Don’t be so hard on yourself. Have a beer and relax.
I’m 50/50 on it really. Sometimes I feel it’s a problem, a serious problem, other times I don’t think it is. I know weeks go by where I don’t drink and I don’t get a sudden unstoppable urge to drink but too many times when I do drink, I drink to excess. I know if I completely avoid the hard stuff I’d probably be fine so maybe that’s what I should do. Thanks everyone for your input and advice.
As an alternative, grow up.
Here’s a relatively good article on the phenomenon of “binge drinking”. http://www2.potsdam.edu/hansondj/YouthIssues/1048595436.html
It strives to move past the wastebasket definitions for bingeing and move on to define episodes of intermittent excessive drinking in terms of “high and low risk” situations.
Make of it what you will.
Woah! Harsh, dude.
It’s tough getting your drinking under control, I speak from experience too. I don’t think I’m an alcoholic, especially since I’ve been doing fine lately. But I went through a period or two of self-medication and irresponsibility.
What helped me was:
- Thinking about the hangover and the guilt ahead of time.
- Limiting my drinks to a certain number ahead of time, and sticking with it.
- Telling someone I trusted and asking for support.
- Learning, over time, to pace myself–and to eat something before drinking!
I’m now at a point where I can have 2-3 drinks over the course of 3-4 hours and be fine. No crazy drunken regrettable antics, no hangovers, no guilt. But it took me a while of holding back and really learning how my body responds. (YBMV–your body may vary.) Really getting attuned to how you’re feeling when you’re drinking can keep you from getting to the point where you can’t feel ANYTHING.
Best of luck, and seek real help if you’re in doubt. Nothing to be ashamed of, there!
Maybe it’s different in Ireland, but I’ve never been pressured to drink in social situations. I’ve gone out on business dinners or with friends, and a simple, “Thanks, no, I have to drive home” is sufficient.
You might need to change your social circle, or maybe you think people are pressuring you to drink because subconsciously you want to drink and that gives you an excuse.
Either way, get help.
If you saw the state of alot of grown ups around here you might question your own advice.
Whenever there is any doubt, there is no doubt. That’s the first thing they teach you.[right]-- “Sam”, Ronin[/right]
Not all alcoholics are constant drinkers; many are binge drinkers. I’m not saying you have a problem, but if you think you do, you should set for yourself a hard limit and stick to it…and if that isn’t working, stay away from it entirely. If your friends give you a hard time or get defensive, please a medical excuse (ulcers, headaches, interference with medication, whatever) and stick with club soda.
I don’t have a problem with alcohol and knowing when to cut off (usually after two, and almost always no more than three drinks)–which is kind of curious since I have a family history of alcoholism, at least on the Irish side–but I’ve worked in bars and I’ve seen people who start drinking and can’t stop. Aside from the medical hazards, it’s a dangerous business to be so out of control, and you can end up getting into the kind of trouble you’d cross the other street to avoid were you sober.
Take it easy; they won’t stop making good Irish whiskey, so you don’t need to drink it all at once.
Stranger
Change your social circle, indeed! I got tired of drinking about 15 years ago and quit. I wasn’t addicted, so the actual quitting was really no problem at all. But did it change my social circle? you bet. But I continued to smoke pot, so I kept that part of my social life. Then I tested positive at my job, mebbe 5 years ago, and that was that for that. I still haven’t recovered any kind of life. Let me tell you, being squeaky clean can be lonely. 
To tell the truth, my hermitic ways have become quite comfortable.
So, be careful how you quit. I don’t advise AA myself, because my contact with them through friends and personally with MA has been largely negative. Try just quitting a few times. Took me 6 or 7 tries in 30 years to quit smoking.
Good luck. 
Peace,
mangeorge
*Beer: the cause of, and solution to, all of Life’s problems. * - Homer Simpson
You can’t be sure of that! Better safe than sorry. 
I really do think you have to be either Irish, British or to a slightly lesser way Australian to really get what An Gadaí means. It is the cultural norm to binge brink regularly. It’s not the students, singles or the mad partiers. It’s most people and it’s most occasions.
That said, only An Gadaíknows if he really has a problem or if he justs drinks too much sometimes and then regrets it. If it’s one he needs help and if it’s the other he just needs to rail it in a bit. He hasn’t really gone into enough details to really know IMO.
All the best.
Ireland must be hell for people with alcohol problems. From what I could tell while I was there, the whole of social life centers around the pub. That was great for an American there on vacation, but I can see why it could spell trouble for the locals.
As an alternative - grow up.
Well, you see, that is the point. They may look older and more responsible but you can’t tell by looking. If you have no other alternative for recreation and amusement than to hang out in pubs every night I feel sorry for you, but people who behave this way are not gron up, they are just older.
You might try taking your own advice.
Damn that’s helpful. :rolleyes:
Suck it up, princess.
You’re in Dublin, drink your damn Guinness and Kilkenny’s (or is it Smithwicks up there? I forget) and quit complaining. You owe it to the rest of the world, and tonight have one for the Donegal McGonagle’s.
I might remember you from such self-help videos as “Smoke Yourself Thin” and “Get Confident, Stupid!”…
You are thinking of bobotheoptimist who produced “have a drink and stop whining.”
Guinness and Kilkenny and Smithwicks all taste like shit. The only Donegal McGonagle I know is a Jehovah’s Witness so he doesn’t drink anyway.