I’ve had this happen but rarely. Usually its, “Hey, what would you like to drink?”, “I’m good. Thank you” and everyone moves on.
A few times,
Them: “Come on! What?! It’s Friday! What are you an alcoholic? Har! Har!”
Me: “Yeah, motherfucker, I am and I don’t drink anymore. You wanna pour me a few and find out why? I’ll make sure you’re the first”.
That does the trick, lol. With men. The few woman that have tried similar tactics get a long, non-blinking stare when they get “cute” with plying the booze. I don’t tolerate ANYONE pressuring me. I will escalate quickly.
Not much else to say, great advices here. Alcohol is a poison.
If moderation is a problem, you could try drinking non alcoholic beers/drinks. Poured to a glass it will pass as a regular alcoholic beverage so you can avoid any irritating discussion about the subject.
When/if people start to get dumb-drunk, just leave home early.
Alcohol can be bad news but it helps you hold your semen longer while having sex with a woman, and Im in a bar town tryong to get sone action near V-day, so…All good advice though!
When I drank I could function fine on a day to day basis, but it still affects you negatively. I could put down six strong beers and feel totally fine the next morning, and often did. 12 wasn’t much of an impediment either for my 16 CON score.
The prolonging of sex is also a Faustian bargain over time. Quitting alcohol has restored my special purpose’s function to the same level it was when I was a teenager. It takes more than a slight breeze to arouse me now, but any semblance of ED is gone without any medication at age 45.
That all fixed itself about a week after giving it up entirely.
Feel like this might be changing with the generations. I’m 25. Drank once when I was 19, never touched alcohol besides that. I even used to work in a bar. I’ve had many drinks offered to me, and always answered with, “No thanks, I don’t drink.” I’ve only had people respond with, “Okay” or “Oh really, how come?” If it’s the latter, it seems to be because they know so few people who don’t drink that they’re genuinely curious why someone wouldn’t, or maybe because they’re thinking about quitting themselves.
This also cuts down on how many times I get offered. Over time, friends, coworkers, etc. just know I don’t drink so they don’t offer.
I still get a meal at the bar I used to work at and found the same to be true. Nobody ever gave me a hard time about it. I never have to ask for refills on my soda water with lime, they all know how to keep 'em coming.
I think you’re right about shifting attitudes in younger people.
My kid also rarely drinks anymore. He did some during high school and a lot during COVID, as did a lot of his friends, but it is my observation that it absolutely does not have the same cool factor it has for most of my lifetime. A lot of his friends have given it up entirely. His best friend never has been a drinker.
I wouldn’t cajole you either.
I’m very rarely in social drinking situations, almost never now in fact, but I was speaking from a specific experience I had a few years ago.
I was smashing icewater while the table went through a few grand worth of booze. Cajoling occurred.
But none was directed at the other non-drinker because “he’s in recovery and I respect that.”
Maybe that’s not common.
Its not a group I’m involved with any more anyway.
If your friends care whether or not you drink, you’ve got shitty friends. I would never want a friend of mine to feel obligated to tell me he’s in recovery.
My real friends dont pressure me at all. But moved to a new town where Id just assume be a little drunk on Friday night bar night. BTW, I just have to ask. Is anyone in recovery who hopped onto this thread feeling a little enabled here? I can just end the whole thing befor iscrew up someones life
No one mentioned this yet (I think), but most bars offer some sort of non-alcoholic beer at this point. My wife likes the taste of beer but is a TOTAL lightweight, so normally she will order these after 1 or so normal beers. Works great to limit alcohol (or reduce to zero, but we don’t go to bars often), and some of em have gotten pretty good.
