AA is for quitters. I AM NOT A QUITTER!!!
Prove to me you’re not just in denial. 
hic There’s not a crocodile in sight. hic
For me, drinking is mostly a social event - I just don’t think to open a beer when I’m by myself.
However, if I do want to drink, I never worry about the stigma of drinking alone.
This thread is making me want to drink. Alone. Which I’m sure I will be doing before it gets dark!
I have a beer or two a night alongside the hubby, and once in a while- alone. He home-brews, and I love the way most of his stuff tastes. It’s not the drinking alone that’s bad, it’s the drinking alone and inability to stop after a couple of beers.
I like good beer. I go to a beer conosieur bar. But I’m not necessarily there to interact. I sometimes do work at the bar, post on FB, read, etc. Other times I’m telling jokes, swapping work stories, etc.
Try sharing a drink called loneliness. It’s better than drinking alone.
Only 5 more days 'till 9 o clock on a Saturday.
You can have a lonely night to yourself. Non my style; too cloying. I’ll stick with sobbing into my gin.
I get pretty drunk at home, alone, most Friday nights. It’s pizza, beer, loud music, laundry, house cleaning night.
Maybe the stigma has something to do with the circles someone runs with? I’m older and single and have a lot of older and single friends, or alternative lifestyle friends. It’s not unusual for any of us to post about a current libation indulged in during dinner or after a stressful day. (For instance: Glass of wine and a cupcake, yes, it’s been that kind of day. And mine: Cherry wheat beer with blueberry pancakes for dinner!) We’re not a 9-5, married with kids, white-picket-fence kind of crowd. Perhaps that’s the crowd that labels people with the “drinking alone is a problem” stigma.
As someone who comes from knowing a lot of alcoholics growing up (Grandpa, several uncles, an aunt, and two cousins on my mom’s side), I would think my mom of all people would be the first to recognize and mention whether she thought I or any of my friends she knows had a problem.
So no, I don’t think someone having a drink with dinner or for stress relief, alone, has a problem or deserves to be thought of that way. Mentioned upthread is the real issue - drinking in secret. People who have vodka stashed in the couch cushions, or carry a travel mug around with alcohol in it, or have little bottles tucked in their purse/bag - those are the ones I suspect with a problem.
It could be that to some folks it falls under the whole vague umbrella of drinking non-recreationally. Drinking alone, drinking at work, drinking so you can handle the in-laws…
Either that, or like other posters have said, it’s a matter of drinking in secret.
MHO is that this post nails it.
One time I saw a dude inhaling a tall-boy on the stairs up to the train platform on an unused track (at Ogilvie in Chicago). At 7:30 a.m. That’s when you know that you’ve got some problems, not just because you have a drink or two at night.
70 some odd days sober person checking in.
The problem with problem drinkers is that most of us don’t realize we’ve got a problem, so someone makes a list of all the different ways people justify why they aren’t alcoholics.
If you’re not physically or emotionally dependent on it, and drinking doesn’t cause any social, legal, financial, etc., problems, then I don’t see where it would be a problem.
For me, the problem was less drinking alone, then using alcohol to avoid issues. So I would drink, alone or with other people. Being with other people didn’t make be any less of a problem drinker.
In fact, my wife preferred that I drink by myself at home, since I would be more likely to be able to control how much I drank. (Shit, out of beer and 7-11 is too far away to walk, fuck it, I’m going to bed.)
That’s pretty much it for me: I don’t drink and drive, so I almost always drink at home. Usually, that means I drink alone.
I regularly drink alone. Watching a couple of movies.
I do have a problem.
Its usually I can’t remember the end of the second movie…
This reminds me of when my brother expressed concern over my drinking a beer at 8 in the morning. Now, it’s true that in most cases drinking that early is a problem. However, at the time I was working 3rd shift and got off work at 7 AM. It was really no different than someone who works until 4 PM having a drink at 5 PM.
Some people just apply rules without understanding the reason for the rule in the first place.
Exactly, and some people look at the rules technically, to help their denial. You can hear: “Sure, I’ve had 17 DUI’s, eight divorces and got fired from all my jobs, but I NEVER drink in the morning or by myself, so I’m not an alcoholic.”
The 18th is the problem DUI.