To say this is not most people’s experience with alcohol

[Shouldnotwouldnot]

I keep reading about how drinking is now so passe and how life is better without alcohol. This below is from a Guardian article on a new book around the joy of being sober. Whilst I understand that some people shouldn’t and can’t drink healthily surely most people’s alcohol experience is something more moderate. Alcohol is fun and enjoyable when not abused is it not? I don’t spend all day in bed with a hangover or ever make an idiot of myself and I love a few glass of wine

sober life offers you the whole rainbow: rather than spending all day sleeping off your hangover, you can leap out of bed at seven and go for a 10-mile run, join your friends for a jolly brunch, before spending the afternoon “deep diving into Aladdin’s Cave vintage shops for bargains”. You can still date, and dance and have sex. You can go to parties and weddings. You can do anything a drunk person can do – with the added bonus that you are unlikely to make an idiot of yourself

sanctiomonius bullshit

Sounds like a reformed binge drinker or alcoholic.

Nail on the head taskmaster. Agree 100%

bollocks. i've only drank once in my life but I am an EXPERT at making an idiot of myself
yeah the article is sanctimonious.

It’s targeted at alcoholics though. I’m lol at any chance of Britain suddenly upholding the virtues of being teetotal. We have an international reputation as lairy violent barfing imbibers to uphold.

No one wants to read about the ordinary folk who have a pint and then go to bed.

It’s January. Self improvement guff is practically law this month.

It could be sanctimonious, but to me it reads like someone who's had a new lease of life after kicking their destructive drinking habits.

It would take a hell of a lot more than a lack of alcohol in my life to make me jump out of bed on a Sunday morning and go for a ten mile run. And the friends I have who do like to do that also like a drink.

Everything in moderation.

you can leap out of bed at seven and go for a 10-mile run

I wouldn’t even do that if I were drunk.

I’m not much of a drinker any more and the only time I “leap” out of bed is when the baby’s crying

Lots of days I don’t drink alcohol, absolutely 0 days I leap out of bed and go for any of run. I feel they need more evidence of their findings.

Rainboho that made me laugh!

Totally agree the vast majority of alcohol users find it enhances their lives - it's also true of 95% of illegal drug users according to the governments national drug survey.

Rainboho you can leap out of bed at seven and go for a 10-mile run

I can say thats probably the sort of shite that i would agree to do after a few too many. Wont ever happen right enough.

I had exactly 2 drinks in 2017. I did not once leap out of bed early, go for a run or any of that other bollocks. I also don’t lecture other people who drink more than I do

There are no circumstances under which I would ever jump out of bed at 7am and go for a 10 mile run! And I don't necessarily have a hangover from enjoying a few glasses of an excellent red wine or a single malt whisky, nor do I get drunk enough to make an idiot of myself. I do limit my consumption (weekends and holidays only) but don't see any need for complete abstinence. Imo the negative effects described in the article are experienced mostly by heavy drinkers, which the author admits she was. There's a big difference between alcoholism and occasional moderate consumption.

Er. I had maybe 5 drinks in total last year and there is no "leaping" involved
Mostly grunting and squinty eyes until my second cup of tea kicks in. And jolly brunch? Fuck that, I like to eat my breakfast in solitude with peace and bloody quiet

you can leap out of bed at seven and go for a 10-mile run

Like fuck I could.

Even a tiny drink has an impact on your body especially as you get older/if you are already tired. Most people won't be on peak after a glass of wine until the alcohol has cleared their system. They aren't drunk, they can do the most of the things that people around them can do, drive a car, take adequate care of their children, do a menial job. But it does rob you of your higher intellectual faculties so the finer things a bit lost on you. It also leaves you feeling a bit off physically. Like the way you feel after you have recovered from the flu. Perfectly well but not 100%. But that isn't what the article is talking about (judging from the excerpt). It's talking about sobriety, not abstinence. Sobriety just means not getting drunk.

This has made me laugh. I've been sober six months and have yet to leap out of bed to do anything. Stumble out of bed on endless consecutive days to go to work yes, but that doesn't sound quite so exciting.
I can't quite imagine who this is aimed at. For alcoholics it's a load of fluffy ineffective nonsense. For moderate drinkers it's kind of wasted effort as the few drinks they have aren't doing them or anyone else any harm.

I have never voluntarily jumped out of bed at 7am, except maybe at Christmas. I've also never spent all day sleeping off a hangover so I'm guessing this article isn't aimed at me.
I don't like this new trend towards completely abstaining from alcohol. It's much more desirable to me, to be able to regulate your intake, and your behavior after a few.

The Guardian's target audience are by the bottle wine drinkers who are the next problem for the NHS in 15yrs time. Also people with enough money to enjoy all of the finer things in life when they don't have a hangover. It is a totally appropriate article for their core audience and is probably so they will spend that cash on donations and book revenues for longer than they would do otherwise.

Their begging pop-ups drive me to want to drink to be fair.

Also if you wake up with a hangover that regularly then you have issues anyway.

I am a teetotaller and have never managed to "leap out of bed" at any time morning or afternoon. It's this sort of article that stops me making a paying contribution to the Guardian.

Yabu. Drinking alcohol doesn't need any cheer leading. Sobriety does.

People who read this as sanctimonious are either in denial about their own habits or have never had their lives blighted by excessive alcohol consumption and have absolutely no idea about the often life-long destruction it causes, sometimes for generations.

Do what you want, drink what you like, but don't sneer at people who have decided, for whatever reason, that enough is enough, and want to make others aware that a different life without alcohol is entirely possible should they choose it.

My DH is perfectly capable of making an idiot out of himself completely sober!

I haven't made a fool out of myself drinking since I was at uni (now many moons ago) and am quite capable of having a single glass of wine and stopping at that or having a alcohol free time or having a few and knowing my limits - so find sanctimonious pontificating on the subject a bit tiresome at best. Yes I understand that there are people with poor relationships with alcohol / food etc but there are plenty of people who don't!

Sober January or whatever month it is fashionable to faddy for just makes me roll my eyes as the people most likely to do it are never going to change habits long term as they seem to make up for it the next month anyway. If you want to change YOUR habits great change them but I'm not sure I need to hear about it or be lectured about mine (my sister tends to lecture on each any every healthy living fad she jumps on the bandwagon for)

I think the point is that it’s aimed at people who have a drinking problem/a difficult relationship with alcohol. Why else would you be reading a book about being sober?