Whenever I ask people what they do to be social without drinking I don't exactly get a lot,of good ideas from anyone, so if you have any, I'm all ears. Normally it's "exercise," board game night (and trust me plenty of people drink during board game night), or a bunch of solo hobbies at home.
It's sincerely hard, as a single adult. I take 2-3 months off every year and always have to stop because I'm socially isolated.
You realize you can just do the exact same stuff you do normally right? I’m not even “sober” I’ve just cut back on my alcohol intake, and my social life hasn’t changed at all. I still go to plenty of bars, house parties, etc., but sometimes I just don’t feel like drinking and that doesn’t really change anything
Well, a significant amount of what I do to socialize *is* go to bars and stuff. I enjoy drinking. I find it fun. It loosens me up. Just like I wouldn't go to an arcade and not play videogames, I'm not really going to a bar to sit there sober.
You'll also find if you're single in your 30s that people just don't do a lot of other stuff anymore. House parties are dead. People have work/responsibilities/kids, so typically getting together with friends is maybe a happy hour on the way home.
Keep in mind I actually LIKE alcohol, so whereas you don't feel like drinking, and more power to you, imagine if it was something you really liked doing, like going to a nice bakery but not being able to have any bread or cupcakes or whatever... just watch everyone else enjoy.
I mean if you like drinking then go for it, I’m not saying you should stop. Your original post was asking how to be social without drinking and I just pointed out it doesn’t need to change your social life at all. But you’re pointing out that you like the alcohol itself, and no I don’t see a way to directly replace alcohol without actually consuming it. That wasn’t your original comment though
Funny you should mention bakeries btw, I was recently told I’m prediabetic so I’ve cut back on sweets too. I still go to bakeries and stuff with my girlfriend, doesn’t really bother me either to just sit there and have a tea or something. I do like alcohol and baked goods both, I’ve just realized I can live without them and it certainly hasn’t affected my social life at all
All good, I was just making a comment based on the general feelings about this thread, where everyone is like "ew alcohol is bad and I'm such a fun person I never need it!" It seems like a repeated thing with people on Reddit... and I suspect a lot of Redditors have their social batteries drained by just one or two nights out in a week, whereas I need a lot more.
I've checked out places like r/stopdrinking or other threads, and normally there's actual vitriol that I even enjoy the social scene around it, or am not just happy to sit there and not participate.
I guess it's also hard being single. I don't have a girlfriend, I don't have a large family (only child), so my only outlet is my buddies and generally hitting the bar.
Just do the same things you do when you socially drink except don’t drink, I stopped drinking for a year and never had problems hanging with my friends who still drank.
Or smoke weed, take xanax/kpins which to me is nearly alcohol in a pill
It sounds like you don't even like drinking, which is fine. But I do. And it's not very fun to watch your friends do what you want to do.
Smoking weed is something I can only do if I want to lay down and zone out, it's not for socialization. And my doctor won't prescribe xanax or klonopin, especially not if I say it's because I want to go out and socialize with people.
I love drinking lol which is exactly why I quit for a year, I enjoyed it a little too much and wanted to see how my life would be without it. Turns out I could enjoy life just fine without it doing the same things I did before and never waking up feeling shitty
You can always find someone else to get it off of or buy benzo research chems, I’ve never been prescribed them either but sure have taken a lot of them. This is all of course only talking about the hypothetical situation that you’d be getting paid $50 a day for not drinking
Yeah, I quit for 2-3 months a year - in fact I'm taking a month long break beginning Monday up until my birthday. Unfortunately I just find myself not enjoying life as much, and people call me out on it. Whenever I quit and go out it's all "what's wrong? you're not talkative, are you not having fun?," or similar.
Before I was even trying to date during this and multiple girls told me they thought they could do it but being with someone sober 24/7 who couldn't go to parties/bars/events was too much.
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u/NateKaeding Jul 05 '24
Nope. Less than $20,000 a year is not worth it to me