S/O - Dry or moist January - Alcohol

[aurora]

Jan 23, 2023 10:03:29 GMT -5 gretchenindisguise said:

I did good this weekend. I went to a friend's house for dinner, but apparently half of our group is doing dry January. My usual close pusher of alcohol is not, and I knew she'd be drinking champagne and keep filling my glass - so I brought tequila to sip. I drank so much less than I would have normally.

This is making me chuckle, because if I want to drink less on a given night liquor is definitely not the way to do that!

[icedcoffee]

mrsukyankee, That's interesting. I have actually noticed that millenials and under seem to drink less than boomers. Will be interesting to see what happens to the popularity of alcohol in like 20 years.

[icedcoffee]

Jan 24, 2023 9:39:52 GMT -5 aurora said:

Jan 23, 2023 10:03:29 GMT -5 gretchenindisguise said:

I did good this weekend. I went to a friend's house for dinner, but apparently half of our group is doing dry January. My usual close pusher of alcohol is not, and I knew she'd be drinking champagne and keep filling my glass - so I brought tequila to sip. I drank so much less than I would have normally.

This is making me chuckle, because if I want to drink less on a given night liquor is definitely not the way to do that!

Ha!  I am the same as gretchenindisguise in some ways.  I often avoid wine even though I like it because it's so hard to stop with just 1 glass.  I'm honestly better off having hard liquor and making super weak drinks.  I tend to just drink quickly when I am socializing!

[gretchenindisguise]

Jan 24, 2023 9:39:52 GMT -5 aurora said:

Jan 23, 2023 10:03:29 GMT -5 gretchenindisguise said:

I did good this weekend. I went to a friend's house for dinner, but apparently half of our group is doing dry January. My usual close pusher of alcohol is not, and I knew she'd be drinking champagne and keep filling my glass - so I brought tequila to sip. I drank so much less than I would have normally.

This is making me chuckle, because if I want to drink less on a given night liquor is definitely not the way to do that!

I don't drink beer, so the issue with wine/champagne is that once the bottle is open - I feel an obligation to finish it. And I knew my friend would be refilling my glass if I was drinking champagne with her. She didn't refill my tequila glass, so I could just sip it slowly.

[starburst604]

Jan 24, 2023 9:51:30 GMT -5 icedcoffee said:

mrsukyankee , That's interesting. I have actually noticed that millenials and under seem to drink less than boomers. Will be interesting to see what happens to the popularity of alcohol in like 20 years.

I've noticed this as well, though it seems a lot of them use edibles or marijuana instead now that it's legal in a lot of places. 

[icedcoffee]

Jan 24, 2023 13:17:03 GMT -5 starburst604 said:

Jan 24, 2023 9:51:30 GMT -5 icedcoffee said:

mrsukyankee , That's interesting. I have actually noticed that millenials and under seem to drink less than boomers. Will be interesting to see what happens to the popularity of alcohol in like 20 years.

I've noticed this as well, though it seems a lot of them use edibles or marijuana instead now that it's legal in a lot of places. 

Yes---so many more people do edibles than I thought.  We went to Colorado for a wedding and were literally the only ones in our friend group not imbibing.  I was shocked.  But they drank very little alcohol.

[starburst604]

Jan 24, 2023 13:21:20 GMT -5 icedcoffee said:

Jan 24, 2023 13:17:03 GMT -5 starburst604 said:

I've noticed this as well, though it seems a lot of them use edibles or marijuana instead now that it's legal in a lot of places. 

Yes---so many more people do edibles than I thought.  We went to Colorado for a wedding and were literally the only ones in our friend group not imbibing.  I was shocked.  But they drank very little alcohol.

I'm in MA where it's legal and edibles have really taken off in my peer group (Gen X to older Millenials) in the last couple of years. Using and discussing it has become almost like talking about different microbrews or wines. A lot of people use it for stress, insomnia, anxiety and just for general recreational fun. I enjoy them once in a while but they make my appetite insane and nobody needs that right now lol. 

[loira]

Jan 24, 2023 2:23:29 GMT -5 mrsukyankee said:

I thought I'd share this article that I just saw in the paper I subscribe to in the UK. While I'm not planning on giving up alcohol, I definitely drink a lot less now and feel better for it. It's not surprising to me that the Boomers and Gen Xers are the heaviest drinkers in the UK - I see it a lot. My H's workmates go out every Thursday night and have hangovers every Friday morning. It's not unusual for some of them to have drinks with lunch or start drinking at a "work meeting" at 3pm at the pub. I'm working on getting my H to stop joining in that hamster wheel because it's definitely showing up in his body more and more.

‘I jumped off the hangover hamster wheel’: midlife drinkers who gave up booze – and got happy

Interesting! I don't know if you also saw this (I think it was covered in The Guardian as well), but the Canadian Centre on Substance use and Addiction released a new report last week that drastically reduces the recommended weekly amount. I was shocked because it's much lower than what I'd expect for someone to be considered a "moderate drinker".

www.cbc.ca/news/health/alcohol-cancer-risk-warning-1.6715769

I agree that in the UK there's a lot of drinking culture associated with work. Not just formal work events, but weekly or bi-weekly after-work drinks at the pub. When I worked at this horrible marketing agency (run by two 40-something dude-bros), every Friday they had a beer trolley come around at 3:00pm! Most of my colleagues were younger than me and single, and this was a big chunk of their social life. I still tried to go to the pub with them at least twice a month because we would talk about work and honestly I didn't want my bosses to think I wasn't as committed as my colleagues. It was an incredibly toxic environment in many ways that would take too long to get into, but the drinking thing played a huge role as well.

[icedcoffee]

I kind of want a beer tonight.