It is interesting how many people ask me how I manage to cope not drinking when my wife still drinks and how surprised they are when they learn it doesn’t bother me in the least. I suppose I am lucky in that she only drinks rarely, although less lucky financially that she only drinks champagne. Well the fact she drinks truly doesn’t bother me and I can honestly say I am never tempted - the thought to join her in having a drink never enters my head. Instead, I often smell her drink just to excite my taste-buds which I find gives me just as much of a high as actually drinking the wine would.
If she was a raving alcoholic however, it would be a different matter. I don’t think for a moment I could cope with living with someone like I used to be. Having to put up with their talking rubbish, their falling about, their falling asleep (even at the dinner table) and their general being a complete rubbish and useless person to be with. How on Earth my wife tolerated me I really don’t know.
If you haven’t reached the point already, you WILL get to the stage where being around others who drink doesn’t bother you at all, and you WILL find that being sober, you can have just as much if not more fun at parties and gatherings despite drink sloshing around as if there was no tomorrow. What you will also find however, is that at some stage in the evening the drinkers will become boring, painful to be around, and you will start to crave sensible sober company. You will look at others, make a comparison with how you yourself used to be, and wonder why you wasted so much time ‘believing’ you were having an incredible time.
But on the point of that high I mentioned in the first paragraph, I am working on a new book with a behaviourist friend of mine which will explore reactions like that in more depth. He has already classed me as a mis-behaviourist! I will post more on this fascinating subject at www.idontdrink.net as things progress.
If she was a raving alcoholic however, it would be a different matter. I don’t think for a moment I could cope with living with someone like I used to be. Having to put up with their talking rubbish, their falling about, their falling asleep (even at the dinner table) and their general being a complete rubbish and useless person to be with. How on Earth my wife tolerated me I really don’t know.
If you haven’t reached the point already, you WILL get to the stage where being around others who drink doesn’t bother you at all, and you WILL find that being sober, you can have just as much if not more fun at parties and gatherings despite drink sloshing around as if there was no tomorrow. What you will also find however, is that at some stage in the evening the drinkers will become boring, painful to be around, and you will start to crave sensible sober company. You will look at others, make a comparison with how you yourself used to be, and wonder why you wasted so much time ‘believing’ you were having an incredible time.
But on the point of that high I mentioned in the first paragraph, I am working on a new book with a behaviourist friend of mine which will explore reactions like that in more depth. He has already classed me as a mis-behaviourist! I will post more on this fascinating subject at www.idontdrink.net as things progress.
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