|
Post by Skellinton on Apr 5, 2022 3:46:49 GMT
Well I don't really have an option... I would say 1-3 a month. I don't drink much. That is where I am. If I am cooking with wine I will have a glass or two with what is left in the bottle. Sometimes we have a drink for dessert. I rarely drink when we go out, only if we go to a certain bar in town because they make cool drinks or if my husband drives when we go to the movie theater. It certainly isn’t every week, but it isn’t never either.
|
|
paget
Drama Llama
Posts: 6,757
Jun 25, 2014 21:16:39 GMT
|
Post by paget on Apr 5, 2022 4:19:32 GMT
I think the choices in the poll may also be Skewing it. There’s a big difference for “none” and “1-2 drinks a week,” IMO. I actually picked never, thinking of it more as, “how many drink do you typically drink in a week” and for me the answer is closer to 0 than 1-2 a week. Most weeks it IS zero. I probably have a drink once every six weeks maybe. To me that’s closer to zero for the poll. But I do drink occasionally. Maybe I messed up the poll 😂
|
|
|
Post by librarylady on Apr 5, 2022 4:26:06 GMT
"Also in some states, you can get alcohol in a pharmacy" ------------------------- I have never heard of getting alcohol in any pharmacy in the US... Can anyone validate this? I find that very strange. All states are different. CO just in the last few years changed the law where you can buy liquor in grocery stores. In some states that I have lived, no liquor on Sundays. Colorado has a law where you can't buy liquor on Christmas. CVS in Dallas offers wine for sale.
|
|
|
Post by Legacy Girl on Apr 5, 2022 4:32:32 GMT
I drank frequently while in college and for a few years after. But after a while, my friend group changed and alcohol became less a part of my life. Around that time, I met DH. He is a non-drinker because his birth mother was an alcoholic who died from complications of the disease. Plus, he has just never liked the taste of alcohol.
Also around the same time, I began to realize that my brother, who had started hiding alcohol use at around 13 years old, was becoming seriously addicted. I am not exaggerating when I say that my parents', DH's, DD's and my life have been significantly, negatively impacted by his alcoholism for the last 20 years. If you've never loved an alcoholic, I cannot begin to explain the heartbreak. Unless he makes a dramatic change (and perhaps even if he does), he will most likely die from this disease.
Anyway, I drink a margarita a couple of times each summer, but that's pretty much the extent of my alcohol consumption. I went to moms' weekend at DD's sorority a couple of weeks ago, and together we discovered a new mocktail that we both love. Simply Raspberry Lemonade, lime juice and soda. Happy to have discovered yet another alternative to drinking.
I could write far more about the mommy drinking culture and my disdain for it. As a PP mentioned, in my community, there's not a craft class, a gardening class, or anything similar that doesn't include wine, craft beer, cocktails, etc. If it appeals to others, so be it, but those offering the classes lose my business because I don't want to have to pay the additional cost to be provided alcohol I won't even drink.
Thanks for the thread, jeremysgirl.
|
|
|
Post by pjaye on Apr 5, 2022 4:35:29 GMT
yeah, I think the results of this poll are very unusual. I think that's because the poll doesn't cover all the options. It asks how many drinks you have in a week, and in a typical week I don't have any...but that doesn't mean I don't drink any alcohol ever. To select 1-2 would be incorrect as there are many weeks when I have zero alcohol, then I might go out and have 3 drinks in one night, then other month might pass before I have another drink. I think the numbers are skewed because some of us are answering that in a typical week we don't drink.
|
|
RedSquirrelUK
Drama Llama
Posts: 6,747
Location: The UK's beautiful West Country
Aug 2, 2014 13:03:45 GMT
|
Post by RedSquirrelUK on Apr 5, 2022 8:37:09 GMT
My husband and I get through 1 or 2 bottles of wine a week between us. Just a small glass after the evening meal is enough. But that's not every night and if I don't drink then I don't miss it. Occasionally I might have 2 glasses but never more than that. I like gin as well, but I don't drink it often.
|
|
|
Post by jeremysgirl on Apr 5, 2022 10:32:46 GMT
Totally anecdata but: There’s a much higher percentage of peas who don’t drink at all than of people I know IRL. I can only think of a couple people I know who do not drink at all, ever. Yeah, I think the results of this poll are very unusual. Could be several reasons: reluctance to look like a lush (LOL) after the thread trended so teetotaler-ie at first; reluctance to discuss how much you drink - or other personal things - on the internet; and very possibly our, ahem, collective advancing age. I notice that friends I’ve had for decades drink much less now, or not at all, when I see them socially than they did back in the day. You know in my circle it's the exact opposite. I see people who were unwilling to drink much when their kids were younger start to pick up steam with an empty nest. I also have seen an uptick in those of retirement age. Slowing down the work has seemed to increase the drinking for some.
|
|
|
Post by jeremysgirl on Apr 5, 2022 10:36:26 GMT
I think the choices in the poll may also be Skewing it. There’s a big difference for “none” and “1-2 drinks a week,” IMO. I actually picked never, thinking of it more as, “how many drink do you typically drink in a week” and for me the answer is closer to 0 than 1-2 a week. Most weeks it IS zero. I probably have a drink once every six weeks maybe. To me that’s closer to zero for the poll. But I do drink occasionally. Maybe I messed up the poll 😂 Maybe I messed up the poll. 🤣 I certainly didn't account for those who drink minimally. I was trying to see mostly how much people thought was excessive. And then I really wanted them to share if their alcohol consumption had increased over the past 10-20 years. But with so many infrequent/non drinkers it really is a non-issue. Meaning their experience doesn't fit with this articles data. I should have worded this poll differently to see what I was looking for.
|
|
|
Post by monklady123 on Apr 5, 2022 10:49:50 GMT
I answered this poll right after it was posted and then just now noticed that the thread has gone into multiple pages, so of course I had to come find out why. lol
I'm surprised to see so many people who answered that they don't drink at all! Irl I only know two people who don't ever drink alcohol. So interesting.
I usually have a wine cooler type drink with dinner every night -- I make it with about 3/4 glass of diet tonic and ice then add wine. This was my way originally of cutting down on calories by not having a glass of just wine. Then I discovered I like it better than wine by itself. On Saturday night we always have pizza so I usually have a beer with that because pizza and beer is perfect together. When we go out -- which was rare even before Covid -- I almost never order alcohol... I usually drink only water.
|
|
|
Post by gar on Apr 5, 2022 11:06:45 GMT
jeremysgirl - as to whether my drinking has increased, it did during the initial lockdown certainly. It was a very unusually warm Spring in the UK and we spent most/a lot of time sitting on our deck glass in hand. It was almost like being on holiday and yes we drank more wine than we normally would but that’s reverted to our old norms I would say. Nothing changed when we became empty nesters - we drank in front of them/with them (as appropriate) so nothing needed to change.
|
|
|
Post by jeremysgirl on Apr 5, 2022 11:11:26 GMT
jeremysgirl - as to whether my drinking has increased, it did during the initial lockdown certainly. It was a very unusually warm Spring in the UK and we spent most/a lot of time sitting on our deck glass in hand. It was almost like being on holiday and yes we drank more wine than we normally would but that’s reverted to our old norms I would say. Nothing changed when we became empty nesters - we drank in front of them/with them (as appropriate) so nothing needed to change. Ahh...see that's what I really wanted to know. I just didn't quite know how to get at it with the poll. ETA: I wanted a poll though because I forecasted some people would be uncomfortable talking about their level of drinking.
|
|
SabrinaP
Pearl Clutcher
Busy Teacher Pea
Posts: 4,355
Location: Dallas Texas
Jun 26, 2014 12:16:22 GMT
|
Post by SabrinaP on Apr 5, 2022 11:26:38 GMT
I picked 1-2 but truthfully it’s only 1-2 every few weekends. I often drink nothing in a week.
|
|
|
Post by peasapie on Apr 5, 2022 11:26:49 GMT
I used to have a couple of drinks on the weekend, but as I’ve gotten older I just can’t metabolize alcohol very well. I end up feeling sick and exhausted the next day, so I rarely drink now. Instead, I smoke pot.
|
|
|
Post by Texas Scrap on Apr 5, 2022 11:44:46 GMT
Ok - super interesting thread jeremysgirl ! So I am currently in the zero category, but I’ve been all over the place. Main reasons for minimal/no drinking currently are health. I have long Covid, but also sleep issues and generally feeling crappy when I drink even just one drink. For those who were curious, there is a good amount of research out there about the affect of alcohol on healthy sleep. Like many people, it usually puts me to sleep, but I wake up during the night. The quality of sleep is impacted as well because of what the alcohol is doing to the brain. To the pandemic drinking question, I definitely was drinking during the first 9 months before I got Covid. Probably same or more than pre pandemic. I’ve had alcohol on a few trips and on our anniversary but otherwise none since October 2020. I was one who really enjoyed a good margarita, sangria, and wine. Unlike many others on here, I find myself drinking less, not more, as my kids get older and we approach the empty nest. I typically never drank more than 1-2 glasses of wine a day, and more often it was just weekends, but that was enough to give me a little buzz and take off the edge of the hectic days of parenting young kids. I could read to them, put them to bed and function fine, but I think over time it took a toll on my organs and I became less and less tolerant. Over the 5 years pre-pandemic I did enjoy the experience of good wine with a good meal and most of my alcohol consumption has been in that scenario. Dinner 1-2 nights a week typically. I will probably drink again at some point, but Knowing how much better I feel and sleep now, It won’t be often.
|
|
|
Post by guzismom on Apr 5, 2022 12:14:03 GMT
The only time I drink at home is when I'm watching my football team play...so, this time of year, the answer is 'none'. When I travel, I usually have one glass of wine or beer (depending on country) with dinner. So I am a sporadic drinker, for sure.
|
|
SweetieBsMom
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 4,618
Jun 25, 2014 19:55:12 GMT
|
Post by SweetieBsMom on Apr 5, 2022 13:39:36 GMT
I voted ‘None’ because I don’t drink a lot. I had 1 glass of wine on Thanksgiving and another class about a month ago when I stayed at my Aunt’s. I have wine in the house, actually have an open bottle in the fridge that probably needs to be tossed. There was a time, after DH passed, that I was drinking wine every Friday or Saturday (not both) night while watching TV. It wasn’t helping me grieve, made the crushing sadness worse. Sometimes I’ll have a glass of wine if I go out to dinner or I’ll have a beer at a party but I still have the tendency to get super sad about DH so I don’t drink to excess, one is my limit now.
|
|
|
Post by busy on Apr 5, 2022 13:46:59 GMT
Speaking of Covid, I did make an intentional choice at the beginning of lockdown to not drink. It was a very difficult time in a number of ways and there was so much uncertainty and stress, plus no outside obligations to provide external guardrails…, it felt like a situation ripe for misuse. I’ve never had a problem with alcohol but something about that time, my mental health, and our family situation told me that it would be possible for it to become a problem. So I just didn’t drink at all for probably nine months.
|
|
|
Post by teacherlisa on Apr 5, 2022 15:05:38 GMT
I am another who is surprised by the poll results. I do not drink and am the only person that I know that does not. I thought I was weird lol. Like literally none,never. Some ppl mean none=no hard liquor, but I mean none none.
However, I am not eating healthy the way that I want to and it absolutely is because of Covid my increased hours at work and just a general bad attitude in general.
|
|
|
Post by bc2ca on Apr 5, 2022 16:10:31 GMT
and very possibly our, ahem, collective advancing age. I notice that friends I’ve had for decades drink much less now, or not at all, when I see them socially than they did back in the day. this is true for some of my friends as we are mostly +/- a couple years off 60. A few have stopped completely because of liver disease diagnosis and a few stopped/cut back out of fear of similar diagnosis or other health related concerns. You know in my circle it's the exact opposite. I see people who were unwilling to drink much when their kids were younger start to pick up steam with an empty nest. I also have seen an uptick in those of retirement age. Slowing down the work has seemed to increase the drinking for some. My 40s were definitely my driest decade with responsibility for young kids in the mix. Things picked up in my 50s and my heaviest drinking weeks were girlfriend vacations. We don't get drunk, but can start the day with a drop of something in the coffee or mimosa, a drink with lunch, cocktail hour and wine with dinner. Health issues slowed it all down again for me.
|
|
|
Post by peano on Apr 5, 2022 16:48:01 GMT
Welp, I just got back from a week at an all-inclusive in the Dominican Republic, so let’s just say my liver could use a rest.
Ordinarily, I’m more of a social drinker, and I’ve been watching my carbs, so if we go out to dinner, I’ll have a glass or two of sparkling wine. I might have the same if I’m prepping veg for a soup or salad at dinner.
|
|
|
Post by MichyM on Apr 5, 2022 17:07:08 GMT
I live alone. I have a rule that I don't drink alone. Maybe two or three times a year I'll open a bottle of wine and drink it over a couple of nights. Other than that, even though I love all things wine and going wine tasting, and learning more about wines, I only drink when I'm out or have company over.
Dinner out I'll usually have either a cocktail and a glass of wine, or 2 glasses of wine. Every so often I might have a third drink. When I'm traveling I'll typically drink more because I'm dining out the entire time and have company. So anyhow, none of the options fit for me, since a couple of weeks (or more, especially during the worst of the pandemic) can go by without me having an alcoholic drink of any kind.
My mother's second husband was a highly functioning alcoholic who would beat the shit out of her every month or so. As a 10-11 YO, I'd have to call the police for help. He worked in city government, and it was the early 70's, so he was never jailed or as far as I knew, had any consequences. He'd leave for a few days, then my mom would let him come back, and the cycle started all over again. Finally, when I was 12, when my mom let us know (I had an older sister and a younger brother) that once again Jim was coming back, I called my dad and asked if I could move in with him. In hindsight, I'm very proud of my pre-teen self for taking control of my own situation and doing that. About 6+ months later, my siblings moved in with my dad and me as well.
For that reason alone, I've never had the desire to be a regular drinker or a drunk.
|
|
casii
Drama Llama
Posts: 5,474
Jun 29, 2014 14:40:44 GMT
|
Post by casii on Apr 5, 2022 18:43:18 GMT
It's funny about the judginess - I find that when I decline a glass of wine that the drinkers get defensive and try to push it on me and almost shame me into drinking. I was no longer invited to a book club when I wouldn't drink with them. I used to drink but I just don't want to anymore. Not sure why people don't understand that or think I can't possibly have a good time without it. That stinks, I'm sorry While pretty much everyone in our friend group does drink, people regularly don't drink for various reasons and no one gives them grief or pressures them. I don't understand why anyone would pressure someone else to drink. Shouldn't we all be decades beyond peer pressure? Ugh. Peer pressure and the Mean Girl syndrome never ends. I'm sitting here on the other side of 50 and the mean girls/people just got older, not wiser, in many cases. Unless it's picking our pockets or breaking our legs, we need to live and let live .
|
|
|
Post by gar on Apr 5, 2022 19:34:41 GMT
Just want to say that poll is incredible I know there are quite a few peas who put 'never' when they might have chosen 'rarely' but still!
|
|
|
Post by jeremysgirl on Apr 5, 2022 19:55:43 GMT
MichyM yeah, that would turn me off to drinking too. I'm glad your dad was there for you.
|
|
|
Post by jeremysgirl on Apr 5, 2022 19:57:52 GMT
jeremysgirl I've heard several people that are/were drinkers say that they learned a lot from the book This Naked Mind by Annie Grace. It might be worth checking out. I did end up ordering this book today. I figured it couldn't hurt to read it.
|
|
MorningPerson
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 2,506
Location: Central Pennsylvania
Jul 4, 2014 21:35:44 GMT
|
Post by MorningPerson on Apr 5, 2022 20:11:03 GMT
jeremysgirl I've heard several people that are/were drinkers say that they learned a lot from the book This Naked Mind by Annie Grace. It might be worth checking out. I did end up ordering this book today. I figured it couldn't hurt to read it. I hope you like it as much as I did. It was truly a catalyst for me.
|
|
|
Post by hennybutton on Apr 5, 2022 21:34:04 GMT
Yeah, I think the results of this poll are very unusual. Could be several reasons: reluctance to look like a lush (LOL) after the thread trended so teetotaler-ie at first; reluctance to discuss how much you drink - or other personal things - on the internet; and very possibly our, ahem, collective advancing age. I notice that friends I’ve had for decades drink much less now, or not at all, when I see them socially than they did back in the day. You know in my circle it's the exact opposite. I see people who were unwilling to drink much when their kids were younger start to pick up steam with an empty nest. I also have seen an uptick in those of retirement age. Slowing down the work has seemed to increase the drinking for some. I hardly ever drank when my kids were home. It's been something I picked up in middle age.
|
|
|
Post by Merge on Apr 5, 2022 22:02:24 GMT
That stinks, I'm sorry While pretty much everyone in our friend group does drink, people regularly don't drink for various reasons and no one gives them grief or pressures them. I don't understand why anyone would pressure someone else to drink. Shouldn't we all be decades beyond peer pressure? Ugh. Peer pressure and the Mean Girl syndrome never ends. I'm sitting here on the other side of 50 and the mean girls/people just got older, not wiser, in many cases. Unless it's picking our pockets or breaking our legs, we need to live and let live . Tangent alert - to me, one of the best parts of being older is that we can divorce ourselves from the mean girls. I no longer have to spend time with other women or couples just because our kids are friends, for example. Our jobs are not dependent on the goodwill of managers or superiors with whom we have to attend awkward business gatherings. Our closest couple friends drink much less than we do - another couple we regularly see drinks much more. No one fusses at anyone else about their life choices. The mean girls and guys are sitting somewhere else, judging each other and everyone around them, and we just don’t care. They’re not our people.
|
|
AllieC
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 3,059
Jul 4, 2014 6:57:02 GMT
|
Post by AllieC on Apr 5, 2022 23:47:50 GMT
I can go weeks without having any then I might have 1 or 2 with dinner on a weekend. I don't drink "just because" it's usually when we have someone over or are going out.
I've seen a huge increase in the "mommy wine" culture and while some people say that is shaming women, I think it is definitely something that is concerning. I know quite a few people that would have a wine when making dinner or the kids were giving them grief and this became a nightly thing and often a bottle a day would be consumed.
|
|
|
Post by beaglemom on Apr 6, 2022 0:30:00 GMT
I didn't vote. But I have a drink or two once or twice a month, maybe? Maybe 4-6 times a year dh makes his margaritas and I have one or two. And if we go out to dinner I might have a cocktail. But we have been out to eat maybe 10 times in the last 2 years? If we have dinner at my parents I might have a half or full glass of wine, once every other month? I have never been a big drinker. I like trying cocktails at restaurants, but since we haven't been going out during the pandemic I haven't had that. Before covid we went out to eat maybe once a month?
|
|