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The rhetoric around teetotaling always bothered me. Life is extremely difficult and painful and there are times when drinking gets people through things. So I f
by harimau777 2y ago
The rhetoric around teetotaling always bothered me. Life is extremely difficult and painful and there are times when drinking gets people through things. So I feel a little mistrustful of people who are proud of not drinking. If someone's lived such a charmed life that they can't understand why sometimes people need to drink, then can they really relate to regular people?
I hope that makes sense. I don't mean that I think there's something wrong with not drinking exactly, it's just that there's a certain segment of non-drinkers that seem like they are coming from a position of not understanding what most people have to go through.
- Fire-Dragon-DoL 2y agoIt sounds terrifying to me to connect drinking to a coping mechanism at all. The two things should be unrelated. I would reach out to a doctor and ask for a serious drug if life is challenging enough that I need a medical coping mechanism (and this is totally fine). Connecting something used for pleasure and socialization suddenly with a coping mechanism sounds like a recipe for a disaster. Same with sugar, to be clear.
- harimau777 2y agoUnfortunately, sometimes one of the things someone is coping with is not being able to afford or find a doctor. My experience is also that current medicine is limited in its ability to help with things like loneliness and isolation.
- Fire-Dragon-DoL 2y agoIsn't using alcohol to address loneliness and isolation a recipe for going into a pit of desperation?
- arp242 2y agoI never felt the "need" to drink to "get through" things, and I really haven't had a particularly charmed life. I just drink beer or wine because I like it – that's it. If drinking is a coping mechanism that works for you: great, hope that works well for you. But for many people it's not.