MagicMan08

Can anyone else relate to this? I drank because it was fun, it was bad, tired, awake, at the bar, alone.....all for that buzz. That's it, but I also enjoyed trying and tasting other beers. It seemed towards the end there, I wasn't drinking much, but the once a week or once every week and a half was enough. I was getting cut off everywhere, which never used to happen. Probably making an ass out of myself, as I am a different person when I am sober.

But as they say, one day at a time!

dirtyjerz08

I can definitely relate to that to a point. That was how my drinking started out. I loved to drink, and I drank to get drunk. Could never have just one, in fact that whole "social drinking" thing is an alien term to me. What I found out was that part of the effect for me was that escape. As my drinking progressed to daily, then non-stop, I was drinking to get relief from the problems my drinking caused. Insanity right? Still, that was the hook for me from the start, the effect. I was under the illusion that I was having a good time, but it was all an illusion. Nothing more. That's just my experience.

CAPTAINZING2000

It was fun until, we started having consequences for our drinking.

That's the difference for us as opposed to a normal drinker.

Ever see someone deliberately leave half a drink behind? I called that alcohol abuse

Sugah

I can point to many, many times when I "had a blast" drinking. But to drink entirely for fun? Never to escape problems, discomfort, a feeling of being different or less than? Only because it felt good?

Naw. I was screwed up before I drank, while I drank, and for a good while after I stopped drinking.

Thank god for the steps....

Peace & Love,
Sugah

1963comet

Same here, if it was not fun in the beginning never would of continued.

Pinkcuda

I set out on a daily basis drinking because I thought that I would be able to drink with dignity that day. I failed on a daily basis yet tried again the next day. Very seldom was it that I drank to get any certain feeling and I never intended to turn out the way I did. I drank with no conscious thought on my part as to what I wanted or why. I just drank.

Zencat

I drank for every reason under the sun. It became a part of my personality: the loaded guy. That lasted until drinking and drugging caused enough serious problems in my life that I finally became aware of my dire condition.

LosingmyMisery

I drank because I couldn't not drink. I was physically addicted. Getting free from that compulsion was one of the hardest things I ever did. I can still remember how intense the desire was to get that next drink. Thank goodness for a solution. If I don't pick up, I don't have to deal with the obsession. Funny thing, I have found others things to do with my time other than to obsess over my next drink.

Latte

I hate the taste of alcohol. I hate the way it burns my throat etc. I loved the way it made me feel and that I could get out of my head for awhile. I have better ways to do that these days.

Clutch B

I loved to drink wine. But I didn't drink wine often.

Wine became expensive. It took the whole bottle to give me a tiny buzz.

So I switched to vodka. I drank it warm straight out of the bottle because I liked how it made me feel.

The problem was ... I couldn't stop.

Every now and then, people will drink wine around me. I'll smell it and remember how good it tasted. I'll romance the idea of having a small sip.

Then I'll remember how annoying it was that the whole bottle never gave me the buzz I wanted. Then I'll remember the desperation of driving half-buzzed to the liquor store to get a few bottles of vodka. Then I'll remember regaining consciousness on the floor, with my head in a trashcan filled with vomit, shaking, heaving, and wanting to die. What did I do? What did I say? Who did I hurt? Why did I let this happen again? Most importantly: Where is my other bottle of vodka?

Suddenly the wine doesn't seem so tasty anymore

coffeenut

This thread is helping me to remember that I rarely drank what I 'liked' to drink. Having 1 fancy drink just didn't happen.

I drank the most I could to get the drunkest I could. Course, it has taken me almost 6 months to 'get' that.

CarolD

I started to drink because I was rebelling
same with cigarettes and sex .
And I liked all 3 immediately....

The only reason I quit drinking was that I became
situationally depressed....mentally unbalanced.
...I consider my mind and soul were saturated.

All my fun bottles were empty. ..

Rimmy

I want a beer too much right now to discuss why I like to drink Gonna go for a walk and focus on the reasons I chose not to drink today How quickly my mind forgets what I'm trying to tell it.

LorelaiNYC

I can relate to almost every post on this thread. I mostly drank because it made me feel good and I would create reasons why "I needed a drink" like work is stressing me out, etc. I was getting to where drinking made me feel so bad the next day (and I don't mean hungover) but rather the guilt because I knew it was out of hand. I can't even tell you how many blackouts I've had in my life and still didn't stop. I wanted so badly to be someone that could just "have a few" every now and then, but I have accepted I am not one of those people.

least

I drank to get out of myself, my miserable life. I hated myself anyway so may as well punish myself by drinking too much every night. But that was nothing compared to how much I hated myself the next day when I felt like hell and the whole day was ruined.

I'm glad I'm done with that.

CAPTAINZING2000

lol

Bet you were a pistol

BackToSquareOne

I think that since the begining of time people have sought out altered states of consciousness. Take alcohol for example, after several drinks your inhibitions slowely slip away, your problems all seem less important and the warm glow of drunken bliss slowely takes over. You now have that sense of well being that you sought out.

The problem of course is that the warm glow of drunken bliss is short lived. Your old friend alcohol now starts to turn on you. As the alcohol wears off the exact opposite happens, your nervous system is now in a state of hyper arousal, noises seem louder, our senses more acute. The warm glow has been replaced with a sense of impending doom, panic, anxiety and depression. These things are our brains way of compensating for the lack of sedation, the warm glow is gone and there is something wrong that only more and more alcohol can fix.

This is the point where the alcoholic gets on the merry go round, he is no longer drinking to achieve that warm glow. He now needs the alcohol to calm his over active mind, a brief reprieve from the withdrawal symptoms is what he now seeks. Alcohol has taken another prisoner and will not free him without a fight. This cycle has been repeating itself since alcohol was discovered. For the alcoholic the booze will always win, it is an equal opportunity destroyer and complete surrender is the only answer.

outsideedge

Actually, I can relate to the idea of "drinking to have fun." I did not drink to escape anything, in fact, there was nothing to escape. I have a pretty sweet life and I am happy. Drinking was fun because it got me hyper and heightened my senses. It was sort of like being sober was watching tv, and being drunk was being in movie theater with the volume pumped up! It made the partying more exciting. Maybe I drank to overcome some of my shy barriers, but I in no way used to drinking to escape.

Escapism is alien to me. Even when I was drunk, I still had everything control and was pretty much the same person.

BackToSquareOne

That's just it though, the initial feelings we get when drinking ARE FUN, THEY ARE VERY ENJOYABLE, why else would anyone drink? The normal drinker might experience the release of inhibitions, sense of well being etc.etc. but they can stop at that point with little problem. The alcoholic seems to have a broken "off switch", they can't just turn it off like the normal drinker can.

odhgabfe

basically thats me... i didnt feel like i needed an escape... or a crutch in order to have fun... i just liked beer. and i liked the feeling of getting completely ********* and crashing on a couch and saying ******** stuff.