AIBU to find it strange how much people are drinking at the moment

[mumof2exhausted]

And more so the almost bragging nature of it on social media? Feel like my Facebook / instagram is full of people showing their wine, beer, expression martinis! I get we are in a strange situation but can’t compute as to how for so many people that’s translated into drinking alcohol every day?? Or maybe it’s just my friends

I think I might actually be drinking less, not that that means I'm interested in judging anything anyone else does that has no impact on me.

I'm the introverts' introvert. I'm still working but from home. Not having to go into the office with its torture chairs, arctic air-conditioning, filthy hot-desks, filthier coffee and, most of all BLOODY PEOPLE has done wonders for my productivity and my liver.

However the most shocking moment was during a meeting online obviously and one staff member was drinking gin and poured herself another during the meeting.

Actuallly, I lied about the judging. I'm giving that person 10/10.

I don't think I ts shocking, infact it was very predictable.
I hardly drink, I can't handle alcohol anymore. My body hates it. I get a really bad hangover, it irritates my stomach, usually as soon as I start drinking it and I get terrible anxiety for days after. I worry about everything, I get paranoid about what people think of me. I'm usually quite a confident person.
I find it surprising that so many people want to drink so much though. I don't know how the handle those feelings of grogginess at best, and near death at worst, so often.

I almost always have a couple of glasses of wine with supper, haven't increased or decreased since the lockdown. We're having a long run of beautiful weather and a sunny lunch in the garden also occasionally demands cold white wine.

Easy solution: stop following vacuous bores on Facebook and Instagram.

Should have stuck with Peroni. Corona is like gnats piss.

I guess if people have a pastime that they already enjoy and the opportunity comes up to do it more often then many people will. No driving, for many less responsibility and more free time... for some, less free time and more time with their arguing kids .

Personally I am a 'only very occasional drinker' but if I didn't have my kids here then I would probably kick back with some drinks more often than I usually do.

Relax, enjoy life, do what you enjoy doing as long as it harms no one else (at home of course) because no one really knows how long they have left in this world.

It makes sense to me. I drink about three or four times a year, because I don't really like alcohol or the feeling of being poisoned which I inevitably have, but right now, I constantly want a drink. I don't have one, because I know rationally that I won't enjoy it, but I want one. My god. Things are bad. Really bad. Personally, I think taking up drinking in bad times would be a dangerous path, and I'll stick to small drinks for big celebrations, but the urge to numb and dull the feelings that arise these days is strong.

Well, as a response to this thread and to appease the do holders I am not going to have a drink this morning (doesn’t include the ones I had between midnight and going to bed about 01:30)

For this afternoon and this evening I have a lovely selection of beers, wines, gin, vodka and whiskey and would imagine at least four beers, a bottle of red and some of the whiskey won’t survive the day.

I couldn’t care less what people think.

After four hours coaxing my ds through school work, I’ve earned my glass of wine.

In fact I’ve earned the entire bottle but am sticking to one glass per night or lockdown could go horribly wrong.

You do whatever helps.

Yes it's very strange isn't it? Equally strange how there is no school run traffic, no cafes and restaurants open and all my family keep hanging around the house all day. Very mysterious.

People drink alcohol because it triggers a
sense of relaxation.

You get the same feeling after a pushy workout when the adrenaline is released.

The first impacts negatively on your health, the other boosts it. One is easy, the other is demanding.

Most people go for the easy less demanding option!

I enjoy a nice crisp ice cold glass of white wine when the weather is sunny. The lockdown coinciding with the arrival of the sun has resulted in more drinking I think. You have to take small pleasures where you can these days.

I understand why people are drinking more but I do feel like a pariah because I don’t drink. I just don’t see the attraction - for me personally - of drinking. It doesn’t agree with me.
Everyone else is having gin o’clock at lunchtime and in over here with a cup of tea...

My ex husband died of alcoholism at 39 and my mum is allegedly three days sober after relapsing at the start of lockdown.

There are no AA meetings happening at the moment.

Not to be a party pooper but I can’t find any of this funny. Nobody sets out to develop a booze problem.

Nothing has really changed in this regard on my social media. It's always been like this and I've always found it...odd. You'll get hell for saying it on here though.

I haven't noticed this on my friends' FB pages, but I know I'm drinking more! I rarely have alcohol normally, but am enjoying a glass of gin most evenings now.

I'm drinking the same or less, but I'm comfort eating instead so I do understand the mentality.

@LividLaughLovely hi I am so sorry to hear of your loss and your DM.

Nearly all AA meetings are running via Zoom- indeed via this route she can access more meetings than ever as you ca dial in almost any time of the day to a meeting somewhere.

They are really good and people are so supportive, especially of people who are struggling/relapsing in lockdown.

You can find all the meetings near her here www.alcoholics-anonymous.org.uk/#

They are all happening and she doesn't need to leave the house. Please encourage her to join in - they are literally life savers.

You really can't think of reasons you had to put a judgy thread on MN to find out?

I can't stand this passive aggressive way of making posts. I imagine the MN head tilt and "I just can't think why people are doing this, I mean it really is very odd that so many women are such heathens as to enjoy a drink, could someone please expwain it to silly lickle me."

@Samtsirch I need to know what @mumof2exhausted did! 👀👀

It makes so much fucking sense. Much more than on holiday in a strange land in the sun dehydrating. People are locked in, many on furlough, unemployed or hardly have any work, not much to do, no driving or going out and very stressful times.

Extraordinary op.

Is drinking the sensible thing? No
Is drinking good for us? No
But is it understandable? Hell yes.

I didn’t drink whilst we were ttc. I didn’t drink whilst we were going through fertility treatment. I didn't drink whilst pregnant. I am currently not drinking as breastfeeding a 5 month old. I haven’t had a drink for over 2 years and i have never felt thirstier or more jealous than i have reading this thread...

eXpresso?? 😖
It's warm and sunny. People are at home, why the hell not 🍻

I think in terms of "strange" having a few extra bevvies features really rather low down on the scale. We're locked down in a global pandemic. What isn't strange? People need coping mechanisms and alcohol is an age old coping mechanism. It's not advised, but definitely not "strange".