Quit Drinking - Good things/Bad things.

[bbs2k]

This may be more associated to working graveyard hours rather than just drinking itself. But I have two things to bring up and ask about.

When I started working the night shift I experimented with a couple of things to help me sleep during the day. One of them, mostly about two and a half years ago was just to have more than a couple drinks when I got home from work. Which actually resulted in quite peaceful sleep. I don’t recall ever waking up with a hangover, and I always made it a rule to never take a drink within eight hours of my next shift at work so I wouldn’t have to worry about the “sobering up” factor.

Eventually I tried to move away from this practice since it is of course not a good road to travel.

But ever since then I have really noticed a drastic change in sleep quality. I am usually restless for most of the day/night, and cannot usually sleep for more than 4 hours at a time, even when I am not working that night. Example, If I am not working on a night I will try to sleep, but will usually wake in the early morning and watch the cars are browse the internet before I get my second set of 4 hours of sleep.

Also. I tend to have vivid nightmares in my sleep when I don’t drink. Which I guess is what adds to my restlessness. I never dreamt when I drank. I guess we can just blame it on working the nightshift and sleeping lightly.

[Epimetheus]

@Crotalus

When I first stopped drinking, far from feeling superior to those who drank, I felt jealous. They can drink and I can’t. Those feelings have passed.

I think jealousy leads to bitterness in many people. Perhaps you need more friends if they constantly give you a hard time. If you have to tell them more than once that you had to give up drinking and they hound you about it, they aren’t very good friends.

I don’t get a beer every time I go out, yet on those instances, my friend who happen to get a beer don’t hound me about it. They know I want water, or Coke or something else that time. I don’t give them a hard time when they don’t get anything.

In fact, I’ve never seen anybody give somebody else a “hard time” about not getting a beer. Even at a bowling alley when there is a pitcher for everybody.

[Crotalus]

@Epimetheus

I think jealousy leads to bitterness in many people. Perhaps you need more friends if they constantly give you a hard time. If you have to tell them more than once that you had to give up drinking and they hound you about it, they aren’t very good friends.

I don’t get a beer every time I go out, yet on those instances, my friend who happen to get a beer don’t hound me about it. They know I want water, or Coke or something else that time. I don’t give them a hard time when they don’t get anything.

In fact, I’ve never seen anybody give somebody else a “hard time” about not getting a beer. Even at a bowling alley when there is a pitcher for everybody.

I think that perhaps you didn’t read my reply very carefully. I said that none of my friends has ever quizzed me about why I don’t drink. Only strangers and acquaintances have done so. I also said that my feelings of jealousy have passed.

[Epimetheus]

@Crotalus

I think that perhaps you didn’t read my reply very carefully. I said that none of my friends has ever quizzed me about why I don’t drink. Only strangers and acquaintances have done so. I also said that my feelings of jealousy have passed.

Yes, but I didn’t say jealousy led to bitterness in you. I said many people. And I was referencing your previous post:

Bad stuff. I was tempted to say that there has been no bad stuff. I can think of two things. Occasionally, someone in a social setting, always someone who is drinking, will inquire repeatedly about why I am not drinking.

So perhaps you need different “acquaintances” then, if not friends. Who the hell inquires repeatedly about you not drinking. Other than a jerk.

[Crotalus]

@Epimetheus

So perhaps you need different “acquaintances” then, if not friends. Who the hell inquires repeatedly about you not drinking. Other than a jerk.

I was relieved to find that I didn’t need to forsake my circle of friends when I quit drinking. They were aware of my drinking habits and didn’t need any explanation of why I would quit. Changing one’s acquaintances is both nearly impossible and not worth doing. The people who have bugged me about not drinking are not worth worrying about, and many social situations involve people I know very well and those I don’t know at all. The persistent questions have always come from the latter group.

As I said in my first post, I was tempted to say that there has been no down side. The two items I included in that category are very minor matters to me, but I included them in an effort to fairly answer the OP.

[Lobsang]

@Epimetheus

Right, that must be it. Can’t be that tone they get in their voice, or the implications that because you have a beer or two with dinner that you are doing so to “have fun” or “get drunk.” It can’t possibly be because some like the TASTE and not the merely the buzz. Those that brag about how long they have gone without drinking always bring it up in social settings, and they all get that preachy-voice.

But it is me, yep, no possible way that those that don’t drink (or have quit) never, ever feel superior.

I envy people who don’t have a drink problem. (People who drink socially to be social) I don’t consider myself above social drinkers, I consider myself unable to be one of them becaue I have a problem.

The problem is once drinking starts it carries on. I don’t know when to stop and I don’t feel ‘good’ when I cut short before I am completely drunk so it’s not worth it. It was only ever ‘worth it’ to carry on drinking… and then I wake up some hours later in bed and it’s a new day.

[Epimetheus]

Ok, sorry! I have several ‘friends’ that when I was hanging out with them regularly always brought up either their lack of drinking or the fact that they quit (and not when prompted, usually when turning their nose up at my drink). My parents judge me (teetotalers due to being Baptist) because I drink occasionally and make cutting comments on occasion such as “going out to get drunk eh?” I’m not saying it is the norm, but even on TV shows and in movies (the few there are), they come across as holier than thou.

This thread has made me see a different perspective, and sorry if I hijacked the thread.

[Crotalus]

@Epimetheus

Ok, sorry! I have several ‘friends’ that when I was hanging out with them regularly always brought up either their lack of drinking or the fact that they quit (and not when prompted, usually when turning their nose up at my drink). My parents judge me (teetotalers due to being Baptist) because I drink occasionally and make cutting comments on occasion such as “going out to get drunk eh?” I’m not saying it is the norm, but even on TV shows and in movies (the few there are), they come across as holier than thou.

This thread has made me see a different perspective, and sorry if I hijacked the thread.

I don’t think it was a hijack, more of an educational excursion for all concerned.

[RedRosesForMe]

Congratulations on your decicion. I’m a social drinker, but can I add a few pros?

Not having to pee like a racehorse all the time.

More room in your fridge for healthy stuff.

A happy liver.

OK, they suck, but everyone listed the good ones already.

And now I have a chance to share a silly joke I heard once. A man walks into his local pub and orders 3 pints of Guinness. He sits at a table alone, drinking from each pint in turn. When he finishes the 3 pints, he orders 3 more.

As the publican is pulling his pints, he asks the man, “Why do you order 3 at a time? A pint starts to go flat after I pull it, surely you’d enjoy it more if you drank them one at a time?”

The man responds, “I’ve just moved away from my family. My brothers and I made a promise that whenever we went out for a pint, we’d all order 3 pints at a time to remember the times we spent together chatting over a pint.”

The man becomes a regular, stopping by once or twice a week to enjoy his 3 pints. One day, he only orders 2. The regulars become silent, and the publican somberly offers his condolences for the man’s loss.

“What? Oh, everyone’s fine, I’ve just quit drinking!”

(Why yes, I do enjoy telling lame jokes that no one laughs at. Why do you ask?)