DopieDopeMan

I'm sure this has been said before in a thousand other threads, and I am also sure I am noticing it more because I am addicted to alcohol...however, here in England I have noticed just how deep alcohol/drinking is embedded in our culture.

Cheap discounted drinks advertisements all over billboards, the sides of buses, in newspapers, on t.v, on radio...people in the park with drinks, pubs packed before noon with people drinking, t.v sitcoms based on drinking, songs about drinking, news reports on celebrities who have been drinking.

It's pretty eye-opening when you sit back and just look at how much us merry old English love drinking.

Dee74

I think everybody experiences this.

It fades with time - I rarely notice alcohol these days and then it's with no impulse to partake

D

FreeOwl

I agree... on both counts.

When I first began efforts to live sober, I noticed this right away and intensely. Then, with subsequent efforts.

Still today, 202 days under my belt, it happens sometimes. But it's not as glaring and oppressive. Now I notice a lot of the time alcohol is NOT present. Now I find myself in more situations without it because I MYSELF have shifted my focus and my activities and my life in ways that I'm not as often surrounded by it.

That said - there sure still are moments. Like last night, where a simple family dinner involved my sister half-lit and my Lady having a second glass which she rarely does, because they re-filled her glass.... me sitting there quietly feeling awkward and not really enjoying a lot of the conversation because honestly; people who are drinking are loud and a little obnoxious and difficult to participate in conversation with.

But - the bottom line is that the constant presence of alcohol everywhere, taunting, troubling, disgusting you... that feeling gets easier and perhaps as Dee said fades almost entirely.

Croissant

Thanks to the Mother Country, there is literally a pub on every corner where I live also.

Apparently, if you are English, you can't walk a block without getting thirsty.

FreeOwl

I noticed the same thing when I lived in very-England-like Christchurch, NZ. There was a pub just round from my house, smack in the middle of an otherwise totally residential area. Always blows me away when I visit London how many pubs there are.

Then again, we here in the US are no better.

It's all over the dang place.

ESD907

I think in your neck of the woods, its more difficult to simply say no thanks than it is here in the USA. I lived in London as a teen, friends found it hard even at 17 to believe I didn't want to drink. (of course that all changed over the years).. I was happy to sip a soda. any, that feelings its all around you will go away eventually. and after a while, you start to feel sorry for those who are still trapped in that culture. There are so many other places to go and sit, if you feel that need for that sort of thing..coffee shops? I volunteered while my children were at school, at a hospice..anything to fill the void. Clean out your closets, curtains, anything...

Marcher13

Like Dee I find it fades with sobriety and is actually a lot less pervasive than I first thought.

Tang

In some places the markup on liquor is just obscene. It's no wonder businesses push a product that is both addictive and has great margins. It's better than food...

Jupiters

I remember last time I got sober for 18mths - I didn't even notice it by 6mths. I guess my "attention" just wasn't on it anymore like it was the early months. In those months, I was trying to just NOT drink that it did seem everywhere b/c my focus was on it.
I notice that with other things though, not just booze. If I want to see mini-coopers all over the roads, I will.

aborkie

No question. Iv'e read that many young people have liver damage there and sometimes they offer free liver testing to combat the problem.