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Is Sober the New Cool?

calamity

calamity

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Scanning through my facebook news feeds seems to suggest a common theme: everyone is trying to get straight. We've got one lady celebrating her 90 days. Another is proudly broadcasting his 10 years. A few friends are posting memes about the harm drinking does to the brain. Others are even bad mouthing the MJ. What the hell is going on?

Even within the family, I notice that sobriety is the in-thing. My mom quit drinking, citing her age and an Afib issue which seems to spike whenever she imbibes. My wife stopped drinking about 2 months ago, citing too much heartburn and a desire to get back into a size 3 as her reasons for change. My dad said he only drinks twice a week now. In-laws, cousins and sibs have all quit years ago as I did, mostly because the booze messes up my cycling schedule.

Makes me wonder if being sober is not the new cool. I can see why. Addictions are a huge problem these days, and messing with substances has truly become uncool because of it.
 
calamity said:
Scanning through my facebook news feeds seems to suggest a common theme: everyone is trying to get straight. We've got one lady celebrating her 90 days. Another is proudly broadcasting his 10 years. A few friends are posting memes about the harm drinking does to the brain. Others are even bad mouthing the MJ. What the hell is going on?

Even within the family, I notice that sobriety is the in-thing. My mom quit drinking, citing her age and an Afib issue which seems to spike whenever she imbibes. My wife stopped drinking about 2 months ago, citing too much heartburn and a desire to get back into a size 3 as her reasons for change. My dad said he only drinks twice a week now. In-laws, cousins and sibs have all quit years ago as I did, mostly because the booze messes up my cycling schedule.

Makes me wonder if being sober is not the new cool. I can see why. Addictions are a huge problem these days, and messing with substances has truly become uncool because of it.
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I quit drinking last October. I don't think anythings changed with the youngsters. But, I hope that there is a perception shift between adults coming. Because as of now, almost all adults I hang out with, have the perception that in order to have fun, you have to be drinking.
 
I don't think gettgin totally hammered has ever been particularly 'cool', but the vast majority of people consume in moderate quantities w/out making getting ****ed up a priority.

I would hope the eternal cool would be self-control.
 
Is Sober the New Cool?
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To each his own / live and let live. For some people, uninterrupted sobriety is great, and more power to them. For others, that isn't the case. One size does not fit all.
 
Most things in moderation are fine.

It is not necessarily the substance that is bad, often the person simply cannot tolerate or can't stop indulging in it.

Always it's up to the person to learn what s/he can tolerate.+
 
Winston said:
I quit drinking last October. I don't think anythings changed with the youngsters. But, I hope that there is a perception shift between adults coming. Because as of now, almost all adults I hang out with, have the perception that in order to have fun, you have to be drinking.
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The bulk of my personal crowd of friends are all in their fifties, and we are all into cycling. Each one of us quit. Some were pretty hard core drinkers too. The common theme in that group is that drinking interferes with cycling. A few of the younger ones still drink. They still have that better recovery time of youth, IMO.

My wife is in her 40's, as are most of those FB friends I mentioned above. She's probably ahead of the curve a bit since she's around me a lot. If I still drank, I am pretty sure she would still drink too. The FB friends seem like they had an actual problem. My wife didn't. She was just a binge drinker, like I was.

I suspect that if I was still single, drinking would probably still be in my wheelhouse. I cannot imagine going out to meet people without at least having one or two drinks. I still have a drink or two when I go out with customers, but only before dinner. Once the meal arrives, I switch over to water and then coffee. I no longer drink to get drunk. I hate being drunk.
 
JamesBY said:
Most things in moderation are fine.

It is not necessarily the substance that is bad, often the person simply cannot tolerate or can't stop indulging in it.

Always it's up to the person to learn what s/he can tolerate.+
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Yeah. About 5 years ago...maybe longer, I switched over to just having a couple drinks and then stopping. It made a world of difference. lol...in fact, I began wondering why I did not do that to begin with.

Over the years though, I even dropped having one or two unless the occasion really called for it. A glass of wine with friends before dinner or a couple Jamesons on the rocks before having dinner with customers would be some examples. Hell, I'll even take a toke on a joint when my wife's pothead GF comes to visit.
 
calamity said:
The bulk of my personal crowd of friends are all in their fifties, and we are all into cycling. Each one of us quit. Some were pretty hard core drinkers too. The common theme in that group is that drinking interferes with cycling. A few of the younger ones still drink. They still have that better recovery time of youth, IMO.

My wife is in her 40's, as are most of those FB friends I mentioned above. She's probably ahead of the curve a bit since she's around me a lot. If I still drank, I am pretty sure she would still drink too. The FB friends seem like they had an actual problem. My wife didn't. She was just a binge drinker, like I was.

I suspect that if I was still single, drinking would probably still be in my wheelhouse. I cannot imagine going out to meet people without at least having one or two drinks. I still have a drink or two when I go out with customers, but only before dinner. Once the meal arrives, I switch over to water and then coffee. I no longer drink to get drunk. I hate being drunk.
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It sounds like you guys weren't really drunks to begin with. Although, if you did drink to excess habitually, clinically you would be diagnosed with alcohol use disorder. I was a drunk. I had the **** it's in my system. IT never fails, when I quit drinking my life gets better, and when I start drinking, I may get laid a few more times, but, my life gets worse.
 
My wife informed me that today is National Tequila Day. Both of us gave up alcohol consumption more than 3 years ago. Maybe we have added momentum to a current Teetotal Cool Movement? If we have, we really do not mind giving credit to other people who want it.

To each their own. I have plenty of wonderful memories as a former Tavern owner.
 
Winston said:
It sounds like you guys weren't really drunks to begin with. Although, if you did drink to excess habitually, clinically you would be diagnosed with alcohol use disorder. I was a drunk. I had the **** it's in my system. IT never fails, when I quit drinking my life gets better, and when I start drinking, I may get laid a few more times, but, my life gets worse.
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I never drank regularly, but I regularly got ****-faced when I drank. :)
 
Trippy Trekker said:
My wife informed me that today is National Tequila Day. Both of us gave up alcohol consumption more than 3 years ago. Maybe we have added momentum to a current Teetotal Cool Movement? If we have, we really do not mind giving credit to other people who want it.

To each their own. I have plenty of wonderful memories as a former Tavern owner.
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I so totally related to this song it's not even funny.

Well woke up this morning with a wine glass in my hand
Whose wine, what wine, where the hell did I dine?
Must have been a dream I don't believe where I've been
Come on, let's do it again…
 
calamity said:
I never drank regularly, but I regularly got ****-faced when I drank. :)
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Makes sense, you liked to tie one on when you chose to drank, maybe once a week at some point in your life, or once a month.
 
When was staying away from drugs and booze ever not cool?
 
Winston said:
Makes sense, you liked to tie one on when you chose to drank, maybe once a week at some point in your life, or once a month.
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It varied. Later in life it was once every three months; earlier, once or twice a week. My first wife called it Calamity's lost Thursday. Apparently, I picked Thursday nights to go to the bar instead of heading home. She obviously didn't like it.
 
calamity said:
I never drank regularly, but I regularly got ****-faced when I drank. :)
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I've never gotten ****-faced drunk before. My girlfriend and a whole lot of my friends have, but not me. I dunno, it just seems kinda scary to me.
 
TheGoverness said:
I've never gotten ****-faced drunk before. My girlfriend and a whole lot of my friends have, but not me. I dunno, it just seems kinda scary to me.
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It never really sunk in until I began hanging around drunks while sober. Then I was like, "Damn. I bet I was a real asshole back in the day."
 
calamity said:
Scanning through my facebook news feeds seems to suggest a common theme: everyone is trying to get straight. We've got one lady celebrating her 90 days. Another is proudly broadcasting his 10 years. A few friends are posting memes about the harm drinking does to the brain. Others are even bad mouthing the MJ. What the hell is going on?

Even within the family, I notice that sobriety is the in-thing. My mom quit drinking, citing her age and an Afib issue which seems to spike whenever she imbibes. My wife stopped drinking about 2 months ago, citing too much heartburn and a desire to get back into a size 3 as her reasons for change. My dad said he only drinks twice a week now. In-laws, cousins and sibs have all quit years ago as I did, mostly because the booze messes up my cycling schedule.

Makes me wonder if being sober is not the new cool. I can see why. Addictions are a huge problem these days, and messing with substances has truly become uncool because of it.
Click to expand...

Well, it's not healthy to booze up all the time. Maybe we should discuss this over a martini cocktail?
 
I enjoy the taste of alcohol. Good wine, scotch, beer. It's enjoyable as is the slight buzz. I have some alcohol - usually red wine with dinner - almost daily.

That said I rarely drink outside my house, never when driving, and can count on one hand the times I've gotten ****faced in 56 years of living. I do not like at all the idea of not being completely in control of myself or being unable to deal with any situation that may arise.
 
TheGoverness said:
I've never gotten ****-faced drunk before. My girlfriend and a whole lot of my friends have, but not me. I dunno, it just seems kinda scary to me.
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In the right company? Nothing to fear till the next day
 
calamity said:
Scanning through my facebook news feeds seems to suggest a common theme: everyone is trying to get straight. We've got one lady celebrating her 90 days. Another is proudly broadcasting his 10 years. A few friends are posting memes about the harm drinking does to the brain. Others are even bad mouthing the MJ. What the hell is going on?

Even within the family, I notice that sobriety is the in-thing. My mom quit drinking, citing her age and an Afib issue which seems to spike whenever she imbibes. My wife stopped drinking about 2 months ago, citing too much heartburn and a desire to get back into a size 3 as her reasons for change. My dad said he only drinks twice a week now. In-laws, cousins and sibs have all quit years ago as I did, mostly because the booze messes up my cycling schedule.

Makes me wonder if being sober is not the new cool. I can see why. Addictions are a huge problem these days, and messing with substances has truly become uncool because of it.
Click to expand...

It's all Miley Cyrus's fault.
 
calamity said:
It never really sunk in until I began hanging around drunks while sober. Then I was like, "Damn. I bet I was a real asshole back in the day."
Click to expand...

I've been to quite a few house parties (in which I was basically dragged to them everytime), where everyone was getting drunk as ****. And you are correct; drunk people are irritating as ****.
 
I turned 13 in 1969. Those close to my age know the cultural dynamics of the era. I grew my hair long, embraced anti-war sentiment and a drug oriented lifestyle. Halfway through 10th grade, 15 years old, I quit high school and went to work. The next year, I became an emancipated juvenile.

As my 18th birthday approached, I wanted to go to college... so I swore off alcohol and drugs, took up jogging and daily calisthenics, and immersed myself in self-study of basic courses I had missed from not finishing high school. By the start of my 2nd Semester of college, I had made new friends. Nightclubs and alcohol factored into our social life. I broke all my previous vows. Ten of us from college headed in a RV to the 1975 Mardi Gras in New Orleans.

I felt guilty about breaking vows. Going forward I made an adjustment and set arbitrary finish lines to my goals instead of making open-ended promises. When I reach a finish line, I open myself up for a reevaluation of goals. This system has led to less guilt for falling short of a goal. My current no drinking phase ties into support of my wife. In 2014, she agreed to enter intensive Residential Treatment. She successfully completed the program. Our lives transitioned from primarily reactive to primarily proactive. Our relationship has blossomed!

The exponential increase in the quality of my life with my Best Friend has given me ample incentive to not drink alcohol or use drugs. If it ain't broke, don't fix it!
 
calamity said:
I so totally related to this song it's not even funny.

Well woke up this morning with a wine glass in my hand
Whose wine, what wine, where the hell did I dine?
Must have been a dream I don't believe where I've been
Come on, let's do it again…
Click to expand...

What a grin! Took me right back again to Peter Frampton [1975?]. "Do you... you... feel like I do?"
 
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