No one gives me a hard time when I answer '1-2 beers and I feel like crap tomorrow'.

Heck, I feel like people give me some respect for being able to avoid alcohol at an event packed with it.

Looking back on it, I always was jealous of the sober people at parties. They were having a great time and didn't need to drink or do drugs.

If we are going to plug our favorite ways of breaking addictions, I love Power of Habit by Charles Duggan. I can't give a summary because that would be doing a disservice, I don't recommend any summaries online either. Its a 300-400 page book on the brain science of the basal ganglia which is responsible for addictions. It can also be used for positive habits like exercise too. Its my number 1 or number 2 book of all time.

Duhigg, and I would like to second this. That book helped me immensely with confrontation and setting professional and personal boundaries. Not so much for smoking, though.

To quit smoking, I used acupuncture. It may be complete woooo, but it worked incredibly to stop by cravings.

>acupuncture

People need to understand there is a physiological response even if the underlying idea is nonsense.

Also, dry needling can be freaking amazing. Would recommend for both acute and chronic issues at least 1 time. (If it doesnt solve it after doing it once, its not going solve it doing it 4 times)

Exactly this in my case, I've also quit after watching the video. My biggest doubt was if it actually is beneficial to consume in small amounts for better health (i.e. a well-known myth about having a glass of red wine is good for your heart) which Andrew dismissed completely.

I would like to bring doctor Peter Attia's perspective on this - which he mentioned on another podcast with Tim - is occassionally drinking something he really enjoys to the point that "if that glass of wine is not good enough, I will pour it down the drain".

So I tried a few times between now and then, even though I enjoyed it, the aftermath of not having even the slightest effect next day - which I got used to when not drinking at all - convinced me to give up this idea.

The social pressure, though, is real. It's like a habbit which everyone is so much used to, that the alternative "world" with no alcohol feels like a non-existant to some people. And if you fire up a conversation why, there's rarely a good reason why they are so attached to this belief.

I am really confused by this. Maybe I'm just a social recluse, but I definitely have a drink whenever I'm with friends or family. But those events are limited to once every 1-3 months.

I have alcohol in the house. I'll occasionally grab a beer to have with BBQ in the summer. I don't have a need to limit myself; I'm good after 1.

I enjoy alcohol in social situations. I don't have a problem stopping after 1 because that's all I need to feel satiated, and I can go months until my next drink.

Alcohol during my university years? Yeah, I took it too far a few times.

Coffee? Different story altogether!

Is it just me? Am I the weirdo?

> I don't have a need to limit myself; I'm good after 1.

Maybe in your social circles that is normal, but that is highly irregular from everything I have experienced over the last 20 years across 3 continents. And if you don't believe me, just look up the statistics on alcohol consumption. It's pretty clear that an extremely high % of people regularly abuse alcohol, especially in social situations.

You're not a weirdo but yes, lots of people struggle saying 'no' to a drink.

Your caffeine example is a good one. To some folks on /r/stopdrinking, alcohol is more akin to how you feel about caffeine.

Same here, and there are a lot of people like that. But there are also a lot (more?) people for whom drinking is only a means to get drunk.

Apparently 10% of people drink 60% of the booze in the USA.

Other countries will be different I would think.

Nah that's the pattern in most countries. Alcohol consumption follows the same sort of Pareto distribution in Europe as well. And on top of that the harms from alcohol are overwhelmingly concentrated in the very high levels of use population (they are far from linear on a per drink basis).

Just different. I hate hangovers but love a good buzz. Unfortunately, alcohol is quite addictive to me. While I never got to the level I would define myself and alcoholic (I have definitely tip-toed that line in my life) just going out for one pint or having one beer is almost impossible - once I start drinking, all common sense goes out of the window and I keep going. A normal night to the pub might end up easily at 5 or 8 pints. At least it doesn't really alter my character :)

It's interesting because I don't tend to get addicted to things. I've never tried hard drugs, but I can quit coffee cold-turkey (and have done, several times. Just because I was feeling like switching to tea or oat milk in the morning) and never really got into weed.

(anyway, stopped drinking a couple months ago. Alcohol free beer is great for that to be honest. I do miss a nice whiskey from time to time. Let's see if I keep it up)

I mean it sounds like you just don't like drinking that much. People like different things.

Personally, I love it - in particular, the fact that any night of the week you can have one or several unique, powerful sensory experiences to savor and enjoy. Inebriation is basically an unfortunate side effect, for me, if my body stopped metabolizing alcohol after my first drink I'd be perfectly happy - what I'm into is the tasty drinks themselves.

I can have a moscow mule, a mojito, a margarita, and an old fashioned, one after another, and they're all delicious, and all different, and I love that. I can go to another bar tomorrow night, have those same drinks, and yet they'll all be slightly different than the last. Variety is the spice of life!

It's like the difference between a snack drawer filled with your favorite snack, versus a snack drawer filled with a dozen different snacks - you can, on a whim, choose any particular flavour or form you happen to be in the mood for at that moment. That's absolutely delightful for a hedonist like me.

... of course, that's a lot of sugar and salt, which isn't particularly healthy, I know that. But in terms of questions like "Why would you ever have more than one drink?" or "Why would you drink often" or even "Why would you drink alone?" - that's my answer, because I like the way cocktails (and beer, and wine, and cider) taste; And one important factor to enjoying my life is doing things that I like. Simple as.

If you are a weirdo then, so am I. I know quite a few who drink very little. Most just aren't vocal about it. I had 5 servings of alcohol last year. My lack of drinking has been an issue in many of my relationships. People get self conscious when I don't drink.

I was just flabbergasted when I watched "Love is Blind". The participants, especially the women, drink all the time (ok the glasses are opaque so maybe they drink less than it appears).

They drink when they think about their relationship, they drink when they go to social events, they drink when they are having couple moments together.

Social pressure is very damaging in this regard.

I was watching "Shrinking" and noticed the same thing.

Is it a reality show? I've heard they like to keep the participants a little buzzed to get more drama.

If you are struggling with alcohol, I also recommend Reframe[1] app a YC company, it has Zoom meetings with other recovering addicts and a forum with a great community. I'm not affiliated, just that it has helped me stay 2 days alcohol-free already. [1] https://www.joinreframeapp.com/

Once you stop talking, it becomes so easy to see just how much communication pervades popular culture. People talk constantly on TV. People pressure you to talk in social situations, too. Unfortunately, it often feels like you need a 'good reason' to stop talking or alternatively admit you were a chatterbox. It's really unfortunate and ... silly?

It's an awesome source of information. I've shared a summary here: https://www.dsebastien.net/summary-of-what-alcohol-does-to-y...

You're totally right.

I've been in consulting (now consulting-adjacent) roles for the last six years. I've learned a lot from this experience, but the one definite takeaway I've gotten is that alcohol is an absolute must if you're going to hang out with most people (at least here in the US).

Every single after-work event that I've done at the several firms I've worked for has had alcohol involved (and usually lots of it). Every. single. one.

Now, I like drinking. I still drink one or two pints of beer every other day. But it's very difficult to avoid if you want to have a social life here, and seeing your peers get slightly dumber over time is not fun when you're sober! That's annoying as hell!

(I used to drink beer daily until I got acid reflux, despite working out every day in some way or another; I drink an NA beer or two on the off days. I definitely don't get drunk anymore. Been there; done that. I hate losing control over myself like that.)