How many people do you know who have never drank or done drugs?
Interesting statistics on alcohol consumption in the U.S. are here, https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/...will-tell-you/. For 30% of us, it's zero drinks, and another 30% average less than one drink per week. Only 10% are up on the other end where I used to be, averaging over 10 drinks per day. If your friends don't follow this distribution, it's more about who you hang around with than about how other people drink.
It's common for people to have the tendency to perceive selectively (in this case the culture of drugs and alcohol) and not perceive a whole other culture of non-drinking and drugs and that there is a big world out there of folks that have never indulged in such acts or don't care for a drink but would much rather go to their book club, go to a play or theatre instead of a bar or party.
For an alcoholic, their biases towards selective perception that many/most people causally drink, party, go to bars etc. Is based on their personal experiences (because most likely all their friends join in on the same 'fun', their dysfunctional family dynamic, the shows/movies they watch depicting North American culture of sex, drugs, rock n roll). We commit a huge fallacy. We observe (based on our biased experiences) and then we generalize. If mom and dad are alcoholics + husband is alcoholic + all my friends drink with me + all 5000 members of 'Sober Recover Forum' either struggles with addiction or has a loved one addicted + Gaga on MTV is drunk on stage = most people must drink to some degree.
We ignore the fact that aside from our little bubble in our own little town, there is a huge world that consists of over 6 billion people. Most of those 6 billion people don't drink, nor have an addiction.
Sometimes we just need to take ourselves out of the same concepts we have been exposed to for the past however many years we have been alive. Go travel to countries different than the Western world, meet new friends you would have normally not see yourself ever hanging out with, take in culture and new experiences that you never even once thought to do. With openness and receptiveness, you'll see that there is a huge world of all types of people. Some who drink, are addicted, drink for fun, pop pills etc. And most who don't use but manage to fill fun into their lives in the form of sports, hobbies, classes, learning, playing games etc.
For an alcoholic, their biases towards selective perception that many/most people causally drink, party, go to bars etc. Is based on their personal experiences (because most likely all their friends join in on the same 'fun', their dysfunctional family dynamic, the shows/movies they watch depicting North American culture of sex, drugs, rock n roll). We commit a huge fallacy. We observe (based on our biased experiences) and then we generalize. If mom and dad are alcoholics + husband is alcoholic + all my friends drink with me + all 5000 members of 'Sober Recover Forum' either struggles with addiction or has a loved one addicted + Gaga on MTV is drunk on stage = most people must drink to some degree.
We ignore the fact that aside from our little bubble in our own little town, there is a huge world that consists of over 6 billion people. Most of those 6 billion people don't drink, nor have an addiction.
Sometimes we just need to take ourselves out of the same concepts we have been exposed to for the past however many years we have been alive. Go travel to countries different than the Western world, meet new friends you would have normally not see yourself ever hanging out with, take in culture and new experiences that you never even once thought to do. With openness and receptiveness, you'll see that there is a huge world of all types of people. Some who drink, are addicted, drink for fun, pop pills etc. And most who don't use but manage to fill fun into their lives in the form of sports, hobbies, classes, learning, playing games etc.
My nephew has never drank or done drugs, his wife does drink wine on occasion though. I worked closely with a Muslim colleague a few years ago, and I don't believe he ever drank.
I know many more people who have never used drugs. I would say that the majority of people in the Western world have tried alcohol or an illegal substance like weed or cocaine, but never became active users.
From my experience, most of the world spends the majority of their time sober. Although, in the world I ended up circulating in, the opposite would appear to be true. I'm glad to be back with the people who spend the majority of their valuable time sober.
I know many more people who have never used drugs. I would say that the majority of people in the Western world have tried alcohol or an illegal substance like weed or cocaine, but never became active users.
From my experience, most of the world spends the majority of their time sober. Although, in the world I ended up circulating in, the opposite would appear to be true. I'm glad to be back with the people who spend the majority of their valuable time sober.
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