Drinking and not drinking
 

Has anyone ever quit drinking alcohol for a long period of time, say 5+ years, then changed their life for the better and started drinking again casually without being stupid, having a good time and being in self control?

:helpme

I'm not an alcoholic by any means, so I have no clue what it would be like, but I'm sure with enough self control, anything is possible.

I get bombed out of my mind sometimes, but I still know whats going on and never use "I was drunk" as an excuse... unless I vomit on someone :1orglaugh

Anything is possible, and it doesn't take 5 years. You can change your life in 5 seconds, if you want to. Life is literally a toss of the coin and it isn't always easy. It can be a perfect personal paradise or a perfect personal prison. Each day is perfect, regardless of what "happens" to you. There are no accidents, coincidences, or mistakes, there is only what we make.

Live each day like it's the end of the world, for without love, it is.
We are survivors or we are lost. It is all up to you.

I have known so many people that would be considered some level of "alcoholic," but at the same time some of them function just fine. I don't like hangovers, headaches, and what booze does to my body but still sometimes a drink or two can't be that bad unless you are out to get wasted. But I don't know if I even want those little irks drinking causes in my life.

At the same time, everyone drinks here. Everyone. It really is difficult to exist and just completely not drink at all. I don't know. It is all pretty complicated, then again it isn't.

However I quit drinking and wow what after a year you experience. Not a week, or a month or two, a year or more. My life is so very different from what it was 5 years ago. I couldn't even party like that today if I wanted to. Well, unless I was ready to lose custody of my child and give up my house and cozy lifestyle. :1orglaugh

I am a very realistic person. But I have standards. lol

If you are overweight check with a heart specialist before you stop drinking. Your drinking could be saving your life. You may have clogged arteries and the booze is thinning your blood enough so you dont have a heart attack. When you stop drinking your blood will thicken a bit and you may die.

i drink on weekends if i go to club, and sometimes if i am with friends, at home almost never

Yes. About 8 yrs back, Natalie & I used to do a cpl of bottles of vodka, tequila, bacardi or any other spirit we thought of drinking that weekend. We would do the same on a Saturday night too & boy, we would get wrecked. Enjoy ourselves & not having stupid fights with people. Having really goodnights with music, singing & dancing.

We gave it up when we started our business & found it a little difficult not to go to wild with other people when we were trying to work & no get pissed.

Now we enjoy a few beers, sometimes still running through a botle of vodka with redbull on a friday night while doing live cam together until 3 in the morning. But its easy, just enjoy, you dont have to go wild.

Everything is great in moderation :thumbsup

I can not handle alcohol very well. So I've been sober a bit more than a year now. No problem at all. It actually feels really nice to not wake up with a hangover anymore.
I can feel down for days after I've been drinking.

Well I am a firm believer of time helping to work things out. It takes so many days for our minds to make changes, like quitting smoking for example. It takes 14 days they say to break the hard habit of lighting up and putting it in your mouth every hour or so, and longer to train your brain to do other things. Although I have never smoked and I know that is a tough one too.

Of course I miss getting fucked up. But that was a different time in my life. Instead of refusing drinks all the time, I just wonder what it would be like now to have one, or two. I used to have about ten, haha.

[QUOTE=cherrylula;17609945] I don't like hangovers, headaches, QUOTE]

Thats why we would do it again on the Saturday night... but then Sunday comes :Oh crap

No weight problems or clogged arteries here, thanks though. :1orglaugh

Depends if you were an alcoholic, the temptation would always be there.

I only drink once a week, but when I drink it is very hard to stop until it's gone or I fall asleep.

See on average we used to drink 2-3 nights a week.

So I'd get drunk say twice a week, and be hungover twice a week. One day I did the math on my calculator and realized I had wasted about 2/3 of my time, wasted over half of my life in over a decade either drinking and fucking off or being hungover and recovering.

I lost a lot of my twenties to alcoholism as they call it. So I still realize these things. I don't really like alcohol, but I love a good beer buzz.

n/p Read this its actually kind of interesting. Heavy drinkers out live nondrinkers

http://www.time.com/time/health/arti...014332,00.html

If you want a drink, have one. You are The Decider. No one and no thing controls you.
Don't get caught up in "what they say" and don't over think it. Remember, you get exactly what you want. If you end up drunk with your head in the toilet, it is because that is the result you wanted and the actions you put in motion to achieve it. If it takes you 14 days to kick a smoking habit, it is because you allowed someone else to dictate the terms of quitting for you, you accepted it, and you will get the result you want, whether that's quitting or failure to quit. If you really wanted to quit, (drinking, smoking, etc...) it only takes one decision and 1 second to do that. That is the nature of controlling yourself versus being led by another.

I have read soooo much about all the studies they've done on drinking. Fact is it is one of the largest industries in the world. $$$. Everyone loves it from the makers to the drinkers.

It really depends on other health conditions of the people they study. Where they live, environmental factors, everything. Fact is alcohol just isn't good for you. Sure maybe it has a couple benefits here and there. But there are also other foods and things you can eat that have the same benefits and not all the bad side effects. That is just fact I will always believe. And I have seen what alcohol does to people, and doesn't do to people who don't drink, in my family and friends. Experience and wisdom is what I have the most beliefe in. My own.

I do love capitalism though and am almost fascinated by the whole thing. From beer ads to rehab, it's all a trip. It is such a part of this world in all cultures, alcohol.

You know what I really want Amp? A big fat bud covered cannabis plant growing in my home and a jar full of sticky buds next to my vaporizer. I can't have that here, this state took away my goddamn freedom. :1orglaugh

There is no such thing as "Alcoholism". That is nothing more than a name/label that keeps you suppressed. How ridiculous would that same formula sound applied to everything else? Aspirin-a-holic, Cough Syrup-a-holic, Tylenol-a-holic, ad infinitum. There are only 2 sides of the coin and one edge, and the same is true in this case too.

Your choices include:

Drink
Don't drink

and everything else in between.

If someone quit and changed your life for the better, that indicates Alcohol had been a problem at some point of time. If that is the case, it's a matter of time before those consequences and un-manageability will resurface to the same degree or more severe. No one can determine that you're an alcoholic other than yourself, however, an alcoholic can never drink non alcoholically... :)

This is a manufactured lie that you have accepted as truth.
It is your choice to believe it or not, but understand that it is manufactured truth, not actual truth.

No such a think as Alcoholism? All of what you mentioned are some form of chemical dependence AKA addiction.

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/alcoholism/DS00340

I'll drink to that:drinkup:drinkup

I did.

I quit drinking at Xbix in Vegas one year. For the love of god, I don't fucking understand why anyone goes to Vegas in the middle of the summer. Anyhow, landed in Vegas at night, went to the "pool party" at 11pm, had two or three beers, and woke up totally dehydrated the following morning, and was pretty much dehydrated for the rest of my stay. It was horrible.

I quit drinking for a few years. I was never a big drinker at home - I don't keep any booze in my house - but I was a binge drinker at shows. I stop drinking at the shows and was fine.

Now I can have a beer or two at a party or a few drinks at Christmas, and not think anything of it. I think at Cybernet Expo i did one whole shot of Jager, and that was it.

Smoking too. I can have a few smokes on Christmas day, and then not smoke again for the next year or two. It's nice.

See there is the debate. So if I call myself an alcoholic of my own will, then I am pretty much giving up ever having self control? I don't know about that.

Then there is the whole hereditary genetic argument. That some people metabolize it differently, etc.

I've probably read too many books on the subject. :1orglaugh

You are accepting definitions and limitations dictated by someone other than yourself.
You already know the truth, why adopt false truth? You think that because the Mayo Clinic tells you that "alcoholism" exists that it is the truth?

interesting.

I wonder what else you believe.

Addiction is a mindset, not a disease. There is only one person that can cure a mindset. You already know who that person is.

No it has little to do with giving up self control. It has to do with acceptance more than anything else. It's a disease, just like other mental illnesses/cancer/etc. We have no control over those diseases other than seeking treatment and putting them into remission.

I'm not here to argue with you. I wanted to drop in and share my experience. Addiction and alcoholism involve a mind set as you say and a way of thinking and being abstinent from those chemicals are just the start of treatment.

You are brainwashed, and this type of advice/belief only suppresses and limits.
There is no disease that forces anyone to consciously make a decision to go to the store, purchase booze, and willingly drink it. It is a choice, and only a choice.

Nor am I here to argue, only to help. There is no "treatment" for a fake disease, only a choice.

We have both made our choices already. I choose not to be limited.

2 or 3 drinks a night... Oh dear, thats like a teaser :) At one point, Natalie & I would get a fridge full of beer, maybe 24 cans & a bottle of vodka on a friday night, we would polish it off, working on cam, dancing, entertaining & enjoying ourselves & by Saturday need to buy another of beer to help the hangover.

I know it must have been really bad for us, but when youre having fun & enjoying yourselves, not causing trouble, earning money & living life, together with a partner happy... Why not :2 cents:

Yeah nothing wrong with people drinking and having fun. I just choose not to drink. Not a big deal really.

I know the other guy youre posting too, isnt a hater either.... But it is strange how so many do argue or upset the place on GFY.

I know neither of you are doing this, i'm just pointing it out.... maybe the haters or argumentative fuckers need a drink :winkwink:

did Fletch start drinking again?

:1orglaugh

holy shit

Not at all. He is very sober, so am I.

Good on you though. It saves a lot of money. Do you have a glass of wine over a meal still?

no and I do not think its possible

I quit for 5 months once. I got stupid when I started again.

I haven't done anything stupid lately, but I haven't drank for over 2.5 yrs. I'm sure if I drink again, I'll eventually do something stupid.

Sober is a great place to be. :)

No but i've done the quit drinking for a long period of time and started drinking again casually, having a good time and getting absolutely fucked as I wasn't used to the alcohol anymore.