Bonniefloyd

DreamCatcher17

If I had never had an issue with alcohol, and drank normal I would know no different, right.

Just like, I drank and had issues and now I know how I am, so I would choose to never drink again.

It's like the double end sward question. It just depends on where the start is.

Rd2quit

Maybe I would drink but I don't think I would be any happier or more satisfied than I am now. Particularly if we are talking about very low quantities of alcohol, like two beers twice a month. Right now, I have no desire to drink 1 or 2 beers. Would I if I did not drink so much? maybe.

However, I have to think those who drink very low quantities of alcohol would have no trouble quitting if needed. If a doctor told someone who drinks no more than 2 times a month, and no more than two beers at a time, that they had a medical condition that required them to drink zero alcohol would they really care? Would they feel they are missing out? I doubt it, they would probably go about there life exactly as is and be grateful their medical condition was so easy to fix.

NerfThis

Before I quit, I could drink moderately on many occasions without the aim of getting drunk. I drank a lot of alcoholic drinks for the taste actually, so yes, if I didn't have a problem with alcohol, I'd likely still be drinking it. Having a problem with it has introduced me to many very nice non alcoholic drinks though, so I'm fine without it.

Primativo

I don't know, because I only ever drank for the buzz, and I always wanted more and more of the buzz.

Even from a young age, I enjoyed getting drunk. Then it slowly over the years, stopped becoming as fun, and the hangovers and repercussions became worse.

Then, I slipped into dependency. It was a gradual decline over many years, but the problems with alcohol became apparent in my early twenties, when I drank to treat my anxiety (which was mainly caused by my drinking in the first place). Drinking on my hangovers is probably where the wheels were set in motion.

Once I started drinking on hangovers, my fate was sealed, and all that happened as over the years I slowly sunk further and further into the abyss until all of a sudden I would be on week long binges drinking from morning to night unable to stop.

I simply can;t enjoy one or two drinks anymore. I don't get a satisfactory buzz from a couple of drinks. I don't even feel it. The amount I need to make drinking enjoyable, is exactly relative to the amount which will cause me bad withdrawels / hangovers and other consequences the next day. There isn't a holy grail of the perfect amount of alcohol which will satisfy me, and simultaneously allow me to avoid the black outs and hangovers.

August252015

My life is too good and perfectly imperfect now to think about this to-do-or-don't type of question. Who knows what my path would have been or my life would be like now if I'd been a normal drinker, or just a non-alcoholic, or even someone who doesn't drink?

I value the path I have been on too much to try to rewrite it, and I wouldn't trade what my reality is here at almost 43, in recovery, for any other version of life.

abgator

I would absolutely drink if I weren't an alcoholic for some of the same reasons I wish I still could. Socializing primarily. I'm 39 and been single for a while. And every single woman wants to get to know each other over drinks, not coffee. And I'm not at the stage where I can do that because I would almost certainly cave in and join her for a drink. A coworker is having a BBQ this weekend for family and friends where I know basically everybody will be drinking beer. I'll likely skip it, though I want to go.

So hell yeah, if I wasn't an alcoholic, I would 100% drink socially.

courage2

Indeed.

If I weren't an alcoholic, I'd drink until I became one. That's why I don't drink.

Dee74

^ LOL yep

I was thinking this was a lot like asking me if I'd run were it not for my disability. The real answer is I run anyway - as ill advised as that may be.

Humans are weird

D

Santi27

I think it's a question that for me is impossible to answer. As a person who's had a drink problem, alcohol has taken up so much time in my life- solving the problems it has brought and the energy taken to stop the problems from happening.

I've had times when I've wished so much that I didn't have the problem and times when I've struggled so much to resist a drink that it's been necessary to demonise alcohol in order to be able to say no. It's been a rollercoaster of emotions, so I can't really make a logical judgement and answer this question.

Kaily

I still struggle to comprehend why people drink if not to get drunk but that is alcoholic thinking. So if I wasn't an alcoholic why drink?

I actually can't come up with a clear answer to this because I am an alcoholic so can't convert my mind to non alcoholic thinking. Interesting though as it makes it clearer why a normal drinker can never fully understand why an alcoholic can never have just one!

Fearlessat50

I wouldn’t. When I started drinking, it was because of peer pressure. I hated the taste. Didn’t like the fuzzy way it made me feel, like I was not in control. Even on just a buzz, I said and did stupid **** that I always regretted. It took me a long time to develop into an alcoholic. Not really until my forties. At that point, I was drinking more to escape. No matter what the alcohol quantity was, even small, it made me feel spiritually empty.

Of course, I say all this now after having become an alcoholic and being in recovery with time to reflect. So I don’t know if any of us in this situation could have an objective perspective.

BarbieKen

I really love feeling again!

No, not interested.


Bobbi

Derringer

If alcohol did me no harm then of course. You'd just be like the vast majority of people who are able to drink as much as they want to each and every time they drink.

DriGuy

I've thought about this too. The question is almost impossible to answer, because all our perceptions about the issue are personal. I could have said I would drink if I could, but this is from the perspective of a nonalcoholic, which I am not. I suppose I could say I was at one time, like when I was 14, but that was a time of my life when I had few experiences, not as much smarts, and subject to peer pressure.

Being an alcoholic that I am, I have looked at drinking from a perspective that normies have ever considered, understood, or incorporated into their reality, and that perspective is NOT that drinking affects me in a negative way. Well OK, that is a minor part of my perspective, but the biggy is that nothing about drinking affects me in a positive way. There is nothing to be gained from it that I can't achieve sober.

Not to discredit normies. They're good people. I just believe they confuse getting tipsy with having fun. Indeed it may be fun for them, but what they don't seem to get is that it isn't necessary.

Now taking the normie vs alki perspectives out of the picture, all I can say is that drinking is not fun for me, and in no way shape of form necessary for me to have fun.

WhoDeyPI

I don't know that I can answer this. I am an alcoholic. My brain is that of an alcoholic. So, of course I would drink. Plus, I like the way it makes me feel, I like the taste, and I like the social aspect of it.

SoberRican

My answer to that would be no being what I put myself through with my addiction for the better part of 20-plus years I look back and all the Carnage that I've created on myself relationships driving Under the Influence charges MyHealth I am grateful right now that I have 54 days without being told that I cannot drink I chose not to again it was not my will but as it says a power greater than me did the job for me and I am forever grateful

thomas11

Nope, I drank to get drunk. To escape, to numb, to not feel. I hate the taste of every alcoholic liquid that has ever gone down my throat.

When I was in the Philippines and got ill, I was on a flight home and I asked the waitress if I could please get something to drink. She said sure, what would you like, and I said a glass of milk. I thought she was going to fall over, she almost started laughing. I was sure she thought I meant alcohol. She was very sweet and said, absolutely sir, I will get you some cold milk.

snitch

Yes.

NessunDorma

Not for me...no more than I would want to do any other drug even if I could get away with it. Would I want to be mildly buzzed without it progressing? No thanks, whatever the situation good, bad or indifferent I’d rather have a clear head.
Not sure of the right numbers, but I think about half the worlds population don’t drink alcohol...including me.