For the first two months of the pandemic, I was drinking an awful lot - mostly out of boredom. I’d been a 2-4 beer a night person for most of the last decade, going back to college, but I would rarely get drunk.
One night, at one in the morning, I was preparing to smoke a joint. I went to the fridge, reached passed the pile of lime Bubly waters and grabbed one of those vodka soda canned abominations. I took my first drink, and thought “I really wish there wasn’t alcohol in this.”
I don’t need a constant supply of alcohol - I drink it because I drink things, and it was what was in the fridge. So I started to replace the beer with sparkling water, to great effect - I lost about 20 lbs over the summer, and the only thing I did was replace 2-4 beer with 2-4 cans of Perrier.
As it’s gotten darker and as the second wave persists, I’ve found myself at the liquor store more frequently - blame some of that on the seasonal nature of Whistler Chestnut. But I’ve also noticed that I don’t like it when I drink during the week. Even when I do crack a beer, the voice in my ear says “why do you need something alcoholic right now?” And of course I have no good reason.
It certainly isn’t a struggle that consumes me every waking hour. Yet, a struggle it remains. If I had to give it up forever, I don’t know how much that would bother me.
So long as I had weed.
I enjoy weed too much. The pandemic hasn’t helped. And frankly, neither has legal weed. The inconvenience of drug dealers forced me to ration. Co-Op Cannabis is going to kill me.
I’m trying not to smoke anymore. It’s going okay. There are lapses. I’ve discovered the convenience of vapes, which... I don’t trust vapes. I think vapes make you look like you’re trying to quit smoking. Which, I guess so. At this point, victory is sticking exclusively to the oils. At least my lungs get the reprieve.
I suppose I’d say my relationship with alcohol is good. I don’t trust it, I don’t like it too much, and it doesn’t occupy any significant real estate in my brain.
I have to scale back the weed. A lot.
Regardless of their legality, we shouldn’t discount the capacity of these substances to ruin our lives.
With that said, life is hard and drugs help.
Just, be careful.
Much love, y’all.
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Mom and Dad love you, Rowan - February 15, 2024
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At my age, I can't have more than 2 drinks without getting a hangover the next day. Beer makes me feel bloated. So, now I sometimes enjoy cider or wine with my meals. I don't like the feeling of being drunk.
I will not smoke again, but a couple of times a month I will have some edibles. I enjoy how it enhances the taste of food, and the sound of music. I sleep wonderfully after this too.
Got turned off from drugs altogether soon after high school. Had some bad trips and smoked too much weed, didn't like being knocked on my ass.
Since then casual drinking and an edible here and there. Went to a concert last year and popped some Molly, which I actually enjoyed. The music and dancing was great, and felt like a million bucks. However I probably wouldn't do it again - just not my MO in interests. Much rather work on building a business, writing, and being outside. I find get the same level of pleasure.
I feel for those struggling with drugs, I can see how it can be a slippery slope. "Just one more" seems to always daisy chain the next hit.
On my days off of work I do enjoy a bunch of drinks, not to get drunk but to get a really good buzz. I'm lucky though because I don't really get hungover at all and I'm not an emotional or angry drunk, I'm the opposite......when I am drinking I want to just stay up all night and have fun, listen to music, watch movies, anything fun. Do I drink too much? I certainly don't drink every day but when I do I probably could cut back a little. The holidays coming up are my hall pass though, I'll be cracking cold ones probably every day for 2 weeks.
I miss going out for drinks with friends for sure, especially the occasional times I would get drunk (sans the hangover the next day), but I have no affinity to drink alone. So I could probably count the number of days I had drinks since March on one hand.
But I also have increased my weed usage, I'm not too to worried about the amount of weed as I think at this point it's just something to do while bored but the munchies that come with it and the expenses of Skip the Dishes and the like has not been good to my weight or my wallet.
I really enjoy drinking. It has been a faithful companion of many of the happiest times in my life. That said, I'm not drinking very often in the last half year. I was drinking quite a bit after first moving back to Canada, and especially during the first few months of the pandemic, but I'm down to a bottle of wine every other week now. It's great with joyful times, but not a healthy part of boredom or sadness, which is definitely what the sustained pandemic life has been about.
Drugs aren't much a part of my life though. I pretty much only use things like a little ingestible oil from time to time in small amounts to help me sleep. I'm pretty interested in micro-dosing psilocybin, but not really sure where to start with that in Vancouver.
I've happily taken periods of multiple years 100% off any alcohol and drugs, and I think that's probably the best way to be, but I do actually really enjoy good wine. Scotch too. I really enjoy a good scotch and can spend ages with just a small glass. Weed on the other hand is purely pharmaceutical for me. There's nothing enjoyable about the process, but I appreciate the impact when I need to sleep or just to relax.
I would be happy to go back to 100% off of both again at some point, but in reality I'll probably still indulge when travelling and meeting up with friends or attending events after COVID is done with.
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"If stupidity got us into this mess, then why can't it get us out?"
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Alcohol is my vice. Always has been, always will be. I am not an alcoholic, but I have a big problem with binge drinking.
I have been a social drinker since I turned 18. My drinking picked up when I hit 20 and by the time I graduated University, I was typically going to the pub for 1 or 2 beers almost nightly and partying every weekend. Typical University stuff. This lasted for a few years as I worked entry level jobs that I hated, but as I reached 30 I started weening off of this routine and would instead go for a wing night once a week and drink more on the weekend. I would probably binge drink once or twice a month on the weekends.
My issue has been that one of the things I enjoy the most in life is going to a pub and having a few beers with friends. It helps me get over the fact that I spend most of my time on this planet going to work. I never drank alone, but I would also usually be the one organizing the pub nights to get my fix. When I was going to the pub 2 or 3 times a week, having 2 beers and going home was no big deal. But as weeknights at the pub were phased out of my routine, when I did get the chance to go out, I found myself binge drinking more and more. I never aim to binge drink, but I find that when I have one or two and am having fun, the question "should we have one more" is common, and after asking that a few more times, I would lose control.
When I am in that state, quite frankly, I am an idiot.
The binge drinking really picked up when Cavalry started playing, as I had dozens of like minded individuals who were keen to drink every game who I could feed off of. Luckily, I managed to cut that cold turkey as I had a baby the week after the season ended, and was able to keep it under control for a period while shifting responsibilities. However, I had a particularly bad night this past February where I got into big trouble and realized I needed to get things in control. After that night, I quit drinking for 10 weeks to get the situation under control, and have really worked hard to limit what I drink whenever i do. I have not been drunk since, although there have been a few nights where I have had an extra drink here or there.
I do find myself having a beer or two once or twice a week during this pandemic. Some nights I really enjoy the beer. Some nights I ask myself why did I even drink the beer. Most nights I just want to go to a pub for 2 beers with some friends.
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Last edited by shermanator; 12-15-2020 at 07:34 PM.
I’ve been drinking more due to boredom. A few weeks ago, I cut back because I didn’t like that I was using booze to escape the boredom and loneliness. This summer, a friend gave me some thc edibles and we were drinking. I had the worst hangover the next two days. I don’t use marijuana so I’m not sure if the combo got me or the weed loosened me up and I drank way more. Regardless, it was motivation to not let that happen again.
I have a funny relationship with alcohol. I would say over the last four years I haven’t had any alcohol, minus one little slip up at a friends stag. Other than that though I don’t drink at all anymore. It’s not that I was an alcoholic in terms of needing a drink every day, or using it to relax, I used it to have fun and I don’t have an off switch with booze, so I would typically always drink to excess. I had some really fun times but most of the biggest mistakes I have made in my life involved booze; injuries, losing things (phones, wallets, jackets), spending way too much money, not saving any money, horrible sleeps, bad diet, etc. It was no real shock that when I completely removed booze from my life I was sleeping better, my mental health improved, I got my #### together and got the job of my dreams, I wasn’t spending money frivolously. There were other factors that kicked my butt into the right direction but eliminating booze helped a lot. I miss the fun nights with spontaneous laughs and interactions but I’m much happier now.
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I workout daily (an hour a day), which isn't bad for a guy my age (67). If I have even a couple of drinks, I really notice how it affects my workout the next day. I don't have a hangover, but find I have much less energy. So, I really pick and choose when I will have a drink (not often these days).
I'm 37. Haven't smoked weed since I was probably 21? Haven't drank alcohol in at least ten years. I hate the taste of beer and most alcohol. I have no interest in ever drinking alcohol again, it does nothing for me. I don't like being around people who drink, it's generally annoying.
I’m 38 and just passed one year of being dry at the beginning of July, after gradually determining the perfect number of drinks turned out to be zero for me.
I spent the first 12 years of my career working in advertising, beer fridges and bottles in your desk kind of agencies. It wasn’t unusual at all to have 1-2 pints of beer at lunch on Friday, while imbibing in a few double bourbons/gins at home most nights of the week.
About 4 years ago I started to notice that certain beers would leave me feeling like utter crap the next day. Like I’d have 1-2 beer with dinner and feel like I’d had 7-8 the next morning. So I tried cutting out certain beer types and this worked a year or two.
Then the scale moved again and the amount of alcohol I could have without feeling like crap, and the window of time before I felt like crap got even smaller.
1 beer after work, I’d be dog tired the rest of the night and into the morning.
1/2 beer after work, same thing.
It eventually got to the point that each drink would essentially mean signing up for 12-18 hours of voluntarily feeling like crap.
When I initially stopped last year I had told myself I would only drink while travelling, as it’s part of the experience and I didn’t want to miss out. By the time my next trip rolled around I was about 3 months into it and realized that never being hungover is pretty damn great.
Now if I should find myself in Spain with my wife, I may very well choose to enjoy a glass of red wine... but outside of that I really have nothing on my bucket list that seems to be worth the hours of being a tired bag of crap for anymore.
Last edited by Regular_John; 12-16-2020 at 10:10 AM.
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With the lockdown I was up to about 4-5 beers a day here last month (which might sound like a lot, but thats over the course of an entire 6 hour evening after work so nothing even close to getting drunk). More on weekends because I'd start earlier since not working. Again, no real impacts on my life, it was just what I drank when thirsty, and like OP, I love beer.
I rationalized it that I wasn't an 'alcoholic' since I wasn't getting drunk, even though the technical definition of an alcoholic is very low # drinks per day - and honestly, without big "binges" with friends 1-2 times a week getting drunk-drunk, my overall alcohol consumption was probably flat in lockdown.
One thing I did start to notice was my memory was being impacted, which is a side effect of alcoholism, so few weeks ago after a bender with friends and a particularly bad hangover, I decided to limit drinking to the weekend, which is working out great. I also curb my consumption on weekends as well where I can.
I'd rather stick to a solution I can be successful at rather than trying to cut out alcohol altogether. Its far too delicious and part of my social life (props to people who can hang out without alcohol, I can't do it, its too much fun)
So as I sit here, sipping on my alcohol free Pale Ale, I'm happy with my choice and hope I can stick to it.
Last edited by Ducay; 12-15-2020 at 08:24 PM.
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I miss drinking alcohol but don't miss hangovers more! I stopped drinking in 2016 (the Hip's last concert, cool story bro) due to my body getting very, very angry. I'm so glad I don't drink now during the pandemic, I'd be a fataing mess.
I don't do any non-perscription drugs - and the ones I do are between me and my goddamn Dr! Mushrooms are about the only thing I'd be up for. I'm not really the type of person to be messing around with stuff though - kinda like Kramer & matches.
COVID has been the perfect recipe to indulge in vices more than we normally would.
With that said I never take any drugs and my drinking remains the same. The occasional drink or 2 during the week and a few more on the weekends. With that said, both me and my wife work for very essential services and my schedule hasn't changed, if anything we have been busier due to people feeling symptoms and needing to quarantine.
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Originally Posted by oilboimcdavid
Eakins wasn't a bad coach, the team just had 2 bad years, they should've been more patient.
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How is your relationship with drugs and alcohol?
