any other non-drinkers on here?

[voyeuristic]

I'm curious if there are any other non-drinkers on here. My decision to abstain from alcohol (I come from a family of alcoholics and don't trust myself to "do things in moderation") has had a pretty big impact on my social life. Friends who drink often feel implicated and uncomfortable with me being a teetotaler, bars are always suggested as the default meeting spot of choice (this seems to go for a lot of dates as well, unfortunately), and a lot of people feel like they can't be sexually forthcoming unless they're a little buzzed.

In the Bay Area things are a bit more artistically-oriented, so there are usually social events that don't require getting plastered, but here in northern Europe (one more week!), people have seemed really confused by the fact that I'm not into the national pasttime. Do you think it's harder to meet sexual/romantic partners in situations where alcohol is absent? What is the local culture like where you live w/regards to alcohol consumption?

 

[D_Chaumbrelayne_Copprehead]

Yeah, and there was this thread, below, started in the last 24 hours on a similar subject.

http://www.lpsg.org/113690-sober-lpsg-members.html

 

[voyeuristic]

my bad, I seem to have missed that somehow

 

[D_Jared Padalicki]

Not that I don't drink, but I rarely drink alcohol, once a month or so. I just don't like it, nothing else.

 

[Gl3nn]

Don't like it either.

And where in Northern Europe do you mean?

 

[hypoc8]

I'm a non-drinker. This is one crutch that I have never needed along with smoking. I have never understood those that cannot have a good time without drinking, it seems their world revolves around alcohol.

 

[voyeuristic]

"where in Northern Europe do you mean?"

hey, this coming from the guy whose location is "somewhere in the universe"!

 

[Earthbound]

Yes.

 

[Dragon88]

yeah, i'm 99,8% absent. only drink champagne on new years eve and the 17th of may and maybe on some birthdays. but i never get drunk! maybe a glass or two three times a year, but that's it!

i also think it's hard to abstain from alcohol, since the peer pressure is so enormous in norway. here, people drink A LOT!!! at least every saturday until they're so drunk they don't get sober for days. i'm so embarrassed to be norwegian around drunk people. i hate drunk people!

after i finished high school, i was 1 of 6 people that abstained from alcohol at my grade of total 120 students. scary statistics! when i tell people that i don't drink, they look at me like i'm an alian. it's so hard to fit into an enviornment when you don't drink, and that is why i seek religious people, cause they accept you as you are and they are also often non-drinkers as well...

 

[kalipygian]

The other thread was about AAr's, people who perhaps had a drinking problem, and were in a sobriety program, not exactly the same thing.

I have never had a taste for alcohol.

 

[Jovial]

About a year ago I started a similar thread:
http://www.lpsg.org/70034-alcohol-and-the-dating-game.html

A practical solution if you go out in a group is to just get a water and hold it in your hand. that way people don't keep asking why you don't have a drink. If you are on a date and your date wants to drink just say you don't drink much. If he is uncomfortable with that because he drinks a lot then you probably wouldn't get along anyway.

 

[John Estes]

I never drink anymore. I too have a line of alcoholics in my family, yet when I was 16 I was ignorant and started drinking. After nearly an exact year later, I got drunk off my feet and it woke up my mother, who has had to devote a lot of her time into helping alcoholics. I made that the last time I drank so my dear mom wouldn't have to put up with another drunk.

 

[Principessa]

Yeah, and there was this thread, below, started in the last 24 hours on a similar subject.

[URL="http://www.lpsg.org/113690-sober-lpsg-members.html"]http://www.lpsg.org/113690-sober-lpsg-members.html[/URL]

Yes, but that was a thread for people who used to drink too much and are now sober. That's very different from people who choose not to drink.

"where in Northern Europe do you mean?"

hey, this coming from the guy whose location is "somewhere in the universe"!

:lmao: I noticed that as well. It annoys me when people can't put at least the country they are from.

 

[D_Pubert Stabbingpain]

Fortunately, most bars in the U.S. have O'Doul's. It can even make a good conversation starter.
:smile:

 

[trentster]

Yeah, I'm in college and I don't drink, so it really puts a damper on things.

 

[Jovial]

And teetotalers should be glad to know that the next vice president (of the USA) is a teetotaler also.

 

[BigDallasDick8x6]

Never understood why people would want to kill their brain cells. I need all mine!

And when you tell people you don't drink they say "Oh....." like your a recovering alcoholic. It's such a huge part of our society, it's hard for people to believe that someone chooses not to drink just because they don't think it's a good idea, without having had to go through a lot of bad experiences with alcohol prior to that.

(And no, I'm not Mormon either.)

 

[B_Morning_Glory]

i dont drink either. both my parent were alcoholics. i think the only time a have shot of whiskey is when im terrible sick. then it is in a hot Toddy.

 

[B_starinvestor]

I enjoy a beer on the weekend, I think if you can control it there really isn't a big threat with it.

 

[CUBE]

I don't drink...maybe a free drink in Vegas once a year and a 1/2 a glass of Champagne at New Years. I just don't think it is good for the body and it costs money...so water with lemon please.