Zombies, as the great Billy Connolly said you get drunk from the legs up. Only tried them once I was perfectly lucid (well I thought I was) just couldn’t get my legs to work. Mr SM doesn’t drink, he doesn’t like the taste. Some people take it as a personal insult when he asks for a soft drink and think he’s out to spoil the party.Cosmos are so delicious I could drink them Ina Garten style. Very dangerous.
I've really enjoyed (not sure if the correct word, but y'know...) this thread of conversation.I’ve never taken drugs. MH means i was on prescribed mind-altering things for a while in my 20s so didn’t want the risk. My friends used to go off to parties and have coke or MDMA and one said to me seriously that they were at a party and everyone had got a bit dull and boring so they took coke and had a great time til 4am. My question was that if they liked those people they wouldn’t need to take drugs to enjoy being with them. So why bother? My best friends I have a great time with without drinking. Now I don’t like drinking with people I don’t know, but I used to. Along with my rule about ‘nothing good happens after 2am so go to bed’ the ‘you don’t need to drink to enjoy your real friends’ is another one I think stands up. I’m a big square I know.
Oh yeah, and all the gin mummies stuff and "when you turned up at the picnic with just monster munch and prosecco I knew we would be friends" shit on facebook, as if non drinkers and people who want to supervise their kids properly are all booooring. So immature. I spent enough of my 20s trying to substitute alcohol for my personality, I'm done with that!I was a very social drinker in my youth but when I had children I stopped. Even now I only really drink with a special meal or on the odd night out( which is odd).
I feel with everyone when I do happen to go to friends houses with kids in tow they often want me to drink ( lots) with them, but I just don't want to. I don't feel right drinking more than one when the kids are about and it's my own personal choice.
Big love for all you ninnies as you always talk about things in such a interesting incitful way.
Nobody should have to justify a lifestyle choice to anyone anybody else but it does feel like alcohol is like the sketch from Chewing the fat , son v doesn’t drink & is always questioned about it- is his business nobody else, that doesn’t create buzz on SM so as you say jack had to have worst ever experience which she wailed and clawed through against all odds. With the old chestnut of having the last laugh/everyone clapped etc etcOh bless thank you, I’ll give it a listen love the repeating behaviours thing! It’s so true, if old behaviours no longer serve you why keep them?It’s funny cos if someone gives up dairy it’s a non issue, accepted at face value and no one checks if they’re really sure they’ve got a problem with dairy and it’s not just that milk, the supermarket, or that day, or a bad patch in their life. But if you give up alcohol you may as well host an Insta live to answer all the questions it brings up, how much doubt or outright refusal to believe you’ll be met with, I think that’s a huge part of why anonymity works so well cos you don’t need to invite those opinions into your decision making process.
Everyone’s rock bottom will be different, because everyone is different. There’s nothing wrong with not having a glamorous or exciting or tragic origins story, most chairs you hear are from normal people who went through some shit and are now trying their best to work through it all. It’s mental health at the end of the day, working on that is a very normal thing to do. This doesn’t align with Jack’s desires for yet another “against all odds” branding opportunity so naturally she had the worst alcoholism, claiming long tenure recovery she hasn’t got, the most evil celeb sponsor, it’s just tiresome.
Jack sees this as another gem in her crown of celebrity, like the tragic downfall of the maverick outsider turned tabloid fodder superstar, especially with the stories she wheels out all orientating around staff / success / locations / work. Sometimes I think the anonymity does us a disservice as it’ll always be a case of the emptiest vessels make the loudest noise, the only people that’ll do these sorts of press pieces will be sick because they’ve not understood you just do not do this. Awfully guache, darling! x
Anyone who drinks prosecco has a drink problem.Oh yeah, and all the gin mummies stuff and "when you turned up at the picnic with just monster munch and prosecco I knew we would be friends" shit on facebook, as if non drinkers and people who want to supervise their kids properly are all booooring. So immature. I spent enough of my 20s trying to substitute alcohol for my personality, I'm done with that!
I mean 3 pints of coke is *probably* too much... (god knows how you slept after all that caffeine?!) but most alcohol is also full of sugar!I've never drunk (don't like the taste & also I live 15 miles away from everyone else so I always have to drive) and I'm so glad I don't have the sort of friends who judge and pressurise for not drinking (although a good friend pointed out one Christmas that I was on my second or third pint of real Coke of the night and did I realise how bad it was to drink that much sugar? Sure, but I only do it once or twice a year!)
@Legionnairess what Harry says is my experience with someone close, unless they want to make a change they won’t and will find reasons/excuses. All you can do really is not enable them . So worrying though xIt's awful, but in my experience (limited) there's little you can do and saying something probably won't make any difference. I feel for you. It's terrible to witness, especially when you care about someone.
omg I was about to ask about the reaction! was it a face/neck rash? I have no allergy to anything else, but for a few years in my late 20s sometimes (but weirdly not always) when I drank I got a rash, now my sister who is a similar age is suffering the same! I haven't had it in years, so bizarreI drink quite heavily when I'm out, but definitely cut down over the years. Not for any particular reason, I just don't think drinking is worth the calories when I could have cheese instead. I don't really drink at home, maybe one glass of wine or one gin a month.
However I am having a slight issue where I've now taken some sort of reaction to alcohol 3 times. At first I thought it was because it was a cheap premade one. Then I thought it was the food colouring in a cocktail. However the most recent one was because of a really nice bottle of wine! It wasn't even reduced in Tesco! Weirdest thing was I had a glass of the same wine (different bottle) the previous month and was fine. Very weird.
I was so annoyed and my face was so sore. (Admittedly I just took an antihistamine and finished the glass). I still have most of the bottle in the fridge so I made a really nice risotto last night
totally OT , but is anyone else hoping (now that ready steady cook is back) that can't cook, won't cook will be reviived? I feel like it is the mindless entertainment we all need atmMore facts:
Jack can't cook, won't cook and shan't cook (for me at any rate).
I've never been a big drinker either as I'm a total lightweight but I do enjoy an occasional glass of wine. I find soft drinks very addictive though. Most of them contain sucralose which I can't tolerate but the premium brands have real sugar and really nice flavours and at one stage I was going through a bottle a day. I was depressed at that time and definitely using that and binge eating as a coping mechanism. There is very little help for that though. Gp didn't take me seriously even though it is detrimental for health as well. Obviously alcohol is worse and having had an alcoholic parent and grandparents (Scottish so very much the culture up here but less so on the Swedish side) it put me off alcohol as well. I despised the behavioural changes in people more than anything. Men in particular become lecherous or aggressive. When I was a student it was out of the ordinary to not drink and the pressure in Edinburgh to get rat arsed is huge. I hated it and it was women as well as men applying the pressure. A night out without getting drunk was not seen as fun even though they could be. The pubs and clubs around the campuses don't help either, lots of freshers pub crawls and student happy hours really help to cement that drinking culture. Its actually horrible. I'm married to a Scot and there are alcoholics in his family which has contributed to his being not big on drink either. He likes really strong whisky but I could count on one hand the amount of times per year that he imbibes. Men in particular are expected to drink great quantities so it becomes both peer, cultural and societal pressure. It's not easy to avoid it if you have a problem
Might be sulphites? I have a friend who has to read labelsI drink quite heavily when I'm out, but definitely cut down over the years. Not for any particular reason, I just don't think drinking is worth the calories when I could have cheese instead. I don't really drink at home, maybe one glass of wine or one gin a month.
However I am having a slight issue where I've now taken some sort of reaction to alcohol 3 times. At first I thought it was because it was a cheap premade one. Then I thought it was the food colouring in a cocktail. However the most recent one was because of a really nice bottle of wine! It wasn't even reduced in Tesco! Weirdest thing was I had a glass of the same wine (different bottle) the previous month and was fine. Very weird.
I was so annoyed and my face was so sore. (Admittedly I just took an antihistamine and finished the glass). I still have most of the bottle in the fridge so I made a really nice risotto last night
Erm...I like prosecco. I also like champagne but I don't drink much so tend to buy the dinky bottles you get at the supermarket once in a while. I can't drink non sparkling wine as I get awful heartburn.Anyone who drinks prosecco has a drink problem.
This is a lot like me, but also like others have said upthread, I have never tried recreational drugs because I have a tendency to have no off switch when I find something I enjoy. I have a friend of a similar persuasion, his wife and my husband don't drink and we have very similar family backgrounds with regard to education, earnings, class, and drinking, so we chat about where it all fits in. He drinks a lot more than me in frequency and in quantity and I know it'll be having a long term impact on his physical and mental health but he knows that too, I just try to model moderation, healthy habits and lots of non-judgement. He has rules like he never drinks before Thursdays in the week, and I have my own rules that I've had to work out and put in place for myself - no phone after 2 drinks, no drinking at all when in sole charge of a child or in a workplace environment, no drinking to excess in a public space etc, I am glad I have the sense and life experience to have worked these out by my 40s but it would be much better if my parents or PSHE lessons or even an older colleague had taught me this at some point in time.I love it when the thread takes a detour like this and everyone shares their experiencesreally interesting to hear all of your experiences. I used to drink quite heavily in social situations as I was very socially anxious but now that I am older I feel less concerned about it, not that I've got less anxious I don't think, more that I can tolerate the awkwardness of myself a bit better now I just drink very rarely, less than once a month I'd say, when I actually fancy a glass of something with dinner.
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