A rite of passage has been the longstanding tradition to the footsteps of manhood in many cultures. Oftentimes, this rite involves a trial of will or endurance, usually resulting in some sort of pain, but you come out a better man on the other side. We’ve all heard of the African tribes that make you stick your hand into a pile of bullet ants, or go into the wild and bring back a lion lest you be killed by it yourself.
In what’s left of the rapidly feminizing Western society, one could deduce that our only remaining rite of passage comes at the age of twenty-one, where a man is suddenly responsible for his every action and he’s allowed to (legally) intake alcohol.
Though it may seem that your man-card is all at once issued along with your twenty-one-year-old ID, alcohol is the test that lasts a lifetime. Every time you drink, your character is challenged with how you will act and what decisions you will make.
Regardless of how free you feel when drunk, intoxication has become a cage the Western man has willingly put himself into under the guise of independence and feeling grown up. One must ask: is drinking the ongoing test of manhood, or is it the rotting wood underneath a house ready to collapse? How can this be our lion to catch?
Normalizing Alcoholism
I will be the first to say that I’ve seen plenty of men “handle” their drinking. They can almost use it as a tool, giving them that extra boost of confidence to game women or just relax at the end of the day. In this article, I’m not really talking about those men.
But let’s be honest: if you are a man who even at the very least gets wasted every month, you have a harmful pattern going on. The manosphere is all about the betterment of men, yet booze is so ingrained in our culture that it’s the default for every bit of fun. Want to go hit on girls? Let’s drink first. Want to go to dinner? Bottle of wine. Come over and watch the game? Twelve-pack of beer and we’ll get more at halftime.
Getting smashed every weekend is foretold as a phenomenon that begins in college and ends there, yet I can count on one hand the amount of regular men (or “normies,” as Alcoholics Anonymous dwellers label them) that I know who don’t at the very least get fucked up once a month. For most men, it’s about once a week. Some, every night. It’s almost not considered hanging out unless there’s some sort of booze fuckery involved, right? Unless you’re living on a different planet, this is most likely your observance as well.
“Is It Helpful?”
The question of drinking often comes down to, “Is it wrong?” The philosophical quandary of right and wrong is for another essay I may have to write sometime, but the better question might be, “Is it helpful?” Is it helping us as men to be literally poisoning ourselves? Is alcohol helping us as men in finding good women to marry, or even at the base level of gaming and getting laid?
You would have to be quite the lawyer to convince an honest person the answer is anything besides a resounding no. Yet in our Clown World media, we are promised all of the women, parties, and good times of a rock star supermodel pimp from simply buying a pack of Bud Light. How can this be?
My Romance With Alcohol
My story is one of somewhat typical American fashion. I had my first drink at sixteen and I fell head over heels with the warmth and synthetic love it gave me. Like many alcoholics, my drinking career started slow. I would drink on the weekends, get shitfaced every now and then, and not think about it until the next party.
Once I turned twenty-one, I found the magic of bars and night game. The fact that I could go to a place where the women were as drunk and morally loose as I was became a little slice of heaven. After getting into music and DJing, the bar scene morphed into backstage Roman orgies, where the booze was free and I found myself snorting coke off of groupies’ tits and banging them in the bathroom. Heaven, right?
The partying became a personal hell, where in order to act “like myself” around a social group or summon the courage to talk to women, I had to be somewhat intoxicated. The amount of times I embarrassed myself with girls because of drinking, whether it be not being able to get it up or turning a sexually-interested bartender into a woman looking at me with complete disgust from how sloppy I had gotten occurred more times than I care to admit.
I became ashamed of my drinking, and I drank to feel unashamed.
After about 12 years of progressive hard drinking and partying, I found myself in rehab. When I called my mother so drunkenly one afternoon, explaining how I wanted to drive and kill myself, an intervention was staged. I barely remember it. I know what you’re thinking: “What a pussy.” Perhaps you’re right; I simply couldn’t deal.
But I defy you to find a man who has gotten sober and not show me a better man than he was before. My sobriety has become the thing I do least in this world to please others; I do it to please myself.
Even though I haven’t been sober as long as I was a lush, I can tell you one thing for certain: I have finally learned how to act like a man. I no longer struggle to talk to women or get laid; if anything, it’s become second nature to me. I no longer struggle to find true, lasting friendships, built on solid ground. I no longer struggle to talk to God and ask for guidance.
In this spirit, I implore every manosphere-minded guy out there to truly take a break from drinking for a period of time and feel the difference. It doesn’t have to be forever, but for me, the benefits sell themselves.
Being able to drink is not the rite of manhood; drinking is simply test of emotional endurance, but you do not come back a better man. If you want to realize what your true test is as a man, just remember, no one can tell it to you.
You must go out, struggle with the pain, and come back victorious. You cannot fight the lion forever. Eventually, it’s eat or be eaten.
Tips To Overcome Your Alcohol Habit
In my time of drinking, I would’ve laughed in your face had you told me I would become a boring sober dude one day, but I didn’t know that sobriety would actually give me the capability and courage to become interesting, and not just another human gin bottle sitting on a bar stool. Here are some steps you can take to kick your drinking habit and find your inner man who’s free of addiction.
1. Buy A Gym Membership
If you are anything like me (sorry for you), going to the gym hungover isn’t an option. If you actually purchase an expensive gym membership, you will be kicking yourself every day that you don’t use it. Don’t work out at home: go to a gym and spend the dough.
Although this isn’t the most hardcore approach to quitting booze (we’ll get to that), gym membership is a great way to convince your body that health is the way to go, and to not be a beer-bloated mess. Also, there’s hot, health-minded girls there, duh.
2. Go To Alcoholics Anonymous
This is the one you didn’t want to hear, but I hate to tell you: it fricking works. I went to my first Alcoholics Anonymous meeting about six months before I actually decided to quit drinking for good. I did this initially to silence a nagging girlfriend at the time, not thinking I would actually take it seriously.
The stories I heard that day from hardcore, in the gutter, floor-licking alcoholics frightened me to my core. Not because of the severity of their stories, but because I saw myself in them; their journeys all pretty much started the same way mine did, and it really woke me up. Of course, I drank for a bit after that, but the seed was planted that day and I’ll remember that meeting for the rest of my life.
3. Lose Your Drinking Friends For A Time, Then Perhaps Rejoin Them
We all have those buddies who bring booze every time they come over to your house without even asking. Hell, you might be that guy. Whether it’s the pack of nerd-bros from your work that you go to the local shithole with for a mid-week game of, “I’m buying this round!” or it’s the wingman Chad you meet up with on Friday nights for drinks and chasing tail, you’ll probably need some time off from these other drunks in order to truly abstain.
At a certain point (if you opt in for long-term sobriety), you’ll be able to meet up with these guys again, and even when they’re shoving shots in your face you’ll be able to say, “Thanks, I’m good, dude!” and then go on your merry way of gaming girls where you have the upper hand of sobriety on all the other drunk idiots.
For me, this took about 3-4 months before I was able to go back into the wild and resist drinking, but once I did, I actually had a lot more fun, and I certainly stopped waking up the next morning asking myself what in the fuck I did last night and what do I have to regret today. And just remember, if you can’t hangout with a dude without drinking, he’s probably not your real friend, anyhow.
4. Rehab
Okay, this is the one you actually didn’t want to hear. But again, this shit works. Rehab is your Alamo, and once you’ve talked about all your problems to a bunch of other degenerate druggies and alcoholics, you’ll form a strange bond that will stick with you forever and definitely make you think twice before you ever pick up a bottle again. What they say is true: rehab ruins your drinking.
5. Commit
The only way I’ve truly been able to truly abstain from drinking was a change of mindset. Like everything else, you cannot do something well unless you fully commit. It’s a basic psychological principle, but you have to be the one to do this, no one else. Don’t pussyfoot around your decision; declare your intentions and commit.
For me, the best thing I heard someone say was, “try sobriety for a year, then see how you feel.” A whole year sounds crazy, but it isn’t that long, my friends. If it sounds like it is, one could argue you have a dependency issue.
The yearlong commitment wasn’t the end of the line for me, but it put things into an obtainable box, rather than saying FOR-EV-ER. Choose your reasonable amount of time off from drinking and then forget about it and move on. One day at a time. The results will speak for themselves and who knows, you just might like yourself a little more each day.
“God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.” Good luck, fellow drunkards!
This sounds like some shit a woman would say, a real man does whatever the fuck he wants.
No Dan.
A CHILD does whatever he wants- or an idiot.
A grown man makes progressive and intelligent decisions to improve his life.
Being an adult means having to do some things you don’t want and put other things aside.
It’s called Responsability.
Does a real man poison his body and mind?
I get drunk almost every afternoon.
It’s great.
John I once drank like a fish until one day I stopped. My eyes were opened and I saw for the first time my wife. She was fat and hideous. And she stunk. And I stunk. And the house was filthy. There were piles of trash and unwashed dishes everywhere with maggotts. And my job was a piece of shit.
THEN someone told me that alcohol is good for one thing – cleaning – as in housecleaning. It is a cleaning agent. THERE IS a way to clean your entire house for five bucks. Here’s how:
WHAT YOU DO is you get a fifth of the flammable stuff, like Bicardi 181. So I went down to the liquor store and got a bottle. I went to the filthiest room in my house, got down on my knees and cleared a spot in the middle of the floor and opened the bottle. The lazy fat bitch sat to the side atop a pile of incendiary garbage. Then I took a sip from the bottle, and another, and finally I drank it down. . . . eeeh . . . then the place didn’t seem so dirty after all . . . and the bitch looked remarkably more fuckable than moments before. It’s like she got a makeover or something. And my job wasn’t really all that bad.
The west has moved away from the definition of masculinity,manliness. A manly man is like immovable like a mountain and has his 5 senses under control! So yeah, not only drinking, but a person who sleeps with many women (whom we call a stud nowadays) was considered a weak man in olden days!
“Man” what is that? 23 year old under developed punk? I remember drinking hard core and doing some insane shit. Insane shit only a muscled boxing trained brawler would try. You realize that it isn’t virtuous after exchanging fists with your friend for the fifth time, or waking up with reverse bite injuries on your knuckles and not remembering why, or seeing your friends degenerate into stinking masses of alcohol soaked shit.
So yeah, do whatever you want, just be ready to pay the price.
You bring up some valid points overall, but I love how good beer tastes, I like brewing beer, and I’m not going to stop doing what I love. Hasn’t affected my life negatively thus far.
I’ve always wondered how people can become alcoholics. I can see with pot or cigarettes which have no hangover but my last horrible hangover was on my 35th birthday.
After that I said, fuck this.
Also, booze ages you. Not as much as crystal meth, maybe, but most hardcore alcoholics will look 10 years older than they are.
A real man does what is in his own best interest. I quit alcohol 10 days ago. I’m sleeping better and deeper. More energy at work ( construction), so forth. I’ll drink again, no doubt, on some festive occasion. But, as a habit, it’s all over.
Nice to hear. Hopefully it keeps working out for you. Thanks for commenting with your progress and for reading. I hope sobriety finds you well, even if its temporary.
Alcohol is a stimulant like any other – coffee, intensive exercise, sex, loud noise (music), extreme sports, etc. If use it as a stimulant you’re doing it wrong. If you’re using it as social tool you’re doing it right.
Nowadays many people are exhausted (adrenal burnout) and the need their stimulants, hence to popularity of cafes, gyms and bars.
@Papa Zel
Sorry to rain on your comment but alcohol is actually a depressant..
No problem.
In small to moderate doses of alcohol, the initial effects of alcohol act like a stimulant. However, alcohol is actually in the depressant class of drug types. That’s true
Furthermore, for a group of people who often have a chronic low blood sugar. They may enjoy using alcohol to give them a lift. Alcohol can provide an easily-metabolized alternative fuel for their bodies.
For a different type of people with fast metabolic rate alcohol provides them with a chemical called acetates. These are high energy fuel compounds. They are found only in fats and in alcohol.
So as you can see despite being a depressant it works like a stimulant.
@Papa Zel
In the liver, alcohol (ethanol) is initially broken down into acetaldehyde which is a poison to humans. Therefore, another enzyme known as aldehyde dehydrogenase converts the aldehyde to acetic acid (what you already pointed out). That acetic acid is then readily excreted from body via kidneys and not used for energy. I’m not sure where you are getting your information but it sounds a little suspicious. When a person gets drunk, un-metabolized ethanol reaches the systemic circulation and subsequently the brain where it exerts its depressant effects. That’s why 1, 2 or even 3 drinks fails to get most people drunk as their liver enzymes are easily metabolizing the alcohol before any of it can reach the systemic circulation. Alcohol does in no way exert stimulant effects.
@ burton
A team of researchers led by Lihong Jiang of Yale University found that long-term, heavy drinking increases the metabolism and speed of acetate uptake, which means that alcoholics comes to rely on acetate for energy after prolonged alcohol use. Without the acetate, the body goes into alcohol withdrawal. The study was published in the latest issue of the Journal of Clinical Investigation.
http://www.medicaldaily.com/heavy-drinking-alcohol-actually-fuels-your-brain-244595
@Papa Zel
Interesting discovery for sure.
Only partially true. It can act as a stimulant up to a point, and sugar alcohols can “fuel” the brain and nervous system briefly. However, that is only because the brain and nervous system do not require insulin to metabolize sugar the same way the entire rest of the human body requires. In fact, alcohol for people who struggle with low blood sugar is very dangerous since ethyl alcohol LOWERS blood glucose levels. Sure, if you drink sweet wine or high carb beer that might balance out the alcoholic effect on blood glucose, but if you drink liquor without a sugary mixer and you are a hypoglycemic, too many hits and you’ll be in a world of hurt.
@Binky Bonky
If you followed the discussion you’d find out that we actually agree.
No. Alcohol is a depressant. After the initial buzz you can feel it. After the buzz wears of completely and the hangover kicks in it depresses you. The initial buzz is because of increased blood flow rt your brain. Also, alcohol is metabolized rapidly and also gives you a boot of energy that is why you “party”. But it is temporary effect. It is medically classified as a depressant.
See the discussion above
@ Papa Zel, nothing like a university study to state the obvious! I worked in a bar in Scotland for a short time. I had to open at 7.00am every morning, and there’d be a queue waiting. My boss warned me to never be late, else some of these chaps would die. I laughed thinking he was joking but when I happened to be late one morning one of these old dodderers was collapsed outside the bar, I told the others I’d call an ambulance but they insisted I get a whiskey in him and he’d be ok. True enough, one whiskey and he was fine. seen enough guys in the military on dry exercises go into the DTs to know it wasnt a one off. How much (taxpayers) money was wasted on this study, I wonder?
Indeed but some people will not be convinced unless you show them the study. Science is the new religion to replace common sense.
Actually it is a hallucinogen in which the mechanism isn’t properly understood. Any stimulant effects are initial onset symptoms, and later depressant effects are caused by the toxic load.
I built my own home gym and work out 4 times a week I mean is it that hard to focus when exercising at home? Gym memberships with their “young adult” rates charge me double just because I am over 25, kiss my ass.
There’s no benefits of alcohol whatsoever.
All those “red wine is good for cardiovascular system” is a total bs imposed on people to make them and their progeny sick
@Benny.Didn’t Jesus turn water into wine?
It didnt make wine any better lol
Haha, true but it sure improved the water!
Stfu Benny.
I quit drinking 2 years ago, and it was the best decision thus far in my life. If you can balance alcohol and being very productive, then have fun and be safe. I personally could not and with 2 alcoholic parents it was a slippery slope. Dropped 35 pounds since i stopped and found that my ability to focus has also improved.
That’s great to hear. As I’ve said to others before – if sobriety works for you I hope that you can keep it up. One of the best/most life-changing (for the better) decisions I ever made, as well – but, like for most, it is a day to day thing. Good luck to you on your journey, Sean. Thanks for sharing your thoughts/story and for reading.
Quit drinking socially a couple of years ago when I researched what ethanol and sugar/fructose does to the liver. Before then, I was just tired of it. Feel lousy the next couple of days after binge drinking. It did nothing good for me. I did miss sharing drinks with friends, but now I just hang out while they drank. I drink ice tea or soda water. No big deal and I feel better. No worry about DUI checkpoints. I simply didn’t need it.
While I am not a teetoller, I can say for many people they do need to stop all alcohol consumption. I might have a six pack a week, or sometimes go weeks without drinking, I have seen some who can’t moderate usage.
Also kratom is great for relaxing and chronic pain. Which is why a lot of working stiffs resort to the booze. Kava Kava is great too, if you are in the percentage who can get the effect, but Kava is kind of hit or miss for some people.
One of my great pleasures in life, is to go out with my friends and drink a good glass of wine or a good beer. I believe it is one of the most masculine things to do. As for the rest, as always, it is a question of balance and maturity.
Thanks for sharing. I drink selectively and often moderately, but follow no exact limits. It’s more like a general approach. Perhaps I will write about in regards to game at some point.
Typically I drink two times a month nowadays, but rarely gets drunk. When I was 16-25 I got DRUNK 3-4 times a month, and drinking as much as 18 of days in Australia, so there’s a difference.
To be pissed sucks, and you harm your body and mind, although often temporarily, whenever that occurs. For instance, while being quite drunk I have vomited in a friend’s/co-workers car, and slept in a basement during Walpurgis Night (literally basement dweller!).
With that said I like drinking and it might help when you meet new people, often with some kind of link to night game or meeting a girl from the Internet for the first time (although that depends, and you might as well go on a coffee date).
In Swedish we say salongsberusad and in English that would be translated into slightly drunk, catch a buzz, or tipsy. It’s like a continuum, but at some point you will be too drunk to have a normal conversation and have control of what’s going on. Therefore about 5-6 drinks are often enough, whether those are beers, glasses of wine, liquor, or a combination. From that point on it’s better to just have a soda and/or several glasses of water.
Good insight. Thanks for reading and sharing; I enjoy your articles, William.
Thanks. I appreciate.
hanks for sharing. I drink selectively and often moderately, but follow no exact limits. It’s more like a general approach. Perhaps I will write about in regards to game at some point.
Typically I drink two times a month nowadays, but rarely get drunk. When I was 16-25 I got DRUNK 3-4 times a month, and drinking as much as 18 of 21 days in Australia, so there’s a difference.
To be pissed sucks, and you harm your body and mind, although often temporarily, whenever that occurs. For instance, while being quite drunk I have vomited in a friend’s/co-workers car, and slept in a random basement during Walpurgis Night (literally basement dweller!). It was cold as hell so I had to stay somewhere. I was visiting and had no possibility to contact my friend where I was staying.
With that said I like drinking and it might help when you meet new people, often with some kind of link to night game or meeting a girl from the Internet for the first time (although that depends, as you might as well go on a coffee date).
In Swedish we say salongsberusad and in English that would be translated into slightly drunk, catch a buzz, or tipsy. It’s like a continuum, but at some point you will be too drunk to have a normal conversation and have control of what’s going on. Therefore about 5-6 drinks are often enough, whether those are beers, glasses of wine, liquor, or a combination of different types of alcohoic beverages. From that point on it’s better to just have a soda and/or several glasses of water.
This article is a long time coming
Alcohol’s proven to lower testosterone. Quitting will restore testosterone to normal levels and actually spike it for a while in early sobriety.
I’m 9 months sober and, while I didn’t go to rehab and I already worked out before quitting, I find the advice here to be spot on with my experience.
Another thing to think about: some heavy drinkers are prone to blackouts. Do you really want to get #metoo’ed by some woman making allegations about a time period you can’t remember enough about to refute? Extreme drunkenness puts people at the mercy of others; that’s pretty beta if you ask me.
Even ROK has mentioned alcohol lowers testosterone in previous articles. Beer especially since it has hops as well.
Alcohol is poison, especially after the age of 30. A couple/few drinks occasionally when you have a party (occasionally ) is all you should drink. After the initial buzz it is very much a depressant, it reduces metabolism rate and testosterone. I causes accidents, may make you lose control of your anger and may sexual restraint. It can cause health problems from liver and heart disease to cancer if imbibed in large quantities regularly.
There was an experiment done on fruit flies which demonstrated that males are likely to go get smashed when females reject them.
Yeah, I know what you’re thinking, fruit flies aren’t people… but then there was that experiment where they gave spiders drugs and observed what sort of webs they made. For example, the spiders that got stoned on marijuana half-assed their webs.
And Donald Trump claims to be a teetotaler.
Ive seen that experiment with the spiders, did you see the webs from the spider on caffine? Totally fucked. Perhaps it’s not just alcohol we should exclude from our lives? I concur with the article. I’ve been hardcore on the grog since joining the army at 16, Im now in my 50s and Ive had some great times but recently Ive found Im not sleeping, not reading, my thoughts are not as sharp as they were. At first I put it down to age but Ive wisened up and realised its the grog. A hard divorce for sure, but I feel much better for knocking it on the head.
This is just a post for just detoxing your soul of any addiction. I know for sure this is one of the reasons I’m able to cut my masturbation down, still in the process of cutting it out, but these steps are the principles of overcoming addiction. You need to fill your time and company with things that are meaningful.
At my age, it’s quality over quantity. Meaning: no American beer; only German. And only on weekends (at the Stube, SE corner of 86th & Second; you know where).
I decided to cut out drinking a few days ago, not impressive considering how rarely I drink and that only once did I get drunk, still enough to feel it was non-functional.
A few sips might heighten a mood, but alcohol quickly sets it’s own mood. And being a depressant it only goes one way. Last time I drank was to finish off a good day on a high note but it took the fulfilled feeling away instead.
Hey, I remember you from DS. Too bad it’s gone down. I have no clue how the dark web works so I just settled for /pol/ and this shit instead.
14/88
True words about alcohol setting its own mood – congrats to you, if sobriety works for you I hope you can keep it up. There is plenty of help out there if you are willing to look for it; good luck on your journey and thanks for reading.
Great post. Congrats to all who can moderate drinking or got sober if it had to be all or nothing. My dad has been a severe alcoholic (15 beers a night) for over 30yrs. I can honestly say he is disgusting to look at. Nose is like red colliflower, purple when its cold out. Rest of his face has acne like boils. Breathe is grotesque. Frail and weak body. Pretty much a loser.
I too started drinking at 12. By 14 I was burglurizing homes for their booze and drinking a gal of vodka a week. Done some horrible horrible things drunk. Its a risky game for some. One is too many & a hundred isnt enough. “Drinkin man” by George Strait can be a tear jerker for an alcoholic wanting to stop. Good luck fellas
Thank you for reading and sharing your story/insight. I believe a lot of men are affected in a similar way that you described, so you are not alone. Good luck to you as well, Dan.
Life’s too short to drink cheap shit.
Great post James. I’ve been an alcoholic for about 12 years. I’m not drinking right now on account of a really bad cold. I’ve had bouts of sobriety here and there. I’m 30 years old and occasionally have liver and kidney pains in my sides. I suffer from anxiety and booze has always been an escape for me. Reading your story has given me the courage to make it through another night sober. Thank you.
I just said a prayer that you might find inner peace..and kick the habit.
Godspeed my friend !
Thanks for having the courage to be honest on the comments and share your stuff. The thing about anxiety – I find that to be the most common trait of the alcoholics I meet, they are anxiety ridden. What’s strange is that in my time of drinking my anxiety worsened so much that I thought that was the hand I was dealt and only drinking could save me. Turn to now with a decent amount of sobriety under my belt, and my anxiety problems have lessened to such a microscopic level it’s hard for even myself to believe. If you look up the effects of booze & how it fucks with your brain, it’s no wonder anxiety worsens. Do I still have anxiety? Hell yeah, but sobriety has given me such a way of dealing with it that the wound has closed to a point I never thought possible. This is your life, but I believe it’s there for you if you want it. I hope that you can find sobriety and inner peace, if that is what you truly desire, friend. Thanks again for sharing, and you really aren’t alone, just remember that. Take care, Kyle.
Kyle,
Thirty years old is way too young. Don’t be afraid to reach out and ask for help. I wish you strength.
ELH
Alcohol is ok if you do it in moderation. I drink maximum of once a week as a rule and that does me no harm.
Ive struggled with drinking my whole life. Mostly binge drinking. As the years have gone on, its morphed into drinking about four nights a week with three of those nights only a drink or two ( usually hard cider) while the fourth night usually involves a couple ( or 3) of mixed drinks. Rarely enough to get me piss drunk but enough to make me feel like total shit when I wake up. Gradually, though articles like these and personal interactions with hard core alcoholics I know are beginning to make me realize what a horrible effect dependence on the booze can have on a mans life. Cant say Im ready to give it up entirely yet…like it quite a bit…but slowly coming around to how it could be a positive in my life.
I think even just having that thought in your head is the real first step. I know most people who opt for sobriety weighed the idea back and forth for a while before quitting totally. Some say it takes a personal low-point (rock-bottom, if you will) of a person’s life to truly get them to stop. I think there’s truth in that, but really what helped me was more along the lines of what you said – reaching out, meeting others with similar problems, and if you’re lucky enough to have it, an encouraging family and even a friend or two. It can start to sound like bullshit after a while, but clichés become clichés for a reason: It’s one day at a time. One day sober can do a lot. Thanks for taking the time to share your thoughts, Forest. I wish you well in your journey.
Milk Thistle can help you detox, chronic alcoholism isn’t just something you can go cold turkey on. There is a physiological component to alcoholism too where your body’s metabolism adapts to it. That is why so many alcoholics relapse so often.
i’ve drank almost everyday since the age of seventeen. oftentimes far in excess of what i could handle. i’ve lost many a night to the blackest of blackouts .. anyway, even now i drink pretty much every day – 2 litres of beer in the evening would be about average, or a bottle of wine, or maybe a gin or two, a couple of beers and a bottle of wine. i’m not proud of this and it’s a road i wish i’d never set out upon, but, i suffer no ill-effects, rarely feel hungover, i’m in excellent physical shape and look younger than my age with a full head of hair yadayadayada
however
after a knee and a thumb injury that seem to never heal, and after noticing for a long time now that cuts and bruises and so-on take inordinately long to get better, i did a bit of research and there’s quite some evidence to indicate that alcohol interferes with the healing process (small amounts like a beer or two have negligible effect).
i think if i suffered from severe hangovers it would be beneficial to me as i would avoid that pain and therefore limit my consumption, but all this time i was feeling like it was no big deal but i’m actually really hurting myself by slowing down the healing process.
i doubt i will cut it out entirely but two beers a night instead of six sounds doable.
i’ve a lot more to say on the subject – like the author drinking was a crutch for me, for a long time, only after i started controlling myself at parties did i discover how much better it is to not be shitfaced, to be able to have conversations and pickup girls without the dutch courage, etc.
if you’re one of those guys i strongly suggest volunteering as designated drivers, force yourself into positions where you can’t drink and it will really improve your game
“i strongly suggest volunteering as designated drivers”
Wouldn’t help me, where I live drink driving fine is $10 cash payment to the cop that stops you. After you just drive home.
Sounds fimiliar. Except i dont drink wine lol. And I was never able to limit to just a couple beers. If I get 2 beers in my system, ill go get more & dont stop drinking until im double vision. Proverbial hangover the next day around noon & Im barely able to get up to shower. What a waste of time and money. Nights sober, I feel clarity and wake up early with motivation. It does help to pass the time and lonliness. But in the long run its one step foward & two steps back.
Alcohol interferes with protein synthesis and drains Vitamin C from the body. Both are necessary for proper healing.
i live in asia too. i really started to cut down when i started driving motorbikes and it wasn’t fear of punishment that prevented me drinking at parties. i was the designated driver for myself and i’m not saying i’m a saint but i’m at a party drinking gently and steadily until the early hours and i’m still compus mentus. compare that with the guy (could be me, or any one of a number of “that guy”) who staggers out of the party and by some twist of luck manages not to wrap himself and his car or bike around a lampost but next afternoon has to spend three hours searching for where he parked it . etc etc
and which guy you think gets laid? the guy who can barely walk or the guy who has a drink but is totally not drunk and is totally on the level and in control?
BOWLER
Yeah, well look at the mishaps on motorcycles that happen in Southeast Asia.
In Bangkok I take taxis.
Each persons battles on their path to improving themselves are different. I don’t know anyone that isn’t more logical, pleasant, quick thinking and rational sober than drunk. Drinking for fun or socially can quickly become a crutch and a handicap. I didn’t learn this vicariously…
I could tell you guys my own stories about excessive drinking, but for what?
The writer isn’t lying at all.
I’m approaching 2 years of sobriety, and it’s one of the best decisions I’ve ever made in my life.
I now do the best I can to abstain from anything that alters the mind and body, so that means no coffee or much soda
Rational Recovery is an alternative to AA. Works for me.
https://rational.org/index.php?id=35
A drink of whiskey at noon and in the evening does nothing but help the spirit. Drinking beer daily is bad, so is getting drunk. But you’re not going to tell me that whiskey doesn’t help cope with struggles of stacking cash.
Disappointed the article doesn’t mention that hops is a phytoestrogen. Those IPA’s are actually giving you man boobs.
Please RoK… Take down that pic of the blonde haired, lazy eyed, Lindsay Lohan. Its testing my sobriety!
I don’t bother telling other people what to do with their lives, if they haven’t asked me.
However, I would be remiss in my duties to other men, were I to not share this example of the harm caused by drinking.
I have spent about three years spending the weekends and some weekdays drinking and having fun with my girlfriend – who has since broken up with me. During that time I didn’t notice any problems with my alcohol consumption, or any ill effects whatsoever.
UNTIL, I stopped drinking wine/beer/shots completely.
The vast and complete onslaught of information and ideas that have come through since I have been without alcohol are greater than all the weeks combined when I was drinking.
This won’t matter to those of you who don’t have any clear thinking, or don’t process information at a higher level. There won’t be anything for you to notice.
But for those of you who consider yourself creative or intelligent – you owe it to yourself to stop drinking long enough to sober up, and see if your brain actually works better without alcohol.
I’m at least – AT THE VERY LEAST – over a year behind in my start up. I can trace it back to 14 months exactly, because I traveled out of state, and didn’t drink alcohol while I was gone. And I had this flood of information and thoughts, but I never associated it with the lack of alcohol. I just thought it was being in a different state for some reason.
See, now I truly understand that alcohol dulls your wits, if you have any to start with. But it doesn’t dull your normal thinking, as much.
I still don’t care if you drink or not, because it’s your life, not mine. But if you are trying to improve your life, or start a business, then stop drinking until you have some real momentum behind you, and are ready to take a rest. It’s a slow poison drip.
My business would have been DONE and successful by now, and my relationship would have been better too.
Good luck to all of you.
According to secret AA documents, that had to be smuggled out, their success rate is only 6%.
Also, any drink with hops in it encourages the production of estrogen. So if you like beer, you might want to check in to the ingredients.
I hate drinking. It makes me very thirsty.