to every day at work, being easily one of the most productive people at the job, and I come home and I spend time with my family, and my friends, and except for the part where I have a glass of gin in my hand you'd never pick me as the guy who drinks "too much". I blend in. I blend in not because I try, but because it's not actually really an issue. Not a problem. Sometimes, rarely enough to call it rare but repeatable enough to call it occasional, on a Saturday morning I'll wake up with blurry eyes and a pounding headache and I'll know I've definitely overdone it. That the night before I had -- in full knowledge of the consequences, and accepting them -- found the limit of the amount that I should have had to drink and gone right past it without looking back. That maybe I should have stopped four or five or six or seven drinks earlier in the night, if only for the fact that drinking is too much fun and too delicious. If only for the fact that I didn't so much enjoy being drunk, with the knots in my brain unwound, feeling like I'm finally able to relax my consciousness with a drink like I relax my body with a massage. Even those mornings after I think to myself that I don't have a problem. Maybe it's just my naïveté.
- koolba 9y ago
  Do you drink in the mornings and during the day as well or only binge drink on a nightly basis? I know plenty of people in the industry with a work hard / play hard mindset that are like that but all the ones I know personally moved on when it being impractical (generally when they started having kids).
morecoffee 9y ago
Beer is super fattening. Being fat degrades your life (try walking upstairs or sitting comfortably on an airplane). If you can drink beer, or other alcohol without ballooning, I suppose you could say it doesn't affect your life negatively. So far I haven't seen people able to make this work. At least for me, when I drink a beer, I know I have to pay for it with >1 hour of jogging later.

by ellius 9y ago

justonepost 9y ago

It all adds up. The evidence is pretty broad and conclusive that alcohol is neurotoxic and reduces your life span. It's important that we do make clear to our children the dangers so they don't fall into addiction out of complacency. All to often cigarette smoking and drinking is normalized. Now of course we have to deal with marijuana. Have a few glasses once a month is probably ok, same for other drugs I am sure. But it's all too easy to slip into habit. There are ways to create joy In your life that don't require chemicals. We don't teach our children about this enough. Stories like this could stressed that.

jdavis703 9y ago
Drinking -- at least for me -- has never about joy or being happy. The only happiness I really get from a drink is enjoying a new, novel flavor, not dissimilar from the joy of tasting a new food. For me the main reason I drink is to medicate my anxiety. My anxiety is both a blessing and a curse. It motivates me to work harder, but at the same time causes me to fear social interaction. With alcohol I can temporarily tolerate being in close quarters with people I'm loosely associated with, such as acquittances, family and colleagues. But for me it's a medication primarily, not something to get "high" off of. I am certainly not the only one who drinks in order to maintain the appearance of some semblance of a normal life.
- songbirdstew 9y ago
  Anxiety is no joke, and I'm not trying to be patronizing as I'm sure you might have considered this, but why not get a prescription for anti-anxiety medication, or try other therapeutic approached? Depending on what kind of insurance you have, it could end up being less expensive than an alcohol habit.

hug 9y ago

I'm an alcoholic. I'm an alcoholic but I don't have a problem, and I don't see what it is about alcohol that would possibly cause people to think they're not problem alcoholics. I drink "too much", by which I mean I definitely exceed the so-called healthy amount of four standard drinks a day over the long term, and just between you and me I also exceed that amount over the short term, if you know what I mean, but as I said earlier I also think that I don't have a problem. I know alcohol is a vice, but it's not a vice I just have, it's a vice I luxuriate in. It's a vice that gives me comfort and pleasure and just sometimes a little bit of pain, but never regret. It's not a habit, it's a hobby. Every weekday morning, after a night of drinking beers at the pub with friends, or after a bottle of wine while playing video games, or after sharing stories with a bartender at a cocktail bar, I wake up, I shit, I shower and I shave, and I head to work on the train among all of the healthy, non-alcoholic commuters. I achieve what I need to every day at work, being easily one of the most productive people at the job, and I come home and I spend time with my family, and my friends, and except for the part where I have a glass of gin in my hand you'd never pick me as the guy who drinks "too much". I blend in. I blend in not because I try, but because it's not actually really an issue. Not a problem. Sometimes, rarely enough to call it rare but repeatable enough to call it occasional, on a Saturday morning I'll wake up with blurry eyes and a pounding headache and I'll know I've definitely overdone it. That the night before I had -- in full knowledge of the consequences, and accepting them -- found the limit of the amount that I should have had to drink and gone right past it without looking back. That maybe I should have stopped four or five or six or seven drinks earlier in the night, if only for the fact that drinking is too much fun and too delicious. If only for the fact that I didn't so much enjoy being drunk, with the knots in my brain unwound, feeling like I'm finally able to relax my consciousness with a drink like I relax my body with a massage. Even those mornings after I think to myself that I don't have a problem. Maybe it's just my naïveté.

koolba 9y ago
Do you drink in the mornings and during the day as well or only binge drink on a nightly basis? I know plenty of people in the industry with a work hard / play hard mindset that are like that but all the ones I know personally moved on when it being impractical (generally when they started having kids).

morecoffee 9y ago

Beer is super fattening. Being fat degrades your life (try walking upstairs or sitting comfortably on an airplane). If you can drink beer, or other alcohol without ballooning, I suppose you could say it doesn't affect your life negatively. So far I haven't seen people able to make this work. At least for me, when I drink a beer, I know I have to pay for it with >1 hour of jogging later.