What's your relationship with alcohol?

Started by Boycey, October 12, 2018, 11:27:30 PM

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The Iceman

square ball I've read more than 4 in one sitting and more than 14 across a week would put you into a higher risk category when it comes to alcohol related illnesses...
I would imagine this would have to be sustained over a period of time to qualify

you're your own man... we all have different circumstances and people we have responsibility for and make our own decisions based on that and kepe in mind your own health, both physical and mental...
I will always keep myself mentally alert, physically strong and morally straight

imtommygunn

We have a fully stocked beer fridge in our office where we can drink at any time of day and it's not frowned upon.

I work in a more "hipster" kind of environment where quite a few would be younger than me so it's interesting to see how it works. I would have a beer or two the odd Friday but rarely at any other time. Most people are responsible enough to be fair.

I drink 1 or two beers the odd weekend and then every 4 or 5 weeks would go out and have a good few pints though that is getting rarer. I find if I'm training a lot, which I would tend to be, I don't like too much as it impacts the fitness. When I'm not training a lot I'd be more inclined to have one or two.

GetOverTheBar

Some very powerful posts in this thread. Fair play to those who were so open.

Much the same as most people here, didn't really drink until I was 18 - found that Renshaws, Dukes and the Hatfield soon cured that.

Graduated right at the start of the recession, was stuck in a fairly poor job for X amount of years - got into a bit of cycle of getting pole axed a majority of weekends - especially during the GAA offseason. Was lucky in that I didn't really cause any lasting damage, maybe was a bit too liberal with certain substances on top of that. Again, was very lucky that I was always fit to take a step back and the vast majority of my social circle was also very much the same. We partied hard, but were always fit to pull back when needed. Thankfully the only problems we caused really in retrospect was a string of broken relationships - nobody is really too gutted about any of those.

Was always into the gym and football, I think that kind of helped me from going totally mad. Missed a right few Mondays in my time, again I put that down to being in a dead end job I was never staying in once things turned so I never beat myself up too much about that either.

Got out of that phase that most people seem to go through, beit early teens or mid 20s. Now, would maybe drink once every couple of months - saying that, I'm far from sober by the time that particular night ends. I don't mind a drink but I'm a kind of completely sober, or completely destroyed type - which in itself isn't very healthy I suppose.

Wouldn't be too keen on the amount my parents would drink - I mean, they both work and are far from a problem, but I still don't see the need to be drinking every weekend either. But, that's life choices and I probably should get off my high horse on that one.


Taylor

Finally decided to put my post considering the honesty of other posters.

Alcoholism has and still does afflict immediate family members (one resulting in a death) so while I am conscious of the dangers when the notion takes me it doesnt matter one iota.

Started in early teens and took clean out for 15 years or more and not just on the drink. Through secondary school, uni and after.
Manged to hold down jobs and played ball to a decent standard through it all but was able to mix it ok when I was younger.

Didnt work Mondays in one of my jobs - not that I wasnt supposed to - I was, but Sunday after games and Sunday sessions when no games meant it was more important than going to work. Was doing well at work the other 4 days so while threatened with the sack it never materialised and must have missed 40 odd Mondays a year completely down to drink.

Current partner calmed me down a lot and I gave up the weekend sessions almost completely.

Still drink in the house on a Saturday and have a few (6 cans) and the odd glass of wine some nights. Drinking during the week is rare or never even during the crazy years.

I dont really know if I am drinking too much but I do try hard to keep it under control as I could drink 3 or 4 nights a week easily if I didnt keep myself in check.

First hand I can see alcoholism is a heur but I genuinely look forward to my few beers at the weekend and the rare session I get out with the boys.

Great thread and good to see am not alone in my struggles but also annoying (annoyed at myself not at anyone else) to see many around my age have managed to almost give it up completely when I cant

lurganblue

I should add to my post too that, i don't feel i have a bad relationship with drink at all. I enjoy a good lash at it from time to time but i certainly don't crave it, and can easily do without it for extended period of times.  During those periods, i don't miss it either.  It's definitely a social thing for me.  Maybe it is unhealthy that my relationship with friends still centres around meeting up for a feed of pints and a bit of banter once every few months but i suppose i don't see it that way.

trailer

I have an OK relationship with it. When I was younger I did it all. I lived in Belfast and worked in an OK job were we partied most weekends. I'd travel home for games on Sunday morning usually still hungover but managed to keep a starting spot fairly much nailed down. I have calmed down a good bit since, thankfully. Wife and Kids are good for that.
I enjoy a glass or two of wine most weekends in the house and if I am away with family I'll have a pint or two of stout, but that's it. The odd Wedding or lash with lads sure enough I'll take one to many but the Friday, Saturday, Sunday binges of my youth are well gone.

I enjoy relaxing at the weekend with a few glasses of wine after a hard week. But I can take it or leave it for the most part.

I had a worse relationship with the fags but thankfully have kicked that habit a few years ago.

Eamonnca1

Just to add to my post, my dad's relationship with alcohol is an interesting one. I find that in Ireland the tendency used to be all-or-nothing; I got the impression that people were either pioneers or alcoholics and not a whole lot in between. Well my dad was a pioneer for years. He's well into his 80s now and has yet to take a single drop of drink. I'm told that his dad was fond of the drink and not in a good way, so that might have turned him off.

My dad was a navvy in England in the 1960s, he worked on the sites and building the motorways. They'd work in awful conditions, living in a caravan that moved up the road as the construction progressed. Some of his mates would head for the pub as soon as they got paid and my dad would be the designated driver. He'd refuse to go into the pub. He sat outside in the van rather than go in, he just let them tear away and drink through their pay packets, and was happy to drive them home. He didn't have a whole lot of food when he was growing up and there were times when he had to go hungry, so he knew the value of money and wasn't about to blow it in a pub.

He met my mother in England, moved back, and when we were growing up there was always food on our table. He made sure of it. It would have been harder for him to do so if he'd been a drinker. I shudder to think what he'd have been like if he was.

tonto1888

Quote from: lurganblue on October 16, 2018, 04:39:47 PM
I should add to my post too that, i don't feel i have a bad relationship with drink at all. I enjoy a good lash at it from time to time but i certainly don't crave it, and can easily do without it for extended period of times.  During those periods, i don't miss it either.  It's definitely a social thing for me.  Maybe it is unhealthy that my relationship with friends still centres around meeting up for a feed of pints and a bit of banter once every few months but i suppose i don't see it that way.

I was the opposite. I didn't have a good relationship with it at all. I don't have any now but when I drank it was a terrible relationship. Alcohol didn't have a hold on me in my day to day life but when I drank it had a vice like grip on me. I drank the bit out at uni. It it probably went to the next step when I worked in a local bar - you probably know it. Thankfully those days are gone and I haven't looked back. Can never be too complacent tho

BennyCake

Quote from: Eamonnca1 on October 16, 2018, 05:29:47 PM
Just to add to my post, my dad's relationship with alcohol is an interesting one. I find that in Ireland the tendency used to be all-or-nothing; I got the impression that people were either pioneers or alcoholics and not a whole lot in between. Well my dad was a pioneer for years. He's well into his 80s now and has yet to take a single drop of drink. I'm told that his dad was fond of the drink and not in a good way, so that might have turned him off.

My dad was a navvy in England in the 1960s, he worked on the sites and building the motorways. They'd work in awful conditions, living in a caravan that moved up the road as the construction progressed. Some of his mates would head for the pub as soon as they got paid and my dad would be the designated driver. He'd refuse to go into the pub. He sat outside in the van rather than go in, he just let them tear away and drink through their pay packets, and was happy to drive them home. He didn't have a whole lot of food when he was growing up and there were times when he had to go hungry, so he knew the value of money and wasn't about to blow it in a pub.

He met my mother in England, moved back, and when we were growing up there was always food on our table. He made sure of it. It would have been harder for him to do so if he'd been a drinker. I shudder to think what he'd have been like if he was.

Yeah heard a few stories like that. People becoming pioneers because a parent drank a lot and the family had to do without. Or they were a menace to the family. Yet it could be all too easy for someone to continue in the same way as that parent

Hound

QuoteWhat's your relationship with alcohol?

Love drink, but hate getting drunk!

I try to have bottles of whiskey, gin, rum, vodka and more at home. Rarely add a mixer, whiskey neat and add ice and maybe slice of lime to the others.
Tequila and cachaca are two I don't like straight. But I make Margaritas and Caipirinhas with them, and they're lovely.
While at the moment, scotch actually tops my list, I'm also fully into the gin craze and the wide array available. My favourite is Tanqueray 10, but I haven't tasted one I don't like! I'm very unusual in that I just can't understand how people can add tonic to these delights, which (for me) completely masks the individual taste of the gins.

I buy eight bottles of beer every Friday to do me for the weekend. Will never get more than 2 of any one variety. Love the range of craft beers available, but some days also would buy a bottle of Heineken or can of Guinness. Average home consumption of Friday 2 beers + 4 pub measure shorts, Saturday 4+4, Sunday 2+2.

When in the pub (about once a month) I'd never have more than 2 pints of the same thing. I might start with 2 Guinness, then move on to Hop House, then Heineken. But would never hit 10 pints, usually done at 6 or 7 if out with mates. 

I'd really find it difficult if I was told I had to give up alcohol. But I don't think it's because I'm dependant on it, it's  just I love it. And chocolate too!

Milltown Row2

Quote from: Hound on October 17, 2018, 03:56:22 PM
QuoteWhat's your relationship with alcohol?

Love drink, but hate getting drunk!

I try to have bottles of whiskey, gin, rum, vodka and more at home. Rarely add a mixer, whiskey neat and add ice and maybe slice of lime to the others.
Tequila and cachaca are two I don't like straight. But I make Margaritas and Caipirinhas with them, and they're lovely.
While at the moment, scotch actually tops my list, I'm also fully into the gin craze and the wide array available. My favourite is Tanqueray 10, but I haven't tasted one I don't like! I'm very unusual in that I just can't understand how people can add tonic to these delights, which (for me) completely masks the individual taste of the gins.

I buy eight bottles of beer every Friday to do me for the weekend. Will never get more than 2 of any one variety. Love the range of craft beers available, but some days also would buy a bottle of Heineken or can of Guinness. Average home consumption of Friday 2 beers + 4 pub measure shorts, Saturday 4+4, Sunday 2+2.

When in the pub (about once a month) I'd never have more than 2 pints of the same thing. I might start with 2 Guinness, then move on to Hop House, then Heineken. But would never hit 10 pints, usually done at 6 or 7 if out with mates. 

I'd really find it difficult if I was told I had to give up alcohol. But I don't think it's because I'm dependant on it, it's  just I love it. And chocolate too!

Yeah its the chocolate that's possibly killing me more now! Red wine and a bar of chocolate! I'm not so much a crisps man, probably more cashew or roasted nuts man!

Drinking far less now on a Friday now (2 beers, 2 glasses of red), eyes start to sting around 10 from tiredness! Getting old has its draw backs but will reduce you drink intake at least
None of us are getting out of here alive, so please stop treating yourself like an after thought. Ea

Eamonnca1

Quote from: Hound on October 17, 2018, 03:56:22 PM
QuoteWhat's your relationship with alcohol?

Love drink, but hate getting drunk!

I try to have bottles of whiskey, gin, rum, vodka and more at home. Rarely add a mixer, whiskey neat and add ice and maybe slice of lime to the others.
Tequila and cachaca are two I don't like straight. But I make Margaritas and Caipirinhas with them, and they're lovely.
While at the moment, scotch actually tops my list, I'm also fully into the gin craze and the wide array available. My favourite is Tanqueray 10, but I haven't tasted one I don't like! I'm very unusual in that I just can't understand how people can add tonic to these delights, which (for me) completely masks the individual taste of the gins.

I buy eight bottles of beer every Friday to do me for the weekend. Will never get more than 2 of any one variety. Love the range of craft beers available, but some days also would buy a bottle of Heineken or can of Guinness. Average home consumption of Friday 2 beers + 4 pub measure shorts, Saturday 4+4, Sunday 2+2.

When in the pub (about once a month) I'd never have more than 2 pints of the same thing. I might start with 2 Guinness, then move on to Hop House, then Heineken. But would never hit 10 pints, usually done at 6 or 7 if out with mates. 

I'd really find it difficult if I was told I had to give up alcohol. But I don't think it's because I'm dependant on it, it's  just I love it. And chocolate too!

You certainly are unusual. I like a bit of gin myself, but I find it undrinkable without tonic.

ziggy90

Quote from: Hound on October 17, 2018, 03:56:22 PM
QuoteWhat's your relationship with alcohol?

Love drink, but hate getting drunk!


I try to have bottles of whiskey, gin, rum, vodka and more at home. Rarely add a mixer, whiskey neat and add ice and maybe slice of lime to the others.
Tequila and cachaca are two I don't like straight. But I make Margaritas and Caipirinhas with them, and they're lovely.
While at the moment, scotch actually tops my list, I'm also fully into the gin craze and the wide array available. My favourite is Tanqueray 10, but I haven't tasted one I don't like! I'm very unusual in that I just can't understand how people can add tonic to these delights, which (for me) completely masks the individual taste of the gins.

I buy eight bottles of beer every Friday to do me for the weekend. Will never get more than 2 of any one variety. Love the range of craft beers available, but some days also would buy a bottle of Heineken or can of Guinness. Average home consumption of Friday 2 beers + 4 pub measure shorts, Saturday 4+4, Sunday 2+2.

When in the pub (about once a month) I'd never have more than 2 pints of the same thing. I might start with 2 Guinness, then move on to Hop House, then Heineken. But would never hit 10 pints, usually done at 6 or 7 if out with mates. 

I'd really find it difficult if I was told I had to give up alcohol. But I don't think it's because I'm dependant on it, it's  just I love it. And chocolate too!

I love it too. I've been at it now for over forty five years and if told to pack it in I don't don't kniw if I'd follow the advice.
I go to the pub every Saturday and Sunday and have six to eight pints on each visit.
The social side of it is a huge draw for me as it is for a large porportion of my generation.
Questions that shouldn't be asked shouldn't be answered

Insane Bolt

Just in from pub.....had 8 pints of Guinness.... no shorts....through door, bottle of red opened....along with salad😎

spoofer

Always had a healthy life, ran swam and cycled regularly.
Laughed and reached out to all my friends who had the need emotionally(was basically the go to guy!)..however in recent times it's all gone Pete Tong.
My wife is having some personal issues and my eldest child is causing some serious problems.
So to relate to the thread in question I've started drinking fairly regularly at home to escape all this shit which is crumbling me very slowly indeed. I'm far from happy in my life. That's a shit thing to say as any outsider who looks in would probably say I have it all. I'm sorry for ranting a bit but it's just how I feel. I don't recognise myself anymore and I'm scared