MattyBoy

It appears to me that everyone I know who drinks is dependent on alcohol to some extent, although many are not 'alcoholics' in the way I was... I say this due to my observations in the last week of being back at university and being the only one teetotal. A lot of my friends, who are far from being addicted to booze still seem to be unable to go out to clubs etc and have a dance, meet women/men etc without being intoxicated to some degree. I've heard comments such as "I'm not drunk enough to hit the dance floor yet" and when we have been to clubs it seems the first thing everyone does is go to the bar to order a drink. My friends appear to be in awe of me somewhat and confused at my ability to go out and let myself go when all I've consumed is a red bull before we go out and a Pepsi in the club. It made me realise that although I have a far more worrisome relationship with alcohol when I do drink than they do, that actually I am far less dependent on alcohol than they are in the sense that I no longer need it to have fun/dance etc.

I once asked the question to my mother, someone who never drinks more than two glasses of wine in a sitting and that is rare, how she would cope if someone said she had to go a month without it but yet go to all the same places and socialise with all the same people, minus the alcohol. She said she would in all honesty find it very difficult. I pressed her for an explanation for this and she couldn't give me one.

I've come to the conclusion that once we reach adulthood it seems we are brainwashed to think that alcohol is the only way to truly release ones inhibitions and have fun and having been sober for 5 months now, I find it really depressing to see. I therefore believe that everyone who drinks is to some extent dependent on it as if someone were to say 'tomorrow the worlds alcohol supply will run out for ever' a lot of people would find this to be a devastating thought...