To think life is actually better with an occasional drink?

[Boxthemup]

I appreciate some people can't have an occasional drink and I absolutely support their efforts to stay away from it altogether. I wouldn't dream of trying to persuade someone who doesn't want a drink to have one.

However, for the rest of us there is something lovely about being mildly tipsy. It's not that I can't enjoy myself without a drink, I can and do on a daily basis, but having a drink makes everything that bit more relaxed.

My perfect world is maybe 3-4 pints of beer and a putting the world to rights session with intelligent friends in a lovely beer garden or 2/3 bottle of wine and dancing.

I do one or other of these perhaps once or twice a month and thoroughly enjoy it/look forward to it.

I think this is a good thing?

The most annoying people are the ones who don't drink and bring it up as often as they can, as if it's a badge of honour, and make you feel guilty for having the odd one.

As long as you're not going over the weekly limit, and you're having days off, it's fine. Enjoy it.

I need to find a cannabis cake supplier first! But anyway your own cake baking sounds hilarious. I wish I had been at that party.

I agree OP. I love a couple of drinks too! Had a few gins this afternoon and will be sober before bed but have enjoyed that tipsy glow for a while.

Every now and then it's nice to relax a bit with a drink, but I can only manage half a small glass of wine and it makes me feel ill if I drink more. Plus I have zero alcohol tolerance and get tipsy fast, so I generally stay away from it unless I know other people will be heavily drinking otherwise I'm disproportionately drunk compared to everyone else and that doesn't feel good. And hang overs are much worse once you're not 25 any more so a few of those put me off alcohol.

I love a drink. YANBU. Moderation is key, makes it a treat. I get bored of it if I drink too much.

No, life isn't better with an occasional drink. If I made a list of the things that make life better, alcohol wouldn't be anywhere on it. But it helps you enjoy life, then go ahead and tipple!

Three pints for a woman is the UK nhs definition of binge drinking. And the guidelines are there to provide a baseline. I'm a healthy BMI and would personally struggle to consume the level of sugar, salt and fat the NHS provides as a daily recommended guideline. I can go several months without drinking any alcohol at all, but say around four times a year I will 'binge drink 3-4 pints' and not be pissed.

That is why the NHS includes a definition of binge drinking in the guidelines. Otherwise people do exactly as they have on this thread ... just look at a weekly recommended dose then drink it all in one go and claim it's 'within guidelines'.

I really couldn't drink 3-4 pints ever and not be pretty drunk but if you can, then you can.

In your example I think it's the intelligent friends in a summer beer garden or the going out dancing that's the fun part, not the booze. Those things are just as wonderful if not better without alcohol.

Which....is exactly what op said? In their first post?
Not sure why so many people are disagreeing with what is an icnred8bky mainstream opinion....there wouldn't be a drinks industry worth billions and at least a thousand years of pub culture in the UK if the majority of the general public didn't agree with you!

Just look at a weekly recommended dose then drink it all in one go and claim it's 'within guidelines' and the OP was making the point that they drink that they have a drink perhaps 1 - 2 times a month not every week which is well within the NHS guidelines, with a decent rest period of no alcohol in between. Everything within moderation. If you're saying you never exceed the RDA for sugar, salt, fat and religiously exercise for 2.5 hours a week of moderate exercise a week every week, then give yourself a pat on the back, I guess

I used to have one drink of sweet wine at birthday parties twenty-plus years ago. Drinking at home? Never. Don't miss it or want to drink alcohol again, either. I don't like memories of being tipsy, and have just as much fun with friends over cups of tea.

I'm not convinced by people who say they have "just as much fun" without. If they choose not to drink and are happy with that, of course that's all good, but why donthey eant to convince me they're having just as much, if not more fun?

Yesterday I went and did some exercise with friends and finished up with a good chat over a cuppa. I had a lovely morning, really enjoyed it.

Today we have a race and will go to the pub afterwards. No one will drink to excess, we all have work tomorrow, but there will be a lot more laughing.

If you see any two groups of people, one drinking and one not, the drinking ones will be laughing more. The sober ones might not be miserable, might be perfectly happy but they won't be having as much fun.

BTW I've volunteered to drive this afternoon and won't touch a drop!

I'm not convinced by people who say they have "just as much fun" without. I can see how it's true, especially if people have had negative experiences with alcohol in the past or been around people with an alcohol problem. Or if alcohol just doesn't really agree with them and they get drunk on very little.

These types of threads often bring out some odd opinions though, a bit like the competitive underreating and carb hating ones. It sounds like you have pretty balanced lifestyle, exercising regularly and you're not basing your socialising just around alcohol.

Yes, but my post was specifically about people who can drink moderately.

Not really. I used to drink, don't bother anymore. I'm just as happy as ever. Lots of other lovely things in my life though so I'm lucky

Yes, but my post was specifically about people who can drink moderately. I know, but how many posters misread your OP and assumed you were drinking 2-3 bottles of wine in one sitting!? People often tend to just read the title of these threads and reply based on that rather than bothering to read the full thread, especially in AIBU. If a colleague mentioned in conversation that they enjoy a few drinks a couple of times a month, I bet most of these posters wouldn't bat an eyelid.

This is a stealth boast.

Op has written a post to tell the world that she loves to drink in moderation, it enhances her social life and she has never developed an alcohol dependency.

Which is great for you, but I'm unclear why you felt the need to share it with people, some of who will be alcoholics themselves, been raised by an alcoholic or married to one.

Alcohol dependency destroys lives.

Your post is the same as proclaiming you can eat what you like but never put on a pound. That you enjoy an entire cake to yourself but can take it or leave it. That you only eat cake socially and it really enhances your evening.

Sorry op, but your post is tone deaf and pointless.

The first paragraph is so weird when you're the one trying to convince people that it's more fun with? Surely its more fun for you, and everyone else like lots of people on this thread who report having more fun without, or getting headaches or whatever, it's just personal preference.

I don't think you'd have had any push back at all if you'd said "life is more enjoyable for me with a few drinks". But you're trying to make some blanket rule that just isn't true. What an odd and judgemental thread.

Btw if you passed me on a night out you'd have no idea if I was drinking alcohol or not based on my glass.

I don’t drink anymore because it rarely ends up being just one or two for me, and I’d rather have none than end up pissed, hungover and regretful!

But I was out for dinner with friends last night and they both had two glasses of wine each which they sipped slowly over the course of a long, lazy dinner..and that’s lovely. If I could drink like that, I’d drink!

So, to make yourself feel better about drinking alcohol, you have to point to evidence that people who need to take antidepressants for long periods are harming themselves. I have OCD and dreadful anxiety and will likely take SSRIs for the rest of my life so thanks for that. But as long as you feel justified to drink that’s ok then eh?
also as the child of an alcoholic who was the child of an alcoholic, and as someone who used to drink to excess to cope with my intrusive terrifying thoughts I chose to break the cycle. Basically if you can drink moderately and laugh at people who need antidepressants you are lucky.
and yes there is a lot of pressure to drink in our society. A LOT. So people who choose not to drink have to build up a lot of strength to go against that. But yeah…. Call us sanctimonious……

@nobodysdaughternow and @Besttobe8001 expressed it better than me.

I can have a couple of glasses of wine nowadays that’s it. It gives me anxiety and insomnia and if I drink much more I’m sick. I can drink vodka or cocktails ok tho.

I don’t drink daily or even weekly. It doesn’t affect my day to day at all. I can take or leave it. But sometimes a nice drink of something is nice. Eg in summer in a beer garden, or watching a sunset in the garden. The first drink on a holiday in a nice cafe/bar type place. It can feel like everything is good for that moment. After the shit show world we live in, however we get those happy moments we should embrace them!

No one has to read or click on any posts that are made. Scroll on past any that offend you or that you aren’t interested in.

Other people who have had issues with alcohol have contributed to the thread without tearing into the op.