chiasticslide

Pretty much all of the above

Also I told myself to keep drinking for creative reasons as I like to write stories. "It gives me ideas." The next day I look at my notebook and can hardly read it let alone make any sense of it.

Boxer1

Wow, this is like an Alcoholics Greatest Hits album and I know the words to every song! Great thread!

Maudcat

It helps me to remember that the message is in the marketing.
Alcohol in pretty bottles is marketed to a specific demographic.
Accessories like shirts that say, “I just want to drink wine and pet my dog,” are meant to reach another demographic.
The wine purse (shudder). Don’t know who buys that, but I feel for them.
The marketing and selling of alcohol is big, big business.
I think the reward message is all wrapped up in the shiny ball of toxic that is alcohol.
We see ads showing young, good-looking people enjoying beer and hard spirits.
They seem to be having such fun.
What would things be like if ads conveyed the reality of drinking: slurring words, wobbling and falling, arguments, passing out.?
Sorry. I tend to get up on my horse about this, but it really frosts me when I see booze marketed to young people.

Hevyn

So true, Maudcat. I definitely bought it back in the day. Shiny, happy people with dazzling smiles - clinking glasses, laughing. In the end, it was the exact opposite of that - I was isolated & miserable.