The Giving Up/ Cutting Down alcohol support thread - number 13

2/25
More of these to follow.

I like Bridget jones Cupptea but I'm not half as posh.
BUT I think it's very interesting all the talk of middle class drinking. We are definately fed the mantra of successful hard working people drink wine in the evening after being at work and all houses must have wine.

I never thought about these things till recently. Also a colleague is trying to cut back/drink less and is getting enormous grief Over it. Somehow people think they have every right to tell you what you should put in your mouth and body. It is quite upsetting really. So far she has stood her ground but I just don't really get how people get so involved in pressuring people to drink. I don't think they even engage their brains. I think people automatically go into pressure mode without and rhyme or reason.

Making sure I manage my Mon-Thurs this week by declaring early for tonight - that will take me to 4/12 please Shaggy - will be drinking Fri-Sat-Sun but will keep it to a reasonable amount

Quite right WJN222 but somehow in the heat of the moment finishing the cake / bar of chocolate / bottle of wine seems to be an almost pragmatic solution to the situation.

I didn't think you'd be able to resist completely, WBF - the way you put it sort of suggested you really weren't looking forward to an evening of abstinence!

cathybird wrote: »

Honey Bear, the odd thing is that I did that long ago, many years ago, and I'm not saying changes didn't result from it then and gradually since, but it was the more recent decision to cut the weekend bottle of wine from four weekends a month to two that resulted in no bottles of wine per month and almost no alcohol at all. Which was not the result I was expecting!

I'm pretty sure there are two things going on with alcohol, and very few people think about them as distinct from each other which isn't actually that helpful. There's the habit, and then there's addiction. If we're drinking every day it's definitely a habit, but it would be very difficult for anyone other than the person doing the quaffing to know whether anyone else is addicted.

Breaking a habit is much more straightforward than dealing with addiction. The earlier the habit is tackled, the better, obviously. However, like you, I knew for years and years I should do something about my drinking before I actually made any changes. Sometimes we just need that lead-in time for it to work. Brilliant of you!

Poor_Single_lady wrote: »

BUT I think it's very interesting all the talk of middle class drinking. We are definately fed the mantra of successful hard working people drink wine in the evening after being at work and all houses must have wine.

I never thought about these things till recently. Also a colleague is trying to cut back/drink less and is getting enormous grief Over it. Somehow people think they have every right to tell you what you should put in your mouth and body. It is quite upsetting really. So far she has stood her ground but I just don't really get how people get so involved in pressuring people to drink. I don't think they even engage their brains. I think people automatically go into pressure mode without and rhyme or reason.

I've posted about that mantra several times, PSL - how we've normalised drinking alcohol as being a necessary ingredient to celebrate anything, as a reward at the end of a the working day, as the only way to enjoy ourselves with or without company. It's taken a long time, decades, but the booze companies have done it very successfully. They take the profits but they're not the ones picking up the tab for it - the police and the health service are, in other words, taxpayers - us.

As to the way your colleague is being treated - Gggggrrrrrrrr. How disrespectful is that? I've got every sympathy for the bullying that is going on, and it is bullying, I'm afraid. Only two people I knew were tricky when I stopped drinking, all of my friends were 100% supportive and lovely. The two people who made comments weren't particularly close to me and I lost all my respect for them because it was none of their business what I drank or ate, and they were extremely rude to make any comment about it. Your colleague will either find a way of deflecting i as I did with those two people, or cave in to the pressure, which would be very sad but either way - he or she should avoid those people because they're bullies.

6/31 please, Shaggy.

4/13 for last night please - that's 4d in a row :rotfl:


Feeling better now but going to try and hold off tonight. Just found out I have a minor op next week so have to stay AF Mon-Wed at least.

5/30for today. Posting to avoid a banana skin!