karate

Lots of people that knew me back when i was hammering down the beers ,Are amazed at the fact i will drink 1 beer ,Or most of the time no beers ,When we have a get togther .

They ask ",Why are you not drinking ."

I tell them its simple ,"I feel better if i dont drink ".

To me its just that simple .

The second part is one im not many people think about ,Alochol is VERY expensive .

Beers average 1$ each ,If you drink 12 a day ,300$ a month is easily spent ,Over a year ,thats alot of money .

GracieLou

Okay then. I agree it is expensive.

Lifewillgetbet

Yea, my habit was $30bux per day. We get ripped off in Canada for all alcohol. Massive, just hugely Taxed. But that doesn't matter anymore. For me it wasn't the cost of the alcohol itself, it was the ridiculous expenses I had because of the stupid crap I did while drinking.

karate

I would make an estimate of 4000$ a year ,Thats a bunch of money .

If you added in lost income ,from bad decisions ,It could easily double or triple that .

Boleo

If you count DUI's, car damage from accidents not involving another vehicle such as, off-road antics, and travel expenses to & from pubs & liquor stores - The total cost could easily go in to 6 digits.

However, for a alcoholic of my type, consequences were never enough to make me stay stopped. I was like the Black Night when it came to drinking:

Monty Python-The Black Knight - YouTube

karate

Never got a dwi ,thank goodness .

sunrise1

I was always told to add "YET" to those statements; as surely as I am sitting here, if I pick up a drink of any kind at any time, I cannot guarantee I will not get a DWI.

Threshold

I agree, not drinking is the best way to stay sober.

Once I got the hang of that I started working on learning to live sober. Some days I do better than others.

Ha, one of my first tasks was making sure I don't blow the money I used to spend on booze and drugs on other stupid things.

visch1

For the not knowing. YET = Your Eligible Too.
BE WELL

karate

We all are eligible ...........

smacked

The expense (financial, mental, physical, spiritual) of my addictions never deterred me from continuing them. But you're right, total waste of money.

karate

What gets me is one of my friends ,he is younger than i am ,about 40 i guess .

We were working on a hay baler ,I drank 1 beer and quit ,he said " One beer " and was shocked .

I said yes i dont want to feel like hell tomorrow ,Fellow asked " Do you think thats why i feel bad in the mornings after a 6 pack the night before? ,I told him "You dont already know that " ,He looked amazed at this newfound knowledge .

I was just as amazed as he was ,Heck i thought everyone knew that -That little bit of knowledge keeps me on the right track .

smalltowngirl

Totally agree on the being expensive part! When I was a heavy drinker and smoker, I would be broke in no time.

Quitting smoking really helped with not being so broke, and even though I'd buy cheap beer, it still adds up for gas money, food, etc.

Dee74

are you still drinking the occasional beer or have you quit entirely Karate?

D

TnRobert

Now if I only had a nickel for every can of beer & bottle of booze I bought.

I'm certain it would be a shock to know the real number & to be honest not sure I'd wanna know anyway.

A week ago tomorrow is the last time I had any alcohol or tobacco. I already have more money in my wallet than before.

It disgusts me thinking of how much $$$$ I drank away. I can't dwell on it, water under the bridge at this point.

My concentration is on the future, something I can change, unlike the past.

visch1

In my observation over the years, IF your an alcoholic this period of having 1 beer will get boring and your shite fairy might emerge and whisper to you " see you don't have a problem" in which case many of us will resume our old ways or worse. If just 1 beer continues and your in a comfortable mode, enjoy. BE WELL

karate

Have one ocasionally ,Not very often though .

karate

The deal for me is desire -or lack of to drink .

Alochol is a depressant ,Im not very intrested in making myself depressed .

I would be more inclined to drink a red bull ,or a monster energy drink .

I find green smoothies to be quite a bit more addactive than alochol ,For some strange reason they "hit " my system just right .
I think your body craves nutrition and associates the green smoothies to that.

I am convinced that nutrition is very important to not drinking ,Keep the body topped off with nutrition and alochol is pushed aside .

Was i an alocholic? ,well who knows ,Did i get into binge drinking and drink way too much ,YES i did .

The hangovers cannot be understated . not,Feeling like crap is enough of a motivator for me .

Boleo

For those of us that recognize we crossed the line into alcohol-ISM, the ISM part is either black or white. There are no shades of grey. There is no turning back. Once a pickle there is no more being a cucumber.

zjw

Its funny you mention nutrition and green smoothies same here. I even read stuff that said alcoholism starts because we are malnourished and looking to get a fix off booze rather then having the proper nutrition we need to tackle our issues etc..

While it is a depressent my hobby with booze started out with it being anything but that. Next I new it had me by the short hairs and i was hooked. Followed by finding myself in a pit of depression and not even realizing it. While i was in a pit it seemed to be the only thing that made life worth living.

Oddly i put it down climbed out of that pit dusted myself off and realized there was a lot of other reasons to live life and oh yeah I was depressed really?!