Mandy73

I spent many years comparing my drinking habits to others in order to convince myself that it was ok to keep drinking.


Some of the things I told myself:
Everyone kicks back with alcohol especially on the weekend, wine wednesday is a thing other women/ moms are drinking wine today, I only drink 3-4 days I don't drink every day like some people, I don't drink hard liquor JUST WINE, she drinks way more than I do and she isn't even concerned about her drinking and how it's affecting her health so I'm sure I'm fine.

I have a feeling this train of thought plagues a lot of people. If this sounds familiar and you are reading and still drinking, I can tell you when you get on the other side of this you can clearly see how dangerous those thoughts are.

If you need to compare your drinking to others to justify it chances are you have a problem.

Idk if this helps anyone, I hope it does. I hated the way I felt and it just makes me sad I took so long. There's always going to b someone worse than you don't let that keep you from embracing a change for the better!
What did you/do you tell yourself to keep drinking?

SaturatedSeize

"I'm still young, I have plenty of time to quit later."

LastDrop

I'm not hurting anyone but myself

I never drink and drive

These people (friends, family) expect me to have a couple drinks with them at this next special occasion. So since I know I have to drink then I might as well drink tonight.

BrightenMeUp

Id tell myself I gotta live life to the fullest. Translated that means "drink my life away" i'm great at lying to myself.

DangerZone

Everyone else is doing it, you can too.

Eaglelizard

I work every day and stay reasonably fit with exercise and never take a vacation, so why begrudge myself a drink or ten, my only solace in this stressful BS life?

Maudcat

My opinion only, but I think “alcohol as a reward” for working hard, accomplishing something or conversely, having a bad day, week, month, is embedded in our culture and, for many of us, our psyche.
It wasn’t until I stopped drinking that I came to see how messed up this thinking is.
In fact, many people don’t drink to excess.
Many people don’t drink at all.
This became clearer to me after I had been sober for a while.

SoberN

Another danger of this type of comparison is the fact that most alcoholic drinkers attract other drinkers with the same profile to their social circle.

So its easy to look to your friends and think:
"Hey, I don't have a problem, all my friends are hangover too after friday night." or "I'm not anormal, my friends inveted me to this party and they are already drinking too much and doing shots of tequila."

That's a illusion. Because after you stop drinking you see how ridiculous this behaviour is, and discovers that there are other people that have fun without drink and don't waste their weekend drinking and with hangover.


I thought the same thing.
That last 10 years.

D122y

I was heavily addicted and tried everything to survive and keep drinking.

Went from beer to wine to hard stuff to different types of hard stuff to counting shots to sleeping pills to stop drinking.

I was on my way to an earlier grave. I am sure there is irreversible damage inside of me.

Crazy days.

SR saved what is left of my life.

I am stronger than I have been in at least 20 years plus, I am getting strong and stronger.

My mental game has improved. Patience is off the charts. No more hangover or detox rage.

Sleep is amazing.

Thanks.

CRRHCC

I was a functional chemical abuser for 44 years. Why? Because I thought I deserved it! Made a lot of money and was a good provider to wife and 4 kids. I was able to keep my abuse to the weekends, because in deciding to drink early in the week, I had escaped my emotional trap of adversity (regained control) be deciding to abuse on the weekends with a quick fix or mood changer of drugs and alcohol.

shauninspain

One of my favourites was... I'm virtually at the stage of committing suicide, so what does it matter if I drink. I'm a dead man walking anyway.

Nonsensical

Next time will be different.

DarklingSong

Yep. Me too.

Horatio48

1. You only live once.
2. Just a few days a month - as a reward.
3. It is all so random and unpredictable, might as well have a drink.
4. I love the taste, I love the glow, I love how it makes me feel.
5. A good meal is incomplete without a good wine.

In the words of Yul Brynner in The King and I, "Etcetera, Etcetera, Etcetera.."

DreamCatcher17

Thank you for sharing Mandy! Totally true I always compared myself to others drinking habits. I had to let my BFF go because she and her husband will drink captain and coke every night, many drinks. Now, me, do I see that as a problem, yes I do, but that's none of my business.

Hevyn

" I won't do this forever - I just want to enjoy the holidays/my birthday/vacation, then I'll stop." Told myself that for 30 yrs.

Leeloo

"work hard, play hard"

TiredPrayer

Plenty of moms drink. You basically HAVE TO drink to survive raising kids.

Linners820

Good topic. For me I don't think it's as much what I told myself, but rather more what I derived from our culture in general. Or what friends have said to me when I confided I was concerned about how often I was drinking.
You see shirts that say "Rose all day" or "drinks well with others", and the cute wine glasses that say "Mommy's sippy cup" etc...and you think, well, I'm not the only one, other ppl do it, this is a THING.
And when you confess to a friend your concerns and they say tell you, "hey, you've been thru a lot, you're allowed. You're the most 'put-together' person I know, it can't be that bad"...in a way you feel like you have permission. That it's ok. But I've realized that there's some ppl who wont really like it when you question your drinking, because it makes them question theirs. It upsets the apple cart, so to speak. They'll tell you you're fine so they can be fine too.

Dee74

'if you had my life you'd drink too'

and the ever-popular 'gotta die of something'

what a nincompoop that guy was

D