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

TBH, when I hear British, I see stag and hen parties, drunk or stinking of stale booze and vomit the next day, the XXXL wine glasses of Mums just "needing to relax", going to a wedding or a Christmas party being fully aware the next day is gone too due to a hangover and considering sober people sanctimonious, no fun and holier than thou. So yes, I get the article.

Do you have a link, OP?

Like other posters I have been disappointed to discover that my very-nearly-dry January has not inspired me to leap out of bed at 7 and go for a 10-mile run. The likelihood of me doing such a thing remains at 0%.

I do love a jolly brunch.

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.

You don't speak for everyone. I'm a child of two alcoholics, I definitely don't have a secret drinking problem and I did find it a little sanctimonious.

Okay...yes I might modify my opinion slightly in view of what a couple of pp have said.

Alcohol is the problem that it is partly because of its ubiquitousness. It is involved in pretty much every social event and gathering.

I suppose a message that life can be just as good without it is worth putting out there. And hey, if it helps a few people with serious issues then hurrah. It wouldn't have helped me because I was in complete denial about the problem. Alcohol was my solution, not the problem (or so I thought).

I don't find it sanctimonious. It's just one person's opinion/experience. Let them have it. If drinking alcohol is marvellous for you then so what, get on with it.

If you enjoy alcohol, and it enhances your life, why would you buy a book called ‘the unexpected joy of being sober’?
Not all books are aimed at all people. I wouldn’t read a book about quitting smoking... because I don’t smoke.

It’s a great book and made me laugh out loud.
It’s also very honest and brave.
I’ve had a very stressful few years and have had one to many embarrassing incidents recently where I’m not drinking more than I used to, but I seem to have acquired an inability to tolerate alchohol and recognize when I should say, “no thank you I’ve had enough”.
I found this book motivating and relatable.
I don’t get up & run 10k when not hungover, but I am a force to be reckoned with. I have so much more energy, a can do positive attitude and a lust for life that alcohol sucks from me.
I think that’s what she means in the book.

I like jumping out of bed and going for a run, and in fact set my parkrun PB after a heavy night on the gin... not sure what that says, if anything!

Me and DH are early 50s. We were only ever moderate drinkers but found as we got older our tolerence became absolutely pathetic and the hangovers shocking. So we've cut down drastically in the last year or so and honestly feel so much better.

And my migraines have totally stopped, apart from one on Christmas Day within five minutes of my first sip of red wine in months. Hoping it's just a coincidence because I bloody love red wine. I'm a bit reluctant to repeat the experiment though.

I very rarely drink because more often that not I get a terrible stomach ache shortly after consuming any alcohol. The only time I have leapt out of bed at 7am is when I’ve had a drink as I can never fall in to a deep restfull sleep after!

You don't speak for everyone. I'm a child of two alcoholics, I definitely don't have a secret drinking problem and I did find it a little sanctimonious

Perhaps you also realise then why I said that drinking alcohol doesn't need any cheerleading, whereas sobriety does.

Here is the original article - a very balanced book review from The Guardian. The quote in the OP comes from the book review rather than the actual book, so it's not necessarily fair to blame the author for being sanctimonious.

www.theguardian.com/books/2017/dec/20/unexpected-joy-being-sober-short-history-drunkenness-review

It doesn't come across as sanctimonious but imagine it would to somebody who drinks regularly.

More and more are becoming dependent on alcohol and can't get through an evening without a glass of wine, an event without alcohol etc.

I absolutely do not deny that alcohol is the enabler to a whole bucketload of very bad shit.

But leap out of bed on to the horse you rode in on and fuck off to your Aladdin’s cave deep-dive.

Yes, as an above poster says the quote was from the article not the book, which I’ve not read. I understand who the book is aimed at and that makes sense if you want to read that. I’m just a little confused by the narrative in the media at the moment where middle aged, middle class women are regularly drinking till they blackout and / or make fools of themselves. I just don’t see this regularly.

I do think we have a huge issue with drinking in this country. I was a very heavy drinker in my teens and 20s and stopped completely aged 30. I am now 37 and don’t miss it at all. My health feels better for it. I feel I make better decisions, I don’t do stupid things I cringe about in the morning. I know that’s not everyone’s experience but that’s my experience and I think it’s a lot more common than people think. My mum and Dad were very heavy drinkers (middle / upper class business and networking type stuff) and it made me feel that alcohol was an essential part of socialising and relaxing - when it isn’t.

I can relate to the quote. I think we do need to change our whole attitude to drinking.

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

Hardly an incentive, who the hell wants to jump out of bed at seven am and go for a ten mile run? I'm doing dry JAN, am going to the gym almost daily, but I'd rather drink than jump out of bed at 7 am of a weekend and go for a ten mile run.