Random thought hit me. I don’t drink loads but enjoy a bevvy. However what would the world be like if there was no alcohol
I’ve had spells through health reasons for not drinking and it’s a bit weird being out. Enjoyed it but also have a heightened sense of people doing my head in!
We'd all be dead.
https://youtu.be/PdwYjFnFoJU
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I honestly wouldnt miss it, as having an alcoholic Dad and myself many years back alcohol dependant I had years of misery, as a kid with an abusive Dad and then fighting my own mental fragility.Quote:
Originally Posted by LustForLeith
I think the power of the mind can be an amazing thing and many years ago I took ownership of my problem, initially because I suffered anxiety induced hangovers that not only spoiled my life but my familys and those others close to me
I can have a beer now but I can drink it to enjoy it by limiting myself, or I can choose to avoid it altogether. Recently I planned to go 4 weeks without touching a drop, that changed to 6 and then finally 5 months.
I suppose a big reason for that is I kicked my social life into touch, a decision that I didnt take lightly, that in turn improved my life ten fold and that of my relationship with my Wife. We do things together now which believe it or not, I enjoy 😀
A good coffee and a good bit of telly with some adult conversation thrown in rather than the old, wheres my jeans and top as Im going out to get tanked up
I've been off it since the start of the year - so c.7 weeks, probably a record for me sonce turning 18 - and I've not missed it, but I'd almost be tempted to say I'm disappointed in the lack of perceivable benefits. I don't feel a million times healthier, or have noticeably better sleep or more energy etc.
I had a night out during this and I'd say I enjoyed 90% of it as much as I would have if drinking. I enjoyed trying some new alcohol-free beers and the whole experience felt the exact same, and I probably felt a bit smug knowing I'd not be hungover the next day. However, 12 hours of being in pubs starts to take its toll when you're not drunk enough to not realise otherwise, and once everyone else was getting very merry I started to feel more tired than anything and there was a noticeable delta in energy levels at that point.
I shall have a drink soon as me and my wife toast the eventual arrival of our daughter. However I doubt I'll be able to dwell on my 7 weeks of sobriety achievement given her 9 months...
I almost never drink in the house. I've never really got it and still don't even though my opportunities for getting out at the weekend are more restricted these days. I always find it's a case of open a few beers, get a bit of a buzz and then what? When you are out and about there are people to talk to, mates to have a laugh with, other places to go. At home it's sitting a bit pissed on your couch and I never really get the point.
That's my take on the whole thing. Alcohol is a social thing for me. If I'm out I'll enjoy a few drinks and to be totally honest I probably drink to get drunk more often than not. Not with the express intent of doing so but I'm not really one for 'a couple'. If I'm drinking then it's for the night. If I'm not then I'll happily sit with a juice (non alcoholic beers give me horrendous headaches) rather than have say 2 beers.
I can go weeks without drinking. It has no impact on my working life, family life and I don't feel a whole lot better if I'm off it for 6 weeks or have 3 weekends out in a row. It's something I enjoy, I find being sober among drunk people a drag and I don't find it a hardship to go a few weeks without it either.
That is me word for word, yesterday before and after the game was my first drink for 5 weeks, wasn't a conscious effort to stay off it, I just had nothing on the previous 5 weeks and never drink in the house or just for the sake of it, it's only when I'm out with pals, some times even when out with pals I just can't be arsed with a potential hangover so just don't drinkQuote:
Originally Posted by Pretty Boy
Seldom drink unless going for a meal with the wife or a family gathering, got wine, gin, whisky etc in the cupboard but only opened on a rare occasion, I drive for a living so I'm used to it.
Only really drink on my day off on a Wednesday when I can usually be found in Winstons late afternoon and then have a couple where ever we are dining out in the evening. The odd bottle of lager in the house sometimes after work.
I would miss it.
It would be brutal! Ribena and fresh orange are the only soft drinks I like (yeah I drink plenty water but I don't actually enjoy it).
I'm rarely out these days so 2 or 3 or occasionally 4 beers (if it's a really good Hibs performance) in the house on a Friday and Saturday nights and a couple of glasses of wine with Sunday dinner make me very happy indeed :greengrin
I'd be a ****load richer, that's for sure. Life affords me far fewer opportunities to drink than it used to, can't say I'm too upset at that change in circumstances
A difficult one for me to comment on as alcohol has never been a part of my personal life but has affected me mostly negatively throughout my life. I have experienced the downside of it through an alcoholic relative and the effects on their health and ultimate demise. So my take on it is purely from a health perspective and what would replace it if it didn’t exist.
Water being the obvious one, I certainly don’t drink as much water as health professionals would recommend I do, as has been mentioned already I don’t particularly like water on its own. Since I’ve retired I am drinking a lot more tea than I used to probably because my wife is a prolific tea drinker. When I was working and if I was out socially I drank a lot of fizzy juice and fruit juices.
I can think of several social occasions I’ve avoided because of peer pressure to have a drink and the looks and comments you receive when you ask for a soft drink. Also the drink/drive laws have been very influential on me as again I’ve experienced the consequences of drunk drivers personally when hit by a drunk driver while on my motorbike and a friend who lost a loved one due to a drunk driver.
For me if alcohol never existed it would be a good thing.
I have never been one to drink at home. For me it's always been about going out and being sociable. Sadly when I say being sociable I could be a complete fanny when drunk when I was younger. Probably all through my teens and twenties, with the occasional blip in my thirties and forties too. Fighting, being obnoxious, annoying etc. Not all the time but it certainly didn't take much to tip me from amiable drunk to being a total ********.
I have seen one of my mates, a brother really, go from life and soul to alcoholic to suicide.
I'm glad to see that both my older kids who are old enough to drink don't seem to have my being a fanny gene while drinking. I still enjoy alcohol and the feeling of being drunk, sadly it did take me years to work out to be a decent drunk. I guess that like all mind altering substances they have different effects on different people. If we invented alcohol now it would definitely be banned
The NHS and other public services would certainly be in a better state with less demand.
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I never really got involved in drinking at home pre-lockdown but, the way prices are going in run of the mill pubs (£4.50 for a pint in Dickens Lounge must be a wind up) I can see house gatherings for big sporting events becoming a regular occurrence.
I have this debate in my head often. I love the Friday evening drink, especially when I’ve been working from home. The computer is shut off at five and me and the wife are ready for a drink.
I eat well, train hard in the gym and run and if I have a hangover - by hangover I mean just being aware of having had a drink the night before - I make myself follow through with training regardless.
I do think it has become a bit too much of a ritual but we’re parents to two young kids and I feel like blowing off steam on a Friday actually does us some good.
Our life seems to fluctuate every 6 months or so due to work being so seasonal for me so it’s about to be flipped on its head again with my busy period kicking off. I work from home a lot during the winter which makes the five o’clock beer a lot easier to say no to if it’s actually 6 o’clock and I want to go to the gym.
Something we do is limit our drinking to two nights a week only which works quite well.
It's probably worth considering that if alcohol didn't exist then humans would have come up with some other conscious altering substance that does broadly the same job.
I drank a lot less than I do now when I was in my late teens and very early 20s. I replaced it by smoking unholy amounts of cannabis though. In societal terms that is probably less harmful in that not many stoners are scrapping in the street or whatever (albeit that's true of the vast majority of drinkers too). On a personal level I was far more dependent than I have ever been with alcohol. I found myself in some really black moods if I couldn't get it and it made me a proper lazy ******* into the bargain. The conversations I had probably felt really profound at the time but looking back it was the same utter pish that drunks spout just said more slowly and with a sense it was somehow deeper.
If alcohol didn't exist we would be sitting here discussing what if something else didn't exist, something would fill the void.
.. and it wouldn’t taste as nice as a pint 😁Quote:
Originally Posted by Pretty Boy
I love a drink.
There, I’ve said it.
Kind of where I was at, when I was young it was a few joints or a couple of cans of lager as it was a cheap and cheerful way of getting a buzz.Quote:
Originally Posted by Jones28
I dabbled in the building trade for a few years and there was nothing better than tying the site down on a Friday afternoon and hitting the pub for a few beers to dust off the cobwebs after a hard week. On the Saturday (when all or most games were on) I would have a few before the game and then back to the pub after
In amongst going to the pub its was up the town to ‘discos’ mostly to get bladdered. I grew out of that and just preferred the pub with my mates. The pub was a bit of a comfort zone in that I knew and trusted everyone
Those were also the days before mobile phones etc so the only way to catch up with the mates was at hibs games or in the pub. A week was a long time in those days without a good old catch up with the mates
I was fit, trained twice a week for my football team and generally just worked and played, nothing complicated. I was struck down with a bit of a health issue and my drinking spiralled out of control, but I needed it even just to take me out of the bad place I was, at least for a while. The pub was a no go zone then and I started drinking more in the house, almost every night.
I worked hard to deal with my issues and then a couple of years ago I started having some beers after work on a Friday at home, then followed that up by more beers on the Saturday, followed by anxiety and days off work because of it. Thats when I finally knocked it in the head and got myself into a better place again and Im enjoying that place
If alcohol had never been invented and suddenly someone came up with it would it be a classified drug?
100% wouldn’t be legal in my opinion.Quote:
Originally Posted by Jones28
Bootleg beer. America tried prohibiting that and it failed miserably.Quote:
Originally Posted by WeeRussell
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Haven’t been to a nightclub since before Covid and prefer pubs these days.Quote:
Originally Posted by Bridge hibs
I have been to a nightclub post covid, once. Made me very anxious and couldn’t wait to get home. Not for me now, can’t deal with that sort of environmentQuote:
Originally Posted by SteveHFC
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Mostly go to places like Three Sisters or Finnegan's Wake these days if I'm on a night out.Quote:
Originally Posted by ErinGoBraghHFC
Can't be bothered paying £10 to get into a club these days. Clubs are for the younger generation.
If there was no such thing as alcohol there'd be something else.
People need to get out of their heads occasionally.
Many years ago I was up town for a meal with my Brother in law, Wife and Sister in law. We thought we would roll back the years and pop into Cav or whatever it was called back then. We were in for literally 10 minutes, the place was stinking and we left smelling like we had slept in a skip 🤮 reminded me why I never liked those places 🫣Quote:
Originally Posted by SteveHFC
At least it's gone for good now so you won't have too. :greengrinQuote:
Originally Posted by Bridge hibs
But it did lead to some great songs and movies about moonshiners!Quote:
Originally Posted by Kato
I haven’t touched alcohol for over 3 years, don’t miss at all.Quote:
Originally Posted by heretoday