Elisabeth888

My husband and I are visiting friends in another state and his friend is drunk and very obnoxious. I took myself out of the situation because it was awkward and on my nerves.

How many millions of times was I drunk and clueless?!

I am so glad I don't drink! I have little tolerance for intoxicated people though.

iWillBSobr

Oh man, I don't even want to know how much of a fool I've been all the nights I drank myself stupid.

My wake up call, and what got me really thinking about my drinking happened at a wine party last year. A man that I really looked up to intellectually and professionally, turned out to be a raging alcoholic. He's a physicist with a Ph.D in physics - brilliant man during the day. During our wine gathering, this man had to have consumed 4 bottles of wine to himself. Toward the end of the night, this guy started talking about things that weren't party-appropriate topics, and it made things awkward. Then, at the end of the night, we had to drive him home and physically carry him inside his own... really nice home. I had been drinking a lot too, because I'm an alcoholic, but this guy makes me look like an novice (I wasn't the one driving). When we got to his house, his wife locked the bedroom door, so it was the couch for him, again. Using the wall and the counter tops to keep him standing, he stumbled over to his pantry and started pulling out more wine bottles! He asked us to stay and drink with him some more. We had one more glass. He couldn't follow the conversation at all, it took him like 15 seconds to acknowledge when we said something. It was really really sad.

I did see myself in that man down the road, I am a student of science and an alcoholic.

gincognito

I saw myself in a drunk person many times, however I always made sure I used a condom. HAHAHA I so funnay.

Seriously though, yes it is a nice motivation to see drunks and realize you would be like that if you slipped.

LoftyIdeals

Elisabeth...I can definitely relate to both parts of the story. I'm also an ex-smoker, and they say the worst non-smokers are ex-smokers. Now, when I can smell someone's reak of smoke, which I am hypersensitive to, I am disgusted with myself that I used to smell that way to others. I also have a low tolerance threshold to others drunkenness. Fortunately, both remind me of me, so I'm perturbed and humbled at the same time.

Glad you separated yourself from the situation.

DarkDays

My Wife Filmed me drunk talking BS at a party....It was true horror.

nonblondechef

Excellent move, Elisabeth. I run a 24 hour restaurant in a casino. Lots of rude, foul smelling drunken people who have, more often than not, just lost of bunch of money they could not afford to lose. There but for the grace of God go I. ~shudders~

candi7

I think it's a reminder of where we came from, we all are just one drink away from the next drunk and could find ourselves right there if we give up!

Elisabeth888

I got to see the aftermath today. We went to lunch and his hands were shaking badly, he didn't ear much. I could practically feel his hangover.

Pigtails

I really think this was a big reason I initially stopped drinking. I started seeing myself when drunk... almost an out-of-body experience... and realized I didn't like who I was being when I was like that. Then I started dating someone who drinks and, while drinking with him was fun, he would drink more than I would sometimes and I would see myself in him and I didn't want to be like that anymore. Now the hard part is that when he drinks and I don't I have little tolerance for it, like you describe. I feel like a hypocrite because I know I'm like that when I drink, but, I just don't want to be like that anymore.

fallingtogether

i feel like i am two completely different people when i am drunk. how can i have it together so well when sober and be so ridiculous when drunk? then i start wondering if i would still have the dear clients i have if they saw me that way? i highly doubt it, i wouldnt come to me to get my hair done, if my stylist was that outta control! major motivator to stop drinking for me!

MetalChick

My BF has vid of me drunk last Halloween------akkkkkkkkk!!!!!!

MetalChick

Yep Chardonnay740,
The "other" metal chick comes out, and it is not pretty!

MetalChick

TY Pigtails.... I totally relate!

katrinka

I'm so relieved that I don't have to think back to the night before and feel embarrassed about something I said or worse, not remembering. Never again.

MetalChick

Not remembering was the worst. TY katrinka. Well, not remembering and then seeing yourself on vid was the worst

iWillBSobr

MC,

My last two halloweens were not good, either. Uhhhg... try not to think about it.

MetalChick

iWillBSobr, yep-- best to put that out of our minds!!!!!

Notmyrealname

Those people are not happy about the situation either, they are as caught up in the situation as you or I have been. They need help.

blueshades

I joined a similar conversation on another thread earlier tonight, about how much more aware we are of other people's drinking now that we are not drinking ourselves. Only last night my wife and were chatting with a neighbor who had clearly had a lot to drink. He's also fond of marijuana, and when he's used both he's a totally different person.

One of my biggest motivators in quitting is gaining the opportunity to find myself, and to totally be myself. I don't want to be "drunk and clueless." The way I used to be was nothing more than a state of disrespect to my real self.

Sasha4

I see myself in lots of drunk people too.

I also though see that other people did not drink like I did.

I remember going to a christmas party and thinking 'so this is what it is like at christmas party' because I was not blackout drunk. 'People are networking, not sat slumped almost asleep in a chair'.

I also did a holiday and a wedding sober and again thought 'this is how most people drink at weddings. I was bad. No-one has fallen over. No-one has nearly wiped the professional bbq out by almost falling onto it and setting themselves on fire. No-one has bought the brides ex up who cheated on her and gave her an STD. No-one is sat sobbing'.

But when I do see people struggling it does make me feel very empathetic. I had a friend who skidded on a wet floor and broke her wrist in a nightclub and my concern was to elevate her hand and try and get her rings up so they did not have to be cut off if there was swelling.

I have helped put people to bed. Consoled them or boosted their spirits when they have been upset over some antics they had thought they got up to or did not.

I once rescued a girl from cutting her feet to shreds by insisting she put her shoes on when the floor was littered with shards of glass. No-one else seemed to bother.

I do find it really concerning, worrying and hurtful though when no-one else seems to care.
I also find, in my own case, that people get tired of bailing the same people out. You only seem to have so many chances to be looked after before it comes tedious.