This is a place to motivate each other to control or stop drinking. It is also a place for non drinkers to discuss and share.
We welcome anyone who wishes to join in by asking for advice, sharing our experiences and stories, or just encouraging someone who is trying to quit or cut down.
Please post only when sober; you’re welcome to read in the meanwhile.
kombucha, exotic sodas (local/imported), drink shit loads of water - also ice teas, bobas. There are so many drinks out there to try, once you start looking.
There’s loads of non/low beers out there too. Order a mixed 6 pack online somewhere to get the variety.
Good luck, btw - you can do it!
Bitters, soda, and lime is a good slow it down intermittent n/a drink that every bar has. And it looks like a regular drinking. I stopped drinking for a few years and it was my go-to.
Man, being single and not drunk when I was out socializing was good times. Paying zero dollars and not being hung over even if I stayed up all night was wonderful. I could go to another city, stay up til 4am, drive home, sleep for 6 hours, and still have a full day left when I woke up, with money in my pocket.
Now if I stay out I am worthless for at least a day, anxious, and kinda annoyed with how expensive it was. Luckily I don’t go out often anymore.
My go to is usually club soda when I’m out and SodaStream at home. I don’t like mock tails because I don’t want the sugar and could care less what other people think of me being sober. Most bartenders don’t even charge you, but I tip as if I was drinking.
This is just my personal experience, but drinking less was worse for me than drinking more. It can take 10 days for alcohol to leave your system so if your going to have drinks more frequently than that you’re just punishing yourself with constant withdrawal and anxiety cycles. After reading This Naked Mind it really changed my views on alcohol and I realized I was way better quitting entirely. I’m over five years sober and don’t regret a single day.
It does not take 10 days to leave your system, but if you are addicted it can take 10 or way more days for your body to adjust to not having alcohol. Also there is no withdrawl and probably no anxiety, unless you are addicted (and maybe no withdrawl even then). Well you can have withdrawl and not be addicted, but that's pretty rare for alcohol I think.
Craft non-alcoholic beers. Everything from IPA's to Sours to Lagers taste pretty similar these days.
There is also a good selection of mocktails - gin & tonics, rye & cokes, mojitos, etc that have come on the market in the last couple years that taste surprisingly similar to the real thing.
I occasionally have to go out to bars with my wife's and my friends. Almost every bar carries non alcoholic beer around me in Northern Rhode Island. We found a great place that has Guiness 0.0. I love that stuff.
When the available na beer is crap, and there are no mocktails, my go to is a soda water with cranberry and a lime.
I like to blend in and have something in my hand when I'm out.