Originally Posted by failedtaper

Hi Kanamit,

I am also from a drinking culture. I am hispanic, and wine was a part of daily life for my family, even the children, although for the children it was incidental until they were older. Unfortunately, in some cultures like mine, most of what I can remember about my older uncles was how they stunk of wine and tobacco, as remembered through the eyes of a child.

A lot of people from drinking cultures don't drink alcohol. My grandmother, for example, never drank wine or ouzo, which was always around. It was mostly the men, and it was indeed part of their macho-ness.

I think the main thing is for you to be firm in your resolve, which certainly is part of AVRT. In fact, my take on AVRT is that it matters little whether you are in a room full of drinkers or sitting next to a single one in an intimate setting. People who knew me with a drink always in my hand didn't seem to care much beyond my first "explanation" that I just didn't feel like drinking anymore, in fact I felt better than I ever had and was watching out for my health as I got older. (ha! old at 40)

Some of the drinking cultures have recognized that alcohol abuse is separate from the traditional drinking that has been done culturally. For example, in my culture children were always allowed sips of wine but never given their own glass. I didn't develop my own drinking habit until I was older, outside of family settings.

This is just my take on the issue, and not representative of the SVRT method.

FT