[mmwako]

I had to give up alcohol because of liver problems.

It's amazing for 1. all the health benefits but mostly 2. it changes your perception of life. People are under the influence of alcohol at most social events, but I'd argue it's just for one simple reason: social anxiety. When you have to deal with this anxiety instead of numbing it with alcohol, you go through an emotional and spiritual journey, where you'll uncover who others really are, but mostly who YOU really are.

I highly recommend it.

Protip: How to prevent making people uncomfortable at parties: don't talk about you drinking or not, and directly ask for a mocktail or other alcohol-free drink. If anyone asks if you are not drinking, say "maybe later" and they'll just forget about it.

[vouaobrasil]

> Protip: How to prevent making people uncomfortable at parties: don't talk about you drinking or not, and directly ask for a mocktail or other alcohol-free drink. If anyone asks if you are not drinking, say "maybe later" and they'll just forget about it.

I get not bringing it up. But if anyone ever asks me, I'll say "I don't drink". If they get uncomfortable after that, their problem.

[dspillett]

I have a similar problem with not drinking tea (or coffee). An Englishman being an ateaist is seen as rather odd, and the looks of confusion as people try to process the idea (just… water… no tea…) can be entertaining.

[Hamuko]

I have a similar problem as a Finnish person drinking only tea, no coffee. Depending on the statistics, we're either #1 or #2 (behind Luxembourg) in coffee consumption per capita.

I think I've had to explain that more often than the part about not drinking any alcohol.

[benterix]

Interesting, I'd swar it's Italy, it's literally the first thing most of my friends do in the morning. The only difference is that some take their espresso at home whereas others prefer their favorite local bar.

[Hamuko]

Italy isn't even particularly high on the list, and for example this site has them as number 15. The average Finnish person is drinking twice the amount of coffee per day as the average Italian person.

https://cafely.com/blogs/research/which-country-consumes-the...

[vouaobrasil]

Ateaist...now THAT's funny!

[QuantumGood]

I think OP was talking about people who have a problem with it making you uncomfortable. If you're built such that them behaving that way doesn't bother you, you don't need a that strategy, you don't have that problem.

[ChrisMarshallNY]

Just drink ginger ale. Looks enough like booze, that people don't bother you.

[jamwil]

Hah, I remember one Sober October I was out and drank like 4 pints of craft ginger ale. Woke up feeling worse than I would have with beer.

[b800h]

That's full of sugar - complete disaster.

[davidhbolton]

There's diet versions of it available. Tesco in the UK sell a really nice one that is 1Kcal (one Cal) per 330 ML can.

[ChrisMarshallNY]

Eh. I never drink soda, otherwise. I usually only drink water.

[watwut]

If this is your response to someone who you have literally zero reason to think is overweight, then you got issues.

[b800h]

Honestly, I've found so many good reasons not to drink sugary fizzy pop on my own account that I certainly don't like my kids to do it (although they get a pass occasionally).

My main concern with it as a substitute is that you get through it quickly and rack up the sugar levels in no time. Best bet as far as I'm concerned are 0.0% beers - a third of the calories and a fifth of the sugar - although I'll try to stick to two of those at max. They make me feel groggy despite having no alcohol in them.

[consteval]

Personally, I recommend switching to diet ale or sodas. Took me a while to get used to it but once you do, there's really never any reason to go back. And the sugar free stuff is really, for real, sugar free. No calories and no sugar, and you can definitely feel it.

[dave4420]

My assumption was that b880h was saying it would be a complete disaster for themself. Not saying anything about who they were replying to at all.

And I avoid drinking sugary drinks all night because they’ll give me a headache.

[dgfitz]

Club soda and lime for me.

[benterix]

Yeah but why? I see two options: you are (1) uncomfortable with providing the reason or (2) have no problems with that. So I assume we deal with (1) here. But you have many options: instead of drinking sugary liquid that you may not even like and that is not good for your health, you can provide any reason you want, and liver problems is efficient and basically closes a discussion. (Many people won't even want to think about it as they might have bad AST/ALT ratios, too.)

[mmwako]

The article does a great job of explaining how alienating for others is dealing with a non-drinker. I won't talk about it explicitly so others are more comfortable in these scenarios, even though I have no problem at all with being sober and talking about it if prompted.

[ChrisMarshallNY]

Take my word for it. There are substances that are a lot more harmful to me.

It's a non-issue.

Why?

I don't like jail. It sucks.

[vrc]

My move, diet soda in a drink glass with a red straw. Bartenders will usually oblige and then it looks like you’re drinking. If you tip well and/or you tell the bartender that this is the only drink you want tonight, you can join people for rounds and “just get the same”. I read this in an interview with a big time agent who talked about tips to navigating business events with food and drink to be more effective. Eat first and fast and walk with your faux drink—your audience will be forced to listen to you and semi-immobile while they eat and will get themselves tipsy too. Sounds kinda predatory, actually, but it’s effective.

[andrewstuart]

This is a good idea - don't tell people you've stopped drinking.

If they ask at any given time, just say mutter something plausible to move the conversation on - whoever you are talking to won't really be interested and and will be glad to move on to a new topic.

[pfdietz]

> I had to give up alcohol because of liver problems.

Liver problems are surprisingly common as one gets older. It's estimated that 24% of US adults have non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. Avoid drinking, lose weight, reduce carb intake.

[tcgv]

> but I'd argue it's just for one simple reason: social anxiety

Additionally, alcohol is an addictive substance. I know plenty of extroverts who don't need any booze to socialize and still very much enjoy drinking.

[mmwako]

Interesting answer. I'd say that being an extrovert (which I am by the way) is not a protection against social anxiety. To give an easy example: every male friend I ever had, extrovert or not, had to drink some amount of alcohol to have the courage to flirt in social environments. But business meetings, family meetings, etc, are also nerve-wracking.

Alas, the addictive nature of alcohol obviously plays a role as well.

[dghughes]

> 1. all the health benefits

That's debatable. Ethyl alcohol may have slight benefits for heart health but even that is vague and only if you already drink and in moderation. For example 350ml of beer per day is considered moderate.

More likely is your blood pressure will increase, your liver will be negatively affected.

I've never been around drinkers without being pressured to drink. And the more they drink the more pressure. Until they are so pissed they don't even know that you're there anymore. Until they need a ride home.

Basically if you are a drinker you accept the outcome. If you don't drink there's no need to start.

[skrause]

"All the health benefits" meant the benefits of not drinking.

[mmwako]

Exactly what I meant, I was referring to the health benefits of not drinking. Thanks for clarifying.