As with everything, I think it's a mix of a lot of things, and we don't know which factors predominate. Partly it's because I'm getting older. Partly it's becau

As with everything, I think it's a mix of a lot of things, and we don't know which factors predominate. Partly it's because I'm getting older. Partly it's because I simply don't know of anything good that comes from drinking. I also have a meditation practice, and I notice that drinking has a negative effect on it. One strategy for continuing to get social value out of extremely moderate drinking is: _go fancy_. Learn to make fancy drinks. Care about flavors and ingredients and all that. Drink less. Spend more time enjoying less alcohol. One thing that concerns me a little about your description of your experience is that it sounds as if you might be self-regulating, and drinking even a little bit causes the regulation system to fail, at which point suffering arises in the form of sadness or anger. This is not a terrible situation, but as you age, the firewall will inevitably degrade, and you may find yourself unable to keep the bad stuff at bay. But if there's nothing bad behind the firewall, it will be OK when the firewall degrades. You can decrease the amount of stuff in your mind that the world needs to be protected from through something like meditation practice. Here's how I do it: https://library.dhammasukha.org/uploads/1/2/8/6/12865490/the_path_to_nibbana__d_johnson_f18.pdf https://library.dhammasukha.org/uploads/1/2/8/6/12865490/the...