People who don't drink- why don't you?

The only socially savvy people who don't drink either cannot handle alcohol well, or they're legitimate sociopaths.

Alcohol just puts me to sleep these days. Hard to drink socially when your second beer leaves you nodding off.

I wasn't much of a drinker even in college when the drinking age was 18. I don't like the taste of most liquor, beer and wine and I don't like the feeling afterward. After a while nobody gave me any crap and as an adult no one ever cared.

Because I had two relatives who were alcoholics, including my dad. I watched my dad literally drink himself into an early grave, and live in an alcohol induced haze for years before his death.

Studies show that having an immediate family member with alcoholism increases your own proclivity toward it. I decided my best route was to never touch the stuff. Simple risk-reward decision. Whatever "reward" it might bring isn't worth the risk of ending up like my dad.

I get absolutely no "crap" from people about it, because I don't hang around immature jerks.

Coach wrote:

I wasn't much of a drinker even in college when the drinking age was 18. I don't like the taste of most liquor, beer and wine and I don't like the feeling afterward. After a while nobody gave me any crap and as an adult no one ever cared.

Second this. I like diet red pop,much better than beer. You also can't get arrested for drinking too much diet red pop and driving.

I had kids and its hard to get out of the house and im not going to sit around and drink by myself and i have better things to do if we are luckt enough to find a babysitter

Never think of it. Not really around people who drink. Have never really gotten crap for it.

Had a beer while traveling a couple weeks ago and it was really good. Thought I should start drinking beer more regularly, but then forgot about it. Probably won't get around to starting.

Not every social circle involves drinking. I find people who are big drinkers and who go on about it to be really boring.

No one has ever said anything to me if I didn't want to drink. All my friends knew I was committed to being fit and healthy. But I got/get a lot of razzing for not smoking dope, even from my kids and their friends. They are also dumbfounded at how strong and healthy I am at 65. They all get a lot of lecturing from me on their drinking and smoking, to no effect.

1) I don't like the taste of any kind of alcohol.

2) Drinking enough beer to keep a buzz is just a ton of volume.

3) I have just as much fun without it.

4) It can be expensive.

I like the idea of it, but when it comes down to it I won't pay for something that I know I won't like. On the very rare occasion I want to drink, I'll force down a few strong whiskey drinks (or maybe shots), then sip on something non-alcoholic that I actually like.

I never drank in high school or college.

Didn't want to.

Stayed focus on training and being healthy.

Drank after college and running.

Now I'm older and can't find anyone to drink with.

My wife doesn't drink. Doesn't want to.

Some friends are recovering alcoholics and can't drink.

Co-workers all go straight home after work.

I don't drink that much volume anymore but I don't know what I would do if I couldn't have a Trillium on a Friday night, a glass of Stags Leap with dinner on a Saturday night or a dram of Oban on Sunday evening in the winter.

For those of you who don't drink because of alcoholism problems I respect you beyond measure. It must be one of the hardest things for a person to endure. KEEP IT UP.

For those of you who don't drink because you don't like the taste or you think it's not healthy - you are NUTS. You're missing out on one man kinds greatest treasures and luxuries.

As an old politician friend of mine says - "You don't make friends over glasses of water"

liverlover wrote:

Also, how much crap do you get from colleagues, co-workers, friends, etc. for not drinking? How'd you navigate college as a teetotaler?

I drink on pretty much one occasion -- when I have a gig (mostly solo these days and usually just once a month max). And even then, I only have one beer...followed by water the rest of the night.

I was not a teetotaler in college, but I have never been a big drinker, and I've never had anyone give me crap for not drinking ever.

I only drank for a short time in my early 20's, and didn't like what it did to me. Later in my 40's I tried wine a few days, drank a bottle of mateus one night at home and felt great. I did the same thing a week later and felt absolutely terrible. I haven't drunk anything with alcohol since and I'm quite healthy in my 70's

I see absolutely no benefit from partaking of alcohol, and certainly not from being around anyone who drinks, in particular no women who are addicted to wine and whose peak of existence is visiting wineries. I stay far away from them. My girlfriend feels the same way about drinking.

I do drink plenty of water though, 5 big glasses a day and eat healthy, which helps me to feel much better and enjoy life. It would certainly be no fun to lose one's senses and abilities.

Whoops I meant merlot not matues.

Alcohol = diseases

Drank in college but not really since.

Now pushing 50, find it sad to see heavy drinkers my own age. Just pathetic really.

Which?

Nancy wrote:

Alcohol = diseases

One of the great pleasures in life is an ice cold beer on a Friday after work, or after a long trail run, or at dinner with friends. There are other occasions too: watching a ballgame, after mowing the lawn, end of a ski day, sitting in the backyard on the deck with a friend, etc.

I feel like a nice beer at the right occasion really puts me into a good frame of mind, relaxing from the stressors of life. It's not so much the alcohol, only 12 ounces of beer, but the ritual, the taste, the anticipation, the change in mindset, etc.

I almost never have more than two in a day, and it's typically only one beer (otherwise i'll just fall asleep). And it's typically only two or three nights a week. So, basically, total consumption of alcohol for an average week is three to four beers.

liverlover wrote:

People who don't drink- why don't you?

Also, how much crap do you get from colleagues, co-workers, friends, etc. for not drinking? How'd you navigate college as a teetotaler?

When I was three or four years old somebody's dad let me have a sip from his can of beer. I hated it and saw no reason to repeat the experience.

When I was a little older I saw that some people who did drink were real jerks. I was able to be a jerk without the assistance of alcohol or other drugs, so I just skipped that step.

...Which, now that I think about it, is why I don't get crap for not drinking. I do plenty of other stuff that pisses people off, and they focus on that instead.

Also never got grief in college about not drinking, even though the drinking age was just 18. But then I never made a production about it either. Others at a party would drink alcohol; I drank something else. Who cared?

Finally, my ethnic background is Scottish and (allegedly) American Indian--two groups known to have problems with alcohol. I figured not starting would be easier than having to quit.

So after all that I'm married to someone who turned out to be an alcoholic. Go figure.