sugarbear1

Donald Trump was on Wendy Williams today. He said his brother (I think it was his brother or maybe his uncle) was an alcoholic. Donald Trump claimed he never had a sip of alcohol and he never had an illegal drug in his lifetime.

I wonder if he believes in boredom?

SomethingBetter

Counting a fist full of fifty’s has got to be more entertaining than blowing it at a bar, I was just too ignorant to realize that when I was younger.

I’ve heard this before about his brother, I guess it’s like me never trying herein, I tried a lot of drugs but a good friend over dosed on heroin, so I never tried it, I never tried pills either, seen them do damage too, so I guess if Mr. Trump never drank because of the damage he seen it could have led to his success.

I guess there’s a good lesson to be learned there…

Terminally Unique

I knew this about him, and it is a good case in point regarding the perverse, backwards thinking regarding drinking often tossed around in recovery circles. You know what I'm referring to — the idea that normies must drink, that only alcoholics can't drink, and that abstinence is insufficient for real recovery or a decent life. This is utter nonsense.

Normal people don't drink, and abstinence is its own reward !!!

MemphisBlues

Actually, I think normal people drink occasionally, easily pass on a drink, and, yes, many simply never drink and could care less. As for Trump, well, I hardly would call him normal (how else could you explain the hair or the pomposity of his GOP presidential bid?). His son, however, seems to be wired OK.

Abstinence isn't a reward or the cure-all for what made me an alcoholic. It can be pure hell dealing with the emotional and mental issues that abstinence brings to the surface. At least that's what abstinence was like for this alcoholic. My sobriety has been a far different, more rewarding trip, and I have come to learn the difference between abstinence and sobriety, regardless if someone thinks it's just recovery rot or not. This alcoholic has learned the difference; perhaps others simply don't need to know the distinction since removing alcohol made them recovered. I had a lot more work to do.

Mo S

no- from what i know of Donald; i cant imagine him bored with his life. He has too many buildings to count.Now an alcoholic who is missing the booze, people, places and things- that person could easily be bored.

wheresthefun

Donald Trump is ANYTHING but "normal". He'd be one of the last people on Earth I'd look to for answers on anything. Except possibly advice on declaring bankruptcy.

Emily2002

Needed to read this today. Thanks, Memphis.

Ranger

I consider Trump an oddity given his professional status and his non religious reason for abstaining. No doubt his day to day professional life is awash with alcohol. So the fact he has never imbibed and isn't, say, Mormon is anything but typical.

Just an observation...not meant as justification for any sort of reverence for the guy.

soberlicious

I actually know 3 people IRL who have never imbibed... One in his 30s, one 50ish and one close to 70...I'm sure I'd find more if I actually looked. Lots of people choose this the same as lots choose to never use tobacco. I used to think this was an anomaly... Now I see otherwise.

Ranger

Well, when it comes to "never" the statistics speak for themselves. I think we'd be hardpressed to find a survey that did not conclude >>50% of high school seniors had tried alcohol at least once.

So yeah, on the whole, it is quite atypical to have never tried alcohol.

Terminally Unique

Somebody asked me to clarify what I meant by 'normal people don't drink', and the facts speak for themselves. According to the WHO, about 2 billion people consume alcoholic beverages. The world has a population of 7 billion. This means that 5 billion people, or 71% of the world, does not drink. Note that this doesn't mean they never have -- people do quit, after all. In some countries, the lifetime abstention rate is close to 100%, but even in the US and Europe, a third of the population abstains. Globally, 45% of the world's population has never had a single drink of alcohol.

People in recovery will often say "oh, I wish I were normal, so I could drink," and then someone else will chime in with "oh, but you're not normal, you're an alcoholic, so you can't drink." That's certainly one way to look at it, but I reject that notion. It is the nature of addiction to create the illusion that drinking is normal, but it isn't, nor is ingesting alcohol in any way, shape, or form necessary for decent, normal living. Inevitably, people thinking about quitting wonder what they will do. Imagine the horrible boredom! As sugarbear brilliantly pointed out, though, Donald Drump probably isn't bored.

Source:

WHO Global Status Report on Alcohol and Health 2011 (Google Docs)

WHO Global Status Report on Alcohol and Health 2011 (PDF)

See Section 1.4.1 ABSTENTION, starting on page 12 of the report (page 24 in the PDF)

Ranger

One needn't look further than the dinner table to appreciate the fact "normal" is a relative term.

If fully two-thirds of Americans embibe and I am an American living in America who abstains, clearly I am the odd man out, however you want to describe it. I just returned from a work conference in Orlando where there was open bar each night and I saw my minority status fully on display. That my experience would've been completely different in Jakarta is an interesting bit of trivia, but ultimately immaterial to my life in American culture. Adjusting the reference population so as to maintain "normal" status was typical of the drinking me, not the sober me.

I have no qualms being categorized as "abnormal" because I am an American who doesn't drink. But, I see how this could be a slippery stone for the fragile newcomer. I get it....no one wants to be considered "unnormal" even if that is a technically correct assessment.

Hence, my description of Trump's abstention as "atypical", a hopefully less off putting adjective that describes his minority status.