To ask if you don't drink, what are your reasons for not doing so?

[JustAskingForAFriend]

Chatting to a friend the other day and she was saying about a new wine shed tried and had I tried it. I said no, I don't particularly like wine or any alcohol for that matter.
She was like really? Why?
I said I just don't.
Then it got me thinking.
I used to drink.. A LOT. as a late teen early 20s. So to be honest I think it's the case of I feel like I've had 'my drinking days'. Coupled with the fact of a particular drink made me mega sick (. My fault for drinking more than I could handle lol) it put me off. So I think I've eliminated most drinks as th e thought makes me feel sick lol..
.

I hate it when people say 'ooh it's horrible when you are the only sober one'. As if that makes you really boring.

It's great! I am going to the Christmas do, driving myself there, not drinking and as soon as I have had enough I will drive myself home.

They can all ask me the next day what actually happened. I may or may not tell them ,depending.

Don’t like the taste. Never have

Pretty much exactly the same as you. Drank plenty as a teen/young adult then sort of grew out of it. Now I don’t really like the taste of most alcohol. I do drink on the odd occasion but can easily go 6-9 months without thinking about having a drink.

Drive early every morning, not worth the risk.

Don't need to drink, don't like the taste and it's expensive, don't want to act like a knobber while drunk

I used to drink lots when I was younger, when I was out most nights (before children!)
I don't drink at all now. I don't like the feeling of losing control and also I don't like the taste of drinks now.
I don't miss it at all but hate the feeling that people think I'm boring because I don't drink.

DH thinks all inclusive hols are wasted on me as I only drink water or maybe a Fanta if I'm feeling adventurous lol

I drink maybe once or twice a month but generally I’m happy to not drink for the following reasons

Money
Trying to lose weight so don’t want to drink calories
Don’t like the taste of many alcoholic drinks
Some drinks give me migraines
Very fine line for me between happily tipsy and violently ill.

The only time I’m. Regular drinker is on holiday. Usually when I’m on holiday I’m not driving so it does feel good to let my hair down for a week or so. Only a few drinks at a time though, not binge drinking.

Don't drink for religious reasons

I used to drink heavily at uni and in my 20s but now one glass of wine gives me an immediate headache so I don't bother. Also with a baby that sleeps badly I couldn't be getting up in the night while feeling dozy from having had a drink

Drank in all my 20 only on nights out . Reducing now as the hangovers are just awful. I rarely drink in the house but I fancy I glass of Rose’ tomorrow night . H is alcoholic that’s put me off it too

I’m never out, don’t like feeling hungover, plus I don’t sleep that well so like getting up and out early in the morning and wouldn’t want to be stuck in unable to drive

I'm the same as you OP. Done a lot of drinking in my teens and got to the age of about 21 and didn't really drink anymore. I have maybe 1 or 2 in the summer if I get chance to go to a beer garden.

I don't really like wine or gin. Like a bit of Malibu or the odd sweet cider. Tbh I'm glad I don't like a drink.

Alcohol makes me feel sick after more than a unit or two. I drink every so often, but decline a drink more than I have one.

What's worrying is the amount of posters here that are pressurised and nagged at about not drinking on a night out. I get that from people a lot too and just makes me not want to go out or socialise with these people again.

Why people feel the need to put pressure on others to do something they don't wish to then are offended when told no baffles me.

I've never drunk alcohol, even as a teenager. I don't like the thought of being out of control. (Also, I'm a bit of a twat anyway, don't want to risk making it worse )

I drive every day so when I got my own car and my own insurance (in 1988) I just decided not to.

I did have a drink on holiday if I was not near a car but now I don't even bother with that.
I last had a drink (Baileys) in 2009 !

Because it's boring as fuck and the benefits never outweigh the lack of reward.

I don't mind a pint on a super hot summers day or an odd cognac at christmas. But inbetween? Come on. Dull as fucking dishwater.

Drinkers are the most dull of people too.

LOts of reasons:

• Trying to keep my weight under control and prefer to use my calories as food.
• Realised that drinking alchohol leaves me incredibly depressed the next day.
• DH is in denial about his problems around alchohol- as in hiding it round the house and drinking in secret, lying about his drinking, unable to stop drinking till till there’s not a drop left in the house. Much easier to not have it in the house. Nothing like putting you off alchohol like living with a functional alcoholic.
• Retired and living on a restricted budget so prefer to spend what we do have on other things.
• OVer 60 and overweight, though doing well getting the weight down, so don’t want to add another health risk to the mix. I fully intend to do my damnest to still be doing Zumba and city breaks in my 90s.
• My aunt, who had similar weight problems to me, was a really heavy drinker and died in her sleep at only 60.

I’m not by any means a teetotaller, don’t hate the taste at all and will have the odd one but I find after a couple of swigs I’ve had enough and go on to water. Wish it was so easy to do that with food!!

I do get a bit irritated when the drinkers around me imply I’m a boring fart because I don’t drink. My DH’s family has a huge culture of drink fuelled family get togethers and I’ve always been made to feel a bit odd or snobby for not wholeheartedly embracing it. My theory is that they need the alchohol to be able to bear 4 hours in each other’s company.

.

Drink seems to have given me up... never was a big drinker but I liked a glass of wine to relax and wind down with during the odd evening. Now, in my late 50s even a small glass gives me a banging headache shortly after finishing it. Getting old is a bastard on so many unexpected levels

Don't like the taste and never felt the need as teenager to drink anyway - made me popular as a driver! Tried a pint once and didn't like how it made me feel lightheaded. Like to be in control. Would be more overweight if I drank. Cheaper and healthier to drink water with occasional soft drink. In fact can't think of a reason to drink alcohol!

Empty calories, waste of money, bad for health and there's always children to be looked after. Never bothered me, plenty of ways to have fun or relax with alcohol.

My mother was an alcoholic and ruined my childhood.
I drank every now and again when I was younger, now I’ve got kids I can’t be arsed.
I don’t particularly like it, it bloats me and not drinking makes me feel superior to my cunt of a mother who thinks she’s fucking perfect!

I drank a lot aged 15 to 18 to fit in, I suppose, with friends who did the same. At 18 with different friends I felt I could start afresh and be honest that actually I didn't like drinking, I didn't like the taste and I really didn't like the hangovers so I didn't drink. Now more than thirty years later I have never found a reason to start again.