Don’t like the feeling of being drunk
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Join Date: Jun 2018
Posts: 151
Don’t like the feeling of being drunk
Had an interesting observation today that I wanted to share. We’ve had a mess of tech/IT issues at work all week, and somebody in our building who doesn’t work for us, doesn’t work for any of our IT stuff, he just does building maintenance and manages construction, etc, but he’s smart and we know him, and he was so kind and was able to fix our issues and get us back up and running. My boss, as a thank you, wanted to get him something...and even though she doesn’t drink herself....her first question to him was, what do you drink? Because...it’s so automatic to just buy people booze, right? It’s easy. Just buy a bottle for someone’s birthday, a congratulations, a thank you....an anything. It so struck me that even someone who does not drink at all......if she sips champagne on New Years she’s getting crazy...yet even her first thought was to give him alcohol as her thank you.
What struck me even more was overhearing his response to this. His response to this ‘what do you drink’ question was...”Nothing”. He further elaborated to my boss, as I’m eavesdropping down the hall, that he hadn’t had a drink since January of 2018, and that he didn’t like the feeling of being drunk. I was floored. My immediate thought/reaction in my head was that I literally didn’t understand him because I don’t like the feeling of NOT being drunk.
Its a different world. A different and normal world that I so badly want to be a part of. I actually do love the feeling of not being drunk, ‘cause I’ve had it and with the right amount of sleep, it’s absolutely fantastic. But then throw in outside stressors, or even good things because drinking always makes those feel even better...and I’m done. And back to square one of this awful vicious cycle.
You all have put up with me long enough and I truly appreciate that. I just found that whole exchange today really interesting and eye-opening.
What struck me even more was overhearing his response to this. His response to this ‘what do you drink’ question was...”Nothing”. He further elaborated to my boss, as I’m eavesdropping down the hall, that he hadn’t had a drink since January of 2018, and that he didn’t like the feeling of being drunk. I was floored. My immediate thought/reaction in my head was that I literally didn’t understand him because I don’t like the feeling of NOT being drunk.
Its a different world. A different and normal world that I so badly want to be a part of. I actually do love the feeling of not being drunk, ‘cause I’ve had it and with the right amount of sleep, it’s absolutely fantastic. But then throw in outside stressors, or even good things because drinking always makes those feel even better...and I’m done. And back to square one of this awful vicious cycle.
You all have put up with me long enough and I truly appreciate that. I just found that whole exchange today really interesting and eye-opening.
bona fido dog-lover
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: SF Bay area, CA
Posts: 99,781
I used to like the feeling of being drunk. But the longer I was sober, the less I liked that feeling. Now the thought of being drunk turns me off. It took me about a year to get to that point but it was a great relief to not feel like I was missing something by not drinking.
I love living sober now and wouldn't trade it for the world.
And I have never woken up sober and wished I had drank the night before.
I love living sober now and wouldn't trade it for the world.
And I have never woken up sober and wished I had drank the night before. 
Member
Join Date: Jun 2013
Location: Big City
Posts: 3,895
Although I too couldn't have imagined it years ago, I can say now that I completely understand where he's coming from.
It's obtainable for each and every one of us. You just have to put in the work.
Freedom is the sweetest thing in the world.
It's obtainable for each and every one of us. You just have to put in the work.
Freedom is the sweetest thing in the world.
No Dogma Please
Join Date: Jul 2017
Location: SoCal
Posts: 2,562
I can vividly remember the feeling of getting drunk, even the beginning where the body relaxes and starts to feel warm.
It sounds awful to me now, after 22 months sober. I mean seriously awful.
A big part of my sobriety was acknowledging and realizing how much I loved the feeling of not being drunk, or even slightly buzzed. "Don't you wish that you could have just one?" "Not really, I don't want to feel that way. At all. Ever."
I love normal waking consciousness.
Part of me did miss ecstasy, tribal dancing for hours with hundreds of your close, personal friends. I made it OK to roll at Coachella last year. At the end of the day I didn't want to. I really don't want that feeling either.
It sounds awful to me now, after 22 months sober. I mean seriously awful.
A big part of my sobriety was acknowledging and realizing how much I loved the feeling of not being drunk, or even slightly buzzed. "Don't you wish that you could have just one?" "Not really, I don't want to feel that way. At all. Ever."
I love normal waking consciousness.
Part of me did miss ecstasy, tribal dancing for hours with hundreds of your close, personal friends. I made it OK to roll at Coachella last year. At the end of the day I didn't want to. I really don't want that feeling either.
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Join Date: Jun 2013
Location: Atlanta
Posts: 2,872
I didn't know any other feeling than being drunk for thirty years.
When I got some sober time, I realized, 'Hey this sober stuff aint that bad'.
It's been ten years since I had a drink, and I've mostly forgotten, or just placed in the back of my mind, what it's like to be drunk.
I guess, truthfully, I will never be able to not remember what being drunk felt like because I was drunk for so long.
But still. Ten years of sobriety. I really don't care what it feels like to be drunk.
I'm rambling.
I just enjoy sobriety so much more than I did being drunk.
When I got some sober time, I realized, 'Hey this sober stuff aint that bad'.
It's been ten years since I had a drink, and I've mostly forgotten, or just placed in the back of my mind, what it's like to be drunk.
I guess, truthfully, I will never be able to not remember what being drunk felt like because I was drunk for so long.
But still. Ten years of sobriety. I really don't care what it feels like to be drunk.
I'm rambling.
I just enjoy sobriety so much more than I did being drunk.
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Join Date: Jun 2018
Posts: 151
Thank you all for responding....and further sending home to me the exact message I’m trying to grasp here! To clarify though....the person I’m referring to who I overheard saying he just doesn’t like being drunk...does not and has never had any sort of issue with alcohol. Simple as that, he just...doesn’t drink. By absolute choice. That in and of itself was so mind boggling to me. I tried to equate it in my head to....well, he drinks soda all day long. I...by absolute choice...don’t like/drink soda and haven’t in...however many months. Or going to a more serious level...I’ve never touched a hard drug, have no desire to, by my choice. And I know there are people out there who would have the same reaction at me saying that about drugs, as I did to this guy, or anyone, casually saying he just hasn’t drank. ...what? You just...don’t?
I don’t know anymore what it’s like to just....not drink. It’s been a long time since I’ve known that. This whole exchange was quite an interesting eye-opener today, though. I want to rejoin that normal world now more than ever.
I don’t know anymore what it’s like to just....not drink. It’s been a long time since I’ve known that. This whole exchange was quite an interesting eye-opener today, though. I want to rejoin that normal world now more than ever.
Give yourself a chance for a better life. 
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Join Date: Jan 2019
Location: Charlotte, NC
Posts: 500
I've known quite a view people that have said they don't like the "feeling of being drunk". I never quite understood it, but I guess that's the alcoholic in me. I don't understand the point of drinking if your goal isn't to get drunk. Like....if you're just going to "have a drink or 2"....why not just save your money and drink water? I don't even know if my rambling makes any sense right now.
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Join Date: Aug 2014
Posts: 1,408
I truly wonder if I ever enjoyed getting drunk. For the longest time I was a normie 3 beers on a weekend sort of person. I smoked over a pack of cigarettes a day and knowing I was a chain smoking nicotine addict, I always prided myself on "never having the potential to be an alcoholic".
If anything I had to be careful if I had one too many beers puking my guts out before the night was over. I was a real light weight and I never cared all that much for drinking. I mean I enjoyed it enough and made the most of it but it was never anything I obsessed about or needed.
That all changed after I developed a taste for wine. Wine snuck in the back door through my "culinary tastes" when I was 35. Add to that I had quit smoking 2 years earlier, leaving a void that needed to be filled.
To this day I maintain that I never really got drunk very often, no matter how much I drank. I was just buzzed. Numbed, trying to stave off life. I never got very "fun" or happy or outgoing or changed all that much. In fact it's pretty sad that I couldn't even have any fun with it.
It's like if I'm going to kill myself, I should at least have fun while doing it, right?
If anything I had to be careful if I had one too many beers puking my guts out before the night was over. I was a real light weight and I never cared all that much for drinking. I mean I enjoyed it enough and made the most of it but it was never anything I obsessed about or needed.
That all changed after I developed a taste for wine. Wine snuck in the back door through my "culinary tastes" when I was 35. Add to that I had quit smoking 2 years earlier, leaving a void that needed to be filled.
To this day I maintain that I never really got drunk very often, no matter how much I drank. I was just buzzed. Numbed, trying to stave off life. I never got very "fun" or happy or outgoing or changed all that much. In fact it's pretty sad that I couldn't even have any fun with it.
It's like if I'm going to kill myself, I should at least have fun while doing it, right?
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Join Date: May 2012
Location: Wisconsin, USA
Posts: 16,945
I understand what he said very well. In the last years of my drinking, I did not drink to feel good. I do remember times earlier in my life when I very much enjoyed the warm/fuzzy feeling that first buzz would give you, but that was lost as my drinking problem progressed. Towards the end, I literally drank because I had to. My tolerance was decreased so I had to try and maintain a very narrow window of BAC so I didn't start going into withdrawals and have heart palpitations, etc. . I can vividly remember choking down that first beer of the day, sometimes at 9am on the weekends, sometimes vomiting it right back up as my body needed and rejected it at the same time.
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Location: UK
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Originally Posted by rayna87 
he just doesn’t like being drunk...
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Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: Toronto, ON
Posts: 518
I use this analogy often as a point of reference for my life's arc.
At some point in my life before drinking, the thought of drinking never even entered my mind, and yet I was as happy as ever.
The truth is, that alcohol provides nothing of substance to the human body, in fact it's poison.
Im 3+ years in to sobriety, sure life can still be difficult with a family to support, but im happier now than ever once during my drinking years.
At some point in my life before drinking, the thought of drinking never even entered my mind, and yet I was as happy as ever.
The truth is, that alcohol provides nothing of substance to the human body, in fact it's poison.
Im 3+ years in to sobriety, sure life can still be difficult with a family to support, but im happier now than ever once during my drinking years.
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Join Date: Feb 2018
Posts: 513
Originally Posted by WhoDeyPI
I've known quite a view people that have said they don't like the "feeling of being drunk". I never quite understood it, but I guess that's the alcoholic in me. I don't understand the point of drinking if your goal isn't to get drunk. Like....if you're just going to "have a drink or 2"....why not just save your money and drink water? I don't even know if my rambling makes any sense right now.
However, I'd often spend and evening drinking one cocktail simply because it was absolutely delicious, with no aim to get drunk. Loving the pairing of certain fine rums with various juices and other mixers. I'm sure if I'd continued the way I was binge drinking on other occasions, those enjoyable slow drinking times would turn into drinking purely to get drunk as well.
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Join Date: Feb 2018
Posts: 513
Originally Posted by least
I used to like the feeling of being drunk. But the longer I was sober, the less I liked that feeling. Now the thought of being drunk turns me off.
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Join Date: Dec 2014
Location: sydney nsw
Posts: 785
My sister is one of those people. She has never had issues with alcohol but she simply doesn't like it. She doesn't like the hangover it gives and loosing a day feeling crap. So she doesn't drink, AT ALL. We are (were) polar opposites.
There are people like that. We are (were) on the other side of the spectrum they are on the other side.
There are people like that. We are (were) on the other side of the spectrum they are on the other side.
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Join Date: Feb 2019
Location: Wisconsin, USA
Posts: 18
Originally Posted by WhoDeyPI
I've known quite a view people that have said they don't like the "feeling of being drunk". I never quite understood it, but I guess that's the alcoholic in me. I don't understand the point of drinking if your goal isn't to get drunk. Like....if you're just going to "have a drink or 2"....why not just save your money and drink water? I don't even know if my rambling makes any sense right now.
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Join Date: Feb 2019
Location: Wisconsin, USA
Posts: 18
Originally Posted by sydneyman
My sister is one of those people. She has never had issues with alcohol but she simply doesn't like it. She doesn't like the hangover it gives and loosing a day feeling crap. So she doesn't drink, AT ALL. We are (were) polar opposites.
There are people like that. We are (were) on the other side of the spectrum they are on the other side.
There are people like that. We are (were) on the other side of the spectrum they are on the other side.
My sister is also on the “just doesn’t like it” end of the spectrum. Lucky girl.
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Join Date: Jun 2018
Posts: 151
Originally Posted by ZeroDawn
I remember seeing a show about primates and alcohol. A study was done after they noticed varying behavior in Monkees on some tropical beach where they had bars outside for tourists. Some relatively small percentage of the monkees would do anything to get booze, and get hammered on it, end up making fools of themselves, hurt themselves stumbling around or falling down, annoying the other monkees with their nonsense, get smacked around by the sober monkees, spend the next day sick, and go right back for more. Some small percentage just didn’t want it at all. Most would have some if available and stop before they were drunk, and it ran the whole spectrum of effort they would put into getting it. The same thing has been observed with rabbits and weed, and squirrels and food that had fermented. I’m sure it’s been observed in other animals as well.
My sister is also on the “just doesn’t like it” end of the spectrum. Lucky girl.
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