Heavy Drinking in Retirement

At that level of drinking, on your days off (not hangover but the other days) your mood will be lowered due to alcohol. Your sleep will not be as good.

I think you need a total break for a couple of painful months to see what your baseline mood is now maybe ?manageable with better sleep, better overall mood, physically feeling better, more ability to be creative and more ability to do other things to switch off. When you are off alcohol for a couple of months you might be surprised what other less dangerous things can be a crutch or escape. Good luck.

Go over to the alcohol board, it is full of helpful support. There is an excellent thread just now on 100 day sober reset. Lot's of women realising their relationship with alcohol is not as they'd want it and supporting each other through 100 days.

Best of luck.

I am a year sober and EVERYTHING is better.

You sound bored to tears.
Do you get out of the house everyday?
Do you exercise everyday?
You sound very creative, could you volunteer your time teaching in your field?

Could you stop drinking for February? think of something to do everyday for the month so that you're busy & occupied.

It's such a waste of your precious time to sit with the booze.

That's a hell of a lot of words to try and romanticise the fact that you're an alcoholic in the process of drinking yourself to death.

See your GP and engage with Drugs and Alcohol Services in your area.

I'm 57 retired for 2 years and went of a pint this afternoon... We were talking about a mate who is in the pub, alone at 10 am...it's simply not good. I like a drink, in fact I love a drink but there are limits. You need to reign it in. Spirits are a slippery slope and you need to fill your time another way. If not you have 5 years life left max... I've seen it too often sadly

Is it the harmonium?

Who knows if anything is real anymore or if it even matters.

Social connections are so important

Do you feel a bit lonely op? I don’t mean to make it sound like a failing but perhaps the alcohol is masking that a bit.

If you are usually drinking wine, why do you need to tally up the amount as spirits? Why not just say you have X bottles of wine?

Are you a bit bored @BeanQuisine because it reads more like someone who is just a bit bored with their life, a little too much time on their hands and maybe not enough stimulating company rather than someone who fundamentally has an alcohol problem. You have certainly developed a very unhealthy relationship with alcohol which you have recognised and know needs sorting out. There will be a lot of people out there in this same situation- first step is recognising it’s becoming a problem (which you have) and next step is seeking some help.

You need to cut down. Use the money for counselling to work through the things you're trying to numb out.
Look after yourself OP.

Bullshit is this real! Can't be just me, is it?

This.

You must know that you’re depressed? Having said that, if you’re not taking on board 60 units of depressant fluid every week, you may eventually find you are less depressed. But since that’s not going to happen straight away, please see the doctor.

Hi OP, it’s not uncommon to start drinking heavily in retirement. The frequency and quantities you’re drinking indicate that you’re depending upon it and that the dependency is increasing.

I’ve been in recovery in AA for 18 years and it saved my life. You’ve nothing to lose by turning up at a meeting. If you can’t relate and feel it’s not for you - nobody will force you to speak or to go back. You might find that others will understand exactly where you are.

Lots of women alcoholics are binge drinkers,I was one of them.I have been sober 23 years.But your drinking sounds a lot like mine and it will get worse over time,not better.You are damaging your body with that amount of alcohol.

Normal drinkers don’t behave like you do when they are drinking!

I suggest you get on a Zoom AA meeting,see if you identify with any of the speakers.There are literally thousands of meetings 24/7.There is an excellent one out of London every evening at 9.30pm,usually has about 100 people at it.You can also call the AA helpline and speak to someone in recovery.

Go and see the doctor as it sounds like you have depression and you need to treat it with something other than alcohol.

Go to therapy to deal with your sorrow and whatever problems you're trying to drown.

Go to AA.

If it's 3 days a week you must cut down, you really must.

Couldn’t you replace it with something else? Just stopping probably won’t work. You’ll need a substitute. It’s a pity you like alcohol so much. I would never do what you do, not because I’m strong, but because I just don’t get much out of booze. I think alcohol is the single most overrated thing in the world. I have never understood why people like it so much. I get hardly any buzz off it, and the hangovers are horrendous. The price you pay vastly outweighs the pleasure.

Please contact AA.
They can help you.
They have helped many creative people like you.
You have a lot to give yet. Good luck.

Take up exercise which prevents you drinking, involves you meeting people and is good for your mental and physical health eg swimming in the evening. You’ll feel much better and hopefully less aware of your anxiety and sorrow.

How often is this OP?

Fast track to an early death.

Knock it on the head.