Can Someone Give Me Another No-alcohol Weekend Challenge?

[HighlyVolatile]

Could some of you guys just challenge me to go this weekend alcohol-free? :-D

I managed to go the entire weekend before the last one without any alcohol thanks to my buddy on here, @lightbulb27, who dared me to try. It's maybe the first weekend I've gone since COVID alcohol-free.

Unfortunately, I tried to do this past weekend alcohol-free just challenging myself and I failed big time. I ended up joining my wife in some beers and then upgraded to whiskey and went all blargh. Then I wrote a bunch of embarrassing drunk posts including ones where I shared the most cringy music I ever recorded while drunk. Sorry about that!

So I think it helps me when someone else challenges me as silly as that sounds. I don't seem all that accountable when I'm the only one challenging myself to do it. It helps when I can cite the names of some other people challenging me and counting on me to succeed every time I'm tempted.

On My Love of Alcohol
I'm also curious if anyone else has a similar alcohol problem I do. I'm a binge drinker type in that once I just drink one can of beer, I can't seem to stop drinking until I'm a complete buffoon ready to pass out.

The superpower I'd most like to possess is that of my wife, friends, and colleagues who seem to be able to stop drinking after 2-3 drinks -- be perfectly content -- and go to bed. Yet I seem to be all or nothing. If I try even one drink, I end up drinking a dozen or more.

I never seem to be able to stop at 2-3 once I get started during the night, and one possible reason is that alcohol behaves more like a stimulant to me than a depressant. I never get sleepy or relaxed like many other people after drinking. I'm in a most energized, fun-loving 100% party mode ready to bust out moves on the dance floor even if I'm at home alone with my wife sleeping in bed, and I can't seem to stop once I start until I've thoroughly exhausted that energy wave after going through a whole lot more drinks.

Updates

+1 y

I just got a full 8 day challenge. The addict in me tried to negotiate it down to 5 but I'll take the full 8. I need some group hugs or something! :-D This is fucking scary as hell! At the same time, I just realized how addicted I've become since 8 days would have seemed like a piece of cake just a couple of years ago. I don't know why I'm so averse to the idea.

Updates

+1 y

I'm on the second day so far of the 8-day challenge. So far so good but still a bit early! The day I asked this Q unfortunately doesn't count since I already drank before I ended up asking this Q. I'll try to keep people up to date!

[NathanDavis]

I will dare you to a full week... in fact, eight days straight with no alcohol...

and every time you feel like trying alcohol again, go with lemonade instead, with tons of ice... and if that doesn't distract you from the urges then try to write songs, or stories, or music or all of them while fighting and trying to stay sober...

[HighlyVolatile]

That's hardcore! Can I negotiate for 5? That would still be quite a stretch. :-D

[HighlyVolatile]

All right, I'm gonna try for 8 days! April 20th to 28th. I was just aiming for another weekend but maybe I need to push myself a bit more.

[NathanDavis]

give it a three-day trial... if you must

but the idea is to re-focus and re-direct and convert, that frustration and need... into some sort of effusive art work

[Xtendable]

Okay, challenge: any beverage you have, must be non-alcoholic. Get yourself a pack or two of non-alcoholic beers or mixers and don’t buy anything else

[HighlyVolatile]

Tricky thing is that my wife loves to drink but she's good about it. She stops after a few. So we have a lot of alcohol around in the house all the time. I think it'd be easier to go alcohol-free without any alcohol in the house or a wife who loves to have some beers after work, but I have to try my best to resist even with that temptation around.

[Xtendable]

Your wife tempts you? Lol

[HighlyVolatile]

She never pressures me or anything at all. She's not like that. She's just like, "Is it okay if I have a couple of beers?" Then I always say, "No problem," watch her drink... then it's like, "Aww shucks, lemme have one." After that, I'm never stopping at one.

[HighlyVolatile]

One thing I might try is to stock my house full of no-alcohol beers. I find those usually hit something of the craving and I might at least be able to reach for one of those instead of her beers when I'm tempted to join in.

[Xtendable]

Yeah, thats what I do. I keep a few varieties. If friends come around, I’ll offer both, but I’ll take the non-alcoholic. Partaking with the activity but not with the substance

[Xtendable]

Stay strong!

[zeitgeist057]

I've got a challenge for you, though I don't know if you drink on the weekdays at all. Instead of just the weekend, don't drink for 8 days (or more if you can).

I don't have that curse of yours, at least not with alcohol. I actually don't like alcohol that much, even though I used to be a bartender. I find that the more often I drink, the better I am at limiting how much I drink to get just the perfect amount where I get a little drunk and feel good, but I don't suffer any embarrassing level loss of control or after effects of hangover the next day. The worst of what happens to me if I don't drink for weeks or months at a time, then when I go out drinking I forget to manage it properly and get a hangover the next day.

My addiction drug I couldn't control is/was nicotine, and I haven't had it for about 10 years now. Like you, I envied my friends who cold have a smoke or two once in a while, for me it had to be a daily, and even almost hourly habit. It was also extremely hard for me to stop. I tried for years and years, sometimes every day I would just try to not smoke for an extra hour or two, or to delay my first cigarette of the day until past noon, with great difficulty and a constant nagging in my mind wanting that cigarette.

Finally once I stopped, I decided never to do it again. But I slipped up and thought after years that the grip it had on me was so weak it wouldn't be a problem to have a cigarette or two. I was wrong, and soon smoking again a lot every day. I also switched to chewing tobacco, and would constantly have a dip in my lip. I got free and quit again, and now I have sworn never to take nicotine in any of its various forms.

So, do you accept my challenge? Can you keep from drinking any alcohol for 8 days?

[zeitgeist057]

Also, if I may ask, what do you get out of alcohol use? Why do you choose to have that first drink, what does it do for you, and have you considered eliminating alcohol completely from your diet/habits?

[HighlyVolatile]

Before COVID I was strictly a social drinker, although still a social binger finding myself alone after my friends all left home (more so at my age; when we were young everyone would join me to party all night).

During COVID, I started drinking at home just out of boredom. It makes B- campy horror films go from barely tolerable to extremely entertaining! :-D At the beginning, it was pretty simple like that, just zombie flicks with alcohol and I'm having more fun.

Often my temptation for the first drink is just my wife drinking. She's a very good and functional drinker though. She'll just have a glass or two of wine or a can or two of beer after dinner and she's ready to sleep like a baby. I want to join in that ever-so-slightly tipsy fun she's having but I take it way past tipsy every time I start.

[zeitgeist057]

I understand about movies, I used to get stoned for the same benefit. Turned what was boring into a lot of depth and more to think about, or perhaps just because I got more stupid?

I was asking about the benefit because I was wondering if it could be handled like I did in college. I would go to parties and realized I (like a lot of party goers) was drinking and enjoying the social looseness of alcohol. I decided to try an experiment and instead of drinking, I just tried to emulate the good times I would have if I had been drinking, but while drinking non-alcoholic beverages at parties. It turned out to work really well, if I just focused on creating the enjoyable experience I wanted.

[zeitgeist057]

So it seems someone else has offered an 8 day challenge. Can you accept it, or not yet?

[HighlyVolatile]

8 is so hardcore for me right now but maybe that's the addict talking. Brrrghghrrr! I was hoping to just be able to do a couple of weekends back-to-back first. 8 days cold turkey is an epic challenge. All right! I try it. I've really become an addict. 8 days seems like hell to me now when it would have been easier just a couple of years ago.

[zeitgeist057]

If it's that easy, it's not a challenge.

[lightbulb27]

Glad the challenge helped you make progress! You sound like a blast. Funny enough my Asian wife gets drunk in sugar. Too much and she’s high as a kite. Kids are like that somewhat. I think chemically these materials work differently in diff bodies. You have strong response to it. What if you drink non alcohol?


What to replace the alcohol with… you need some greater challenge. Maybe a physical one… hike some big mountain or train for it?

[HighlyVolatile]

It's starting to finally get warm where I live. Hiking might help me a lot! There's a small mountain nearby with exactly a thousand steps to get from bottom to top. I haven't done that in several months but I think doing that hike helps me a lot to refrain from drinking on the nights when I do it.

[lightbulb27]

if you are exhausted physically and have plenty to do, you won't have time to drink. that's easy solution:) Your spare time can be taken enjoying some blooming trees.
How about plan to climb some big mountain... mt everest or such, even part way?
Run a 1/2 marathon or... skate across Okinawa?

something fun and unique...
distractions work.

[TrueConfection]

Maybe your wife can do the challenge with you? Make a deal that whoever breaks the challenge has to do xyz (something dreadful). Hopefully no one breaks the challenge!

[HighlyVolatile]

I think it's a bit unfair to her since she's very good about stopping after a beer or two. She doesn't need to quit to avoid being an idiot. :-D I told her to help me for the next 8 days though (I got through the first day and just woke up, but the day I asked this Q doesn't count since I already drank when I did). What I've done is gone ahead and bought a twelve-pack of no-alcohol beers I might reach for if I get a craving, but I try to avoid even drinking those.

[TrueConfection]

I used to drink on occasion and it was rarely more than one. My husband drank wine every night. When he decided to stop, I quit with him. You're married and joined. She should support you.

[TrueConfection]

About the nonalcohol beer, good idea. My husband drank a lot of seltzer water the first 6 months or so and he liked it. He said it helped a little with the craving, but he liked feeling a lot healthier drinking the water.

[HighlyVolatile]

She does tend to offer and ask me very nicely if it's okay if she has a beer or two when I'm trying to stop. I'd feel bad asking her not to have a beer. I think I just have to learn how to do it anyway when surrounded by some temptations since aside from my wife, my friends also drink along with my colleagues. I wouldn't want them to fix something that isn't broken on their part on behalf of my lack of discipline when I'm drinking. Something she's helping me with now is that I requested that whenever she buys beers to bring home that she also gets me a couple of non-alcoholic ones. She's happy to comply with that request.

[TrueConfection]

Maybe offering her a challenge would be more fun than just asking her to not drink? My husband felt guilty when I quit too, but I really didn't mind because it set a good example for our kids who were just entering high school at the time.

[HighlyVolatile]

Japanese culture is, unfortunately, a bit bizarre and maybe revolves too much around alcohol. Drinking is actually a requirement for many jobs like so:
blog.gaijinpot.com/.../

I can avoid at least the business requirement since I work for an American company, but Japanese culture is steeped in alcohol.

>> Getting plastered with coworkers is so socially sanctioned that anything a person does while under the influence is likely to be both forgiven and forgotten the next morning. People can literally do just about anything—strip naked, insult their superiors, puke all over the table—and be excused as long as alcohol was involved. The only thing drinking isn’t an excuse for? Missing work.

One thing that might help with the at-home drinking for which I have a doctor's appointment next week is immunotherapy for allergies. As disconnected as that sounds, one of my stronger temptations to drink at home is that we recently adopted a couple of stray cats in our neighborhood and I test 4/5 on pet allergies. I adore our new cats but I'm so allergic to them that I wake up all the time sneezing with itchy eyes in spite of getting an air filter and taking Allegra.

Meanwhile, if I just drink a few beers, it works better than the maximum allowed dose of Allegra. Almost immediately I stop sneezing and my eyes stop itching for the rest of the night.

[TrueConfection]

Nominication (not sure if I spelled that correctly) sounds like an oxymoron. lol

Anyhow, I had no idea alcohol plays such a role in Japanese culture. I see your dilemma! No wonder my favorite Japanese restaurant has a menu with 30 different kinds of sake!

Well, I'm here rooting for you from the U. S. Keep me posted.

Thank you for the article. Maybe the first I have ever clicked on from GaG!

[HighlyVolatile]

Thanks very much!

[Guy13]

I would but I don’t do hypocrite well… I haven’t had anything in month plus and I bought big ass 🚼 bottle of wine from COSTCO…
Maybe Thursday…

[HighlyVolatile]

A whole month is something I'd love to do! Right now an entire week would be quite a feat. I've been struggling just going more than 4 days without.

[MCheetah]

Go to a bar for at least two hours and only order water.

[HighlyVolatile]

My absolute favorite bar within walking distance shut down with COVID lockdown. But I used to be able to pull that off here and there -- not water since I'd feel a bit rude but a black coffee, a ginger ale, virgin drinks. I think it's when I stopped even bothering with going to a bar to drink that I developed my worst habits.

[Apulu_Imback]

Yeah I challenge you. If you don't do it then I will spam you!

[HighlyVolatile]

Awesome and glad to see you back although I hope it doesn't interfere with your studies! I'll keep your challenge in mind this weekend each time I'm tempted!

[Apulu_Imback]

Yes I'm back and keep me updated about how your challenge is going on. You better do it!

[Andres77]

I like who I am when I'm buzzed.
Important stuff is still important but stupid shyt is less likely to bother me... and I'm SO funny when I'm drunk.
So as long as I'm home... I'm open to free flight.

[dustybiker]

If you have to embarrass yourself. GaG is a reasonable platform for it.

Go for gold! I challenge you for a full month of weekends. ⭐️

[Paul09]

I've done so much drinking on my younger days. I have reduced a ton. I mostly only drink socially. Once in a while I drink a beer or wine at home. Just no point constantly poisoning yourself. I think there's even apps for that.

[joeldalton]

Start a vacation jar and throw in all the $$ you'd otherwise spend on booze. Then take a cool ass trip in 6 months.

[LovingLoverReturned]

Bear resembles pee in taste. Test it.

[LovingLoverReturned]

Beer*

I heard

[HighlyVolatile]

Taste doesn't work on me. I drank a chili beer with ghost peppers and I still ended up drinking a dozen. I tried the sourest kamikazes and I still ended up drinking like 20 of them. The alcohol draw overpowers the bad tastes, discomforts, flaming mouths, and so forth.

[LovingLoverReturned]

Interesting. But dies beer actually resemble pee?

[HighlyVolatile]

I'd have to try pee first. If it tastes like beer, that doesn't seem so bad!

[LovingLoverReturned]

:D let me know if you do

[LovingLoverReturned]

Update. Good :)

[HeartFullOfGlue]

Drink sour lemonade really fast