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autotelica t1_j3jrm5p wrote

I wonder if anxiety is increasing among young people and whether this explains the uptick in alcohol-related liver disease. People self-medicate more when they are anxious, so there's that. But anxiety can also make people take risks out of fear.

"If I don't go to happy hour, I won't be seen as a team player and I won't get that promotion and thus I'll be some kind of a loser."

"If I don't do shots like the rest of the gang, they won't invite me to hang out with them and I won't have friends and thus I'll be some kind of a loser."

"If I don't do some pre-gaming before our dinner date, I'll be a nervous wreck the whole time and he/she'll think I'm a weirdo and they won't want to go out with me and thus I'll be some kind of loser."

I don't know if anxiety has increased, but I wouldn't be surprised if it has.

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ShoestringTherapy t1_j3k7eim wrote

I've lived the 2nd example.

Your circle of friends can definitely get smaller when you quit drinking. Shared interests and all that.

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Texasraised420 t1_j3k99h5 wrote

My in-law family all likes to get together and go drinking. It ALWAYS end in someone getting mad or upset. My wife has never drank nor will ever start. They would always get onto her for not wanting to have fun and telling me to slow down drinking. Now that I have slowed my drinking I see how annoying they all are while drunk and how most of it is just fake drunk love. Ironically they all judge me for smoking weed despite it being legal in the state I moved too.

Ever since I stopped going out with them they have since turned to the youngest 16 year old and trying to get him to start drinking. Like how are you going to be mad as a grown adult I smoke weed but then encourage your underage children to get drunk with you because you're a depressed adult who likes company in misery..

Sorry just going on rant. Cutting out drinking is making me not able to stand these people and hurting our relationship. Meanwhile just about every other aspect in life and my relationships with people who care is improving

If people don't respect your choices and encourage you to drink... they aren't good people IMO

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autotelica t1_j3lgkfy wrote

I don't really like the taste of alcohol, so when I go out with friends for happy hour, I usually nurse one cocktail to their two or three beers. I am lucky that this doesn't bother them and that no one in the group is trying get wasted.

But when I know the situation is a "let's get wasted!" one, I just can't with that. I am at that stage in my life where I don't care if this means I don't have a lot of friends. The way I see it, if a person doesn't want to be my friend unless I get wasted with them, they don't really want to get to know me as a person. They just want a drinking partner. I would rather be lonely than be that.

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cassinonorth t1_j3m1gd8 wrote

You find out your "friends" aren't really friends at all, just drinking buddies.

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PhilosophyKingPK t1_j3kva06 wrote

My wife joined a weight loss support group that meets over Zoom. She told me that everyone (~10) on the call (except her) said that they were casual drinkers before the pandemic but it turned into a problem since the pandemic. Obviously, the empty calories are bad for their goals, but my wife and I have suspected that more and more people turned to alcohol during the pandemic/stress of day normal life now. This seems to support that.

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