Post: #1

When I think about the happiest/memorable times of my life, for some reason alcohol was involved in it.

I have reduced a lot the amount of alcohol I drink in the last few years. I probably drink no more than 5 times in a year. Usually when I am drinking, I always have fun, however the next day I usually regret it because I feel sick and I need 2 or 3 days to fully recover. Drinking is not for me even though I have fun when I drink.

However when I reminisce times that I really had fun, for some reason alcohol was usually involved. I want to completely eliminate the usage of alcohol but sometimes there is just this need to drink that I can't help but drink it some times, reason why I probably drink 5 times in a year on average.

I know some of you have completely stopped drinking alcohol and some of you still drink it. What's your take on this? Was alcohol involved in some of your happiest moments?

By the way, I am not one of these people that needs to drink to socialise. I am usually pretty social and I don't need alcohol to become socially active, however there is this super super vibe I get when I am drinking alcohol.

I would like to hear some opinions on this.

Post: #2

It used to be a requirement in any social situation, especially with women. Have progressed a bit, it is no longer essential or necessary, I realised I was better without it in many ways, especially in terms of how my brain functions.

I still drink occasionally, but low level compared to past. Working on eliminating it to once per week maximum.

Post: #3

Some of my happiest moments? More like, all of my happiest moments!

Post: #4

I don't think you can necessarily say alcohol equals happyness, I think more likely is alcohol is often used in situations where your celebrating or some special event. I think a lot of happy moments may be celebrating success at work, new years even, someones bday. I dont think alcohol is necessary the thing that made it a good situation so much as celebrating some special event or being with friends and family. Its like saying do many of your special moments involve cake? lol somehwat joking but alot of my happy moments do involve cake, I'm not especially fond of cake but its at family parties and bday parties which are often happy memories.

When I was younger I was a big drinker and partier and had a ball. Not sure why but these days alcohol doesn't charge me with energy and make me have fun like it used to, not even talking about hangovers but even just drinking itself often gives me a headache, makes me sleepy, makes me feel bloated. For those reasons I've really cut back on alcohol because I just don't enjoy it as much. Now don't get me wrong I do have those days when drinks are going down easy and I have a nice buzz and I love those times but more often than not drinking isn't that enjoyable for me.

Alcohhol and even weed are both super fun but don't allow them to become a crutch, I knwo some people who can't have fun doing any activity unless alcohol or drugs is involved and I know some buddies who like can't hangout together if someone doesn't have weed because neither knows any other activities to do or can carry on a convo without it.

Post: #5

Not even close. I have some great memories (well stories that I don't remember living through that others told me afterwards), but none of the happiest moments in my life involved alcohol. They are almost all exclusively things I accomplished when I focused on improving my life and de-prioritized partying.

Post: #6

I had this exact same conversation with some close friends about 6 weeks ago. Basically the conclusion we mutually agreed to, was that on average booze makes things worse. In addition to that, it forces the quality of your night to tail out. So on average worse, you feel like shit the next day, and a few particularly bad times, banned form bars, fights, one of my buddies got his jaw broke etc etc.

But. The other side of that tailing out, is that when we looked back at some of the absolutely amazing nights where we absolutely hit it out of the park, the ones we remember for a life time, there was a lot of booze every time.

Without booze I can be guaranteed a pretty decent night out. No brawls, no hangovers, no cops and good company. But then too, it probably wont be a night we'll be telling stories about a decade from now about ridiculous shenanigans and not only not getting in shit from the cops, but getting a free ride home and them wishing me a good night.

Post: #7

(07-06-2014 08:45 PM)Seadog Wrote:  But then too, it probably wont be a night we'll be telling stories about a decade from now about ridiculous shenanigans and not only not getting in shit from the cops, but getting a free ride home and them wishing me a good night.

Only in Canada.

Post: #8

Its always been in my experience that alcohol brings things to extremes. When I'm having a great time, and I'm hammered, its that much better. If I'm down and out, liquor makes it worse. As far as happy goes, when I think of "happy times in my life", there are times that I was super happy that I was partying all the time getting fucked up and killing it and there were times where I was generally happy but I wasnt drinking that much. It probably comes down to the person, if you cant handle yourself alcohol will spin you out of control, if you're living a party-boy lifestlye and can deal with it, liquor is an expected ingredient.