Question for those who quit drinking, permanently or even temporarily:

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What I’ve noticed is that there are many alcoholics walking around who probably have no idea they’re alcoholics. They can’t even get through their child’s practice without a whole bottle of wine in their purse. My husband and I were shocked when the dad hopped out of his car at our kids’ 9 a.m. game with a beer in his hand. It’s truly disturbing. I stopped drinking back in 2005 and don’t miss it at all. I don't need it to socialize or have a good time and I definitely don't need it to relax.

The stereotype of the "addict" keeps a lot of people who really need it away from recovery. You don't have to destroy your whole life to recognize you have a problem. Rock bottom is simply the point where you stop digging.

And if you're bringing your own booze to a kids' game because you can't be sober for a couple hours, you really ought to stop digging.

ITA, but I will say that things like bringing booze to a kid's game, etc. really warps what normal is. I had a pretty bad drinking problem until I quit a couple of years ago and even I was kind of shocked when I realized that all the parents at Trunk or Treat were boozing it up. The kids got candy. They got a refill on their wine. Same with kids' birthday parties. I admit when my kids were really little and the party was really about the adults getting together that I served alcohol, but I stopped serving it when my kids were 4 and the parties became two hours of activities, food, and cake for the kids.

I hope your parties are drop off.. 2 hours of kid activities, gross pizza and cake isn't any parent's ideal way to spend their rare free time. Neither is doing small talk with people you barely see or don't know while sober.

Adults drink at these events (sports, bday parties, etc) because they have to socialize and because they allocate their time off work/chores to these events and not everyone really enjoys this. It's not a rocket science.

Kid party or not, if you need to drink to make it through small talk or socializing you don't really want to do, then you have a problem. It's the fact that you feel like you feel so terribly uncomfortable doing those things sober, that makes you an alcoholic. Like you can't (or really want to avoid) doing uncomfortable things.

That's normal to you? Whether at a kids birthday party, work event, neighbor block party, or brunch/lunch/dinner out.

I'll have a drink once in a while (vacation in Italy? yes to that wine, please) but feeling unable to make it through some social outings without drugging yourelf up with alcohol is a major red flag.

[Anonymous]

I’m not really bothered by it. There’s so much marketing for things I’m not going to use.

[Anonymous]

I just think it's dumb and a waste of money. I never drank much and stopped completely around 42. Now the most I do is a splash of Irish cream in my hot chocolate.