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What's the Big Deal About Alcohol and Drinking?


skysoar15

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Alcohol is one of those things that I have never had a desire for. At all.

 

I say that not as a "look at me" sort of thing either. 

 

Even by Christianity standards, alcohol by itself isn't considered a sin. Growing up though, drinking was something I simply never did. I dont even remember being influenced by my mother against it. I simply wasn't into it.

 

To me, alcohol causes more problems than it's worth. More cons than pros. I never want to risk losing control of my body. That is just....inherently stupid to me.  

 

No offense to anyone here who does drink and can control themselves. I just think life is precious and that alcohol doesnt necessarily seem worth it enough to risk the effects afterward.

 

Plus there's a side of me that also doesnt care to risk getting addicted to it. 

 

What are you guys' experiences with alcohol and drinking?

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i used to drink alot in my younger days

acted silly thereafter

a group of us had a good laugh after

 

so whats the beef?

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I once listened to a sermon about alcohol from the pastor of the fundamentalist church I used to belong to.  He had never once touched alcohol.  There was a hint of an envy against the Christians who had a dazzling testimony of being delivered from drinking.  This believer in the literal and infallible word of god stated that Jesus never drank alcohol.  Said that it was unthinkable that Jesus imbibed in the stuff that had trashed so many lives over the generations.  I can't remember how he actually explained it all away.  Something about a "sweet wine" used in those days, that wasn't actually fermented.  And this all from someone who condemned the Catholic religion for requiring the lowly believers to accept the interpretation of church authorities of the scriptures.  And I did drink the sweet wine.:(

Tom

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I don't know. Alcohol is pretty popular, as it has been made and consumed by every civilization throughout history. Alcohol is fine, alcoholics are a problem. DRINK RESPONSIBLY!!! :P

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I used to be a teetotaler, but now I imbibe occasionally. Never had the desire to overdo it!

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I enjoy all sorts of adult beverages.  My background is 3/4 Irish and raised catholic, so alcohol was never a religious issue.  However, with my gene pool, even back in high school, I was always aware about the possibility of becoming addicted (which was why I never smoked weed back then).   Recovering from even a slight hangover gets harder the older you get.   I'll be 63 Sunday, so I know these things :dead::lmao:

 

Getting sick drunk and losing control has never appealed to me, but a slight buzz...oh yeah.   Moderation and to each his own.  

 

Cheers!

:beer:

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Even when we were Xian Fundies my wife & I would have a glass of wine if we were having dinner in a nice restaurant. We eventually began having a bottle or 2 on hand at the house. I never cared for beer though until my SIL gave me a Corona Lite. Now I keep a stock of light beer & wine on hand. I never drink more than 1 beer or 2 glasses of wine at a time though.

 

I will occasionally have a scotch or straight whisky but only for a special occasion. I'm more likely to over indulge eating Ice Cream than drinking alcohol. I can do some serious damage to a half gallon of strawberry ice cream, but I work out regularly & my weight hasn't varied much in the last 20 years. I've worn the same size pants since 1997. That's when I started working out regularly & that is just part of my regular routine now.

 

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Glass of grape juice each and every night.

Even enjoy a glass with Mr.s MOHO's chritty-bitty crowd now and again.

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4 hours ago, MOHO said:

Glass of grape juice each and every night.

Even enjoy a glass with Mr.s MOHO's chritty-bitty crowd now and again.

 

In the Church of Christ we took communion every Sunday, without exception. The cup was always filled with grape juice. And the grape juice was always Welch's Grape Juice. I always assumed Welch's was somehow determined to be the only "scripturally correct" grape juice and it was believed that it was actually served by Jesus personally at the Last Supper.  That had to have been true cause the Church of Christ wouldn't serve an unscriptural grape juice.

 

Funny story. The first time I was asked to prepare the Lords Supper I was not given any instruction. I asked where the grape juice was kept and was told it was in the fridge in the Mother's Day Out kitchen. I did my duty and filled all the cups. I heard several comments after the service that the juice tasted funny. It was later determined I'd filled the cups with grape kool aid! :o The Welch's grape juice was kept in the back of the fridge, the kool aid was for the kids and it was kept in the front of the fridge. Honest to goodness true story. It was a long time before I was asked to prepare the Lords Table again.

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I started drinking at 18. Although I over-indulged  a few times in my younger days, I've otherwise enjoyed alcohol in moderation.  In my 20s I drank light beer because I didn't know any better.  In my 30s I discovered craft beers and now my favorites are mostly IPAs (India Pale Ales).  My wife and I have been learning more about wine recently, and enjoying it very much.  Most recently, my favorite way to end the day is to sit back with a good Bourbon.  I can make a glass last almost an hour, savoring the taste and the aroma in equal measure. 

 

But to the OP: alcohol has certainly ruined countless lives. I can't say I would encourage somebody to drink.  Everybody can practice safe sex, but for some people, there is no safe alcohol consumption.  Fortunately I'm not one of them: for me it is one of the many pleasures of life. 

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My first experience with alcohol as a teenager made a big impression on me. During the summer I played on a traveling baseball team and on one trip I had every intention of getting drunk. We played our game and then I went to eat with a few buddies. When I got back to the hotel, I grabbed a beer and started drinking. Before I finished half of it, I noticed that several others were already wasted. One guy was puking his guts out and another was stumbling around and hanging off the balcony railing. I was terrified that he was going to plummet to his death. I spent the next two hours taking care of them. That's when I told myself "I will never be like that." I remember as a teenager and then in college, people giving me a strange look and saying "you don't drink?", like there was something wrong with me. Kind of like  when I tell people in the south that I'm an atheist. 

 

 So, I've never gotten into alcohol, but cigars, on the other hand, are an entirely different story.

 

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On 4/10/2017 at 7:25 AM, skysoar15 said:

Alcohol is one of those things that I have never had a desire for. At all.

 

I say that not as a "look at me" sort of thing either. 

 

Even by Christianity standards, alcohol by itself isn't considered a sin. Growing up though, drinking was something I simply never did. I dont even remember being influenced by my mother against it. I simply wasn't into it.

 

To me, alcohol causes more problems than it's worth. More cons than pros. I never want to risk losing control of my body. That is just....inherently stupid to me.  

 

No offense to anyone here who does drink and can control themselves. I just think life is precious and that alcohol doesnt necessarily seem worth it enough to risk the effects afterward.

 

Plus there's a side of me that also doesnt care to risk getting addicted to it. 

 

What are you guys' experiences with alcohol and drinking?

 

Had a few experiences in high school that were horrible. Cannot stand the smell of anything containing ethanol, let alone drink ethanol containing beverages, so I'm a complete non-drinker. 

 

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When I first saw the title of this thread, I expected it to be about how fundies make such a big deal about alcohol.

 

Anyway, I'm not a drinker, either. I was taught as a child that it's a no-no and I was raised without it. As I got older, the people I hung out with weren't drinkers. I just wasn't around it. Also, as a teenager I rode my bicycle a lot and sometimes collected cans along the road to turn the aluminum in for some money, and let me tell you, the stench of days-old beer cans was horrible! Thus, I wasn't even tempted. I also never wanted to take the risk of becoming addicted to alcohol, nor did I want to add yet another expense to my life.

 

I'll be turning 44 next month, and to this day I still have never tasted any beer. I have nothing against people drinking in moderation, but it just doesn't appeal to me. I did finally taste a few wines in my 30s, but I couldn't stand any of them. I've never tasted any other alcohol (apart from NyQuil), and the wines I sampled would amount to less than half a glass if all were combined.

 

Again, I have nothing against those who drink responsibly, but it holds absolutely zero appeal to me.

 

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On 4/11/2017 at 1:25 AM, skysoar15 said:

Alcohol is one of those things that I have never had a desire for. At all.

 

I say that not as a "look at me" sort of thing either. 

 

Even by Christianity standards, alcohol by itself isn't considered a sin. Growing up though, drinking was something I simply never did. I dont even remember being influenced by my mother against it. I simply wasn't into it.

 

To me, alcohol causes more problems than it's worth. More cons than pros. I never want to risk losing control of my body. That is just....inherently stupid to me.  

 

No offense to anyone here who does drink and can control themselves. I just think life is precious and that alcohol doesnt necessarily seem worth it enough to risk the effects afterward.

 

Plus there's a side of me that also doesnt care to risk getting addicted to it. 

 

What are you guys' experiences with alcohol and drinking?

 

I'm with you here - never have any desire for alcohol as such. There is a particular wine I like (Its dirt cheap, but tastes nice) Apart from that no - why poison yourself I ask... plenty to kill us without intentionally doing so. :D

 

 

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I was never a drinker until my late 20's. I never felt good enough in the Pentecostal Church so I left for awhile very downtrodden. I backslide from the church and joined the crowd of partiers who thought I was too religious. They were glad I decided to get out from the church. Well I showed them that ole' Margee could party.

 

Alcohol took me on a nightmare ride for almost 8 years. I was hooked on the stuff from the first drink. I loved how it made me feel. I was still trying to 'serve the lord' at this time but I felt that I was a complete failure (in the churches eyes) and this led me to drink more. I lost everything, including who I was. The church told me that Satan had me in his grips. I gave my life back to the lord and stopped drinking but I continued to never feel good enough in the church. It has taken me my whole life to regain what I lost and some things I can never have back. I can't touch the stuff and haven't for many, many years now. I don't mind anyone who drinks around me at all.  I actually love being around partiers.

 

Today, I realize that I am a human with flaws. I just keep working on those flaws. That makes me 'good enough'. If anyone has an addicted type personality, I would recommend not touching alcohol. Yes, it does take you 'up' for awhile (and seems to solve all your problems)...but what goes 'up', must come 'down'. I envy people who can drink responsible. But I don't trust that I am one of them so I'll continue to say no to it........

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I drank so heavily in college that I often blacked out. Complete idiocy. But it seemed that was the "norm" back then for a lot of college kids. For me alcohol has always been a way of feeling better, more rlaxed, tuning out the constant thinking . . .about everything. I'm not proud to say that I'm pretty certain I could drink anyone under the table. I dont know why that is. It takes quite a bit for me to feel the effects. Anyway, I had a recent evening where I decided to "relax" with my favorite vodka and ended up waking up in the middle of the night, heart pounding, thinking WTF am I doing? After noticing the next day  that the fluid level in the bottle was significantly lower  (as in I must've had what constituted about 10 shots, maybe more) I decided I can't do this anymore. I'm in search of better (i.e. healthier) ways to relax now. Everything in moderation. . . 

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In my experience, you have to learn to drink. If you're still getting hangovers, you probably still have some training to do. :) Making it taboo seems to make people abuse it when they are young. In Italy, there is no drinking age and I never saw anyone abuse it or even get drunk. I watched as our neighbor gave their 6yo a small shot of limoncello like it was a scoop of ice cream or a slice of cake. In Italy, I drank every day as my roommates drank every day. It seemed really strange at first, but then I realized, I never once got drunk in that country. I had a glass or two of wine every day or a couple of beers and that was it. 

Here in Russia, I now tend to have a couple of shots of vodka every day. I like it. I don't like the feeling of being drunk, but it's very difficult for me to get drunk now too. I have built up a tolerance. I can do shots with my Russian friends and keep up. And as long as I eat something, I don't catch more than a small buzz. I think living in this northern climate, vodka makes things more tolerable; as if the body craves it here where it never did when I was living in the US or elsewhere. We also eat a lot of fatty foods here and the vodka, as I understand it, helps reduce cholesterol.

I grew up in a house where both my parents never touched the stuff. As my dad got older, however, the doctor prescribed him a glass of wine every day. He liked it so much that he started making his own. On my last visit, he had 25 gallons of it in the basement.

Honestly, there are just a few things that actually bring us true pleasure in this world. The food we eat, drinks, for some cigars or similar, sex, family, friends and our experiences. I see no reason to deny ones self any of these pleasures as long as done responsibly so as they retain their pleasure factor and don't turn into a vice that harms.  

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I loved my bourbon, but it didn't love me back.  (Hmmmm  kind of like you-know-who)  Happy to be alcohol free now.

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I love alcohol. I love how it tastes, smells, and makes me feel.

 

Because of this, I'm very aware that there is a point beyond which alcohol no longer makes me feel good. And after that point, I can't enjoy how it tastes or smells anymore either. So I drink moderately. And I love it.

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8 minutes ago, disillusioned said:

I love alcohol. I love how it tastes, smells, and makes me feel.

 

Because of this, I'm very aware that there is point beyond which alcohol no longer makes me feel good. And after that point, I can't enjoy how it tastes or smells anymore either. So I drink moderately. And I love it.

 

Go for it!  For me, it just wasn't working any more.

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I love drinking. It adds to the enjoyment of my life. I rarely have so much that I can't behave myself properly and have probably really overdone it 4-5 times in my life. Those were miserable experiences. 

I'm lucky that I get horribly dizzy-sickness when I drink a bit too much, so I have a nice built-in reward/punishment system that makes me really want to keep it sane. 

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I enjoy alcohol, and find that I tolerate it well.

However, I don't think you should rush to use it if you don't feel like it.

 

For one thing, I've met plenty of people who don't handle it well in some way or another.

In addition, I've read that alcohol can have lasting negative effects on a developing brain if used frequently. This is apparently less so in adults.

These same things are obviously also true of many drugs.

 

All in all, alcohol is a double-edged sword, and for some it's a lot more double-edged than for others. It's great that you exercise caution, and that you're putting your own values first when deciding how to live your life.

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I drink on a Friday night.  Usually whisky, ouzo or Metaxa.  A decent sized gargle of the stuff, enough to relax, not enough to make me drunk.

 

Never had a hang over.  Never been drunk to the point of losing control or a reasonable level of judgment.

 

I occasionally have a beer or cider with food (prefer it  to wine).  And I quite like the odd glass of mead.

 

I really don't care whether any particular person drinks or not.  It's a personal choice.  Though, clearly, clinical alcoholics need to steer clear.  So, as far as I'm concerned, there is no "big deal".

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Grandfather drank his paycheck away every month, leaving his family in poverty despite him being a well-paid bricklayer.  Grandma had to work waiting tables to keep the family of six fed.  My dad once got called to a bar to retrieve his dad.  Ended up punching him to subdue him enough to get him home.  My dad never touched alcohol his entire life.  He died when my dad was in his early twenties.  My dad suffered from depression and anxiety attacks at times throughout his life.  Whether that had anything to do with his childhood, I don't know, but I do know that he never said one word about his father to me or my brothers.  All the stories I know came from my mom.  Anyway, I dabbled in college, scared the absolute crap out of myself driving home drunk one night but never passed out or failed to remember the night before.  I was always too afraid of what might happen to me if I was not in complete control of my faculties so never let it go any further than that.  Only drink rarely when dining out now and then only one drink.  Hubby drinks to relieve the stress of work, to be honest, though he has a self-imposed limit.  Like anything, alcohol in moderation is fine, but some people just can't moderate.

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Yeah I am grateful that I've never been predisposed toward alcohol.

I can't imagine not being in control of my body.

 

One day, I may be surrounded by people drinking wine.

It may look attractive to join in.

 

I hope I have the courage to say no thanks.

Not because drinking is evil, but because I just don't need to let myself feel inferior because I'm the only one in the room who doesn't take to it. 

 

I still see no point in it, personally.

You get pleasure, but at what cost?

 

But you could say the same thing about pornography, which I do enjoy.

To each their own. 

Always been interested to hear about people's experiences with alcohol.

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