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Reality check
Sep. 25th, 2012 11:08 amI'm not a teetotaler, or anything, but I drink maybe two-four glasses of wine a year, and that's it. Husband is same and has been our entire marriage, though I don't know if he drank more heavily as a young man before I knew him. I have never known anyone in my immediate family - husband, brother, parents - to be drunk. My friends and social circles are for the most part made up of people who did not drink heavily, and I do not believe I have ever associated with anyone who I ever witnessed being drunk - though I think a few of my close friends have had benders when I was not with them.
I have never been drunk, though with my (non-existant) alcohol tolerance, if I have my annual Christmas Party glass of wine without eating first I can get pretty warm and happy.
Drunk people make me uncomfortable.
I have known people who were alcoholics, so regularly drunk or drinking heavily. But that was a state of being for those people. I *expected* them to be drunk whenever I interacted with them.
In my entire life, I have only closely associated with ONE person who drank to reduce stress. Like, I'm feeling miserable, let's get drunk, kind of drinking. Or, I have to do this stressful thing, I'll have a drink first, kind of drinking.
Am I unusual in this respect? Because in fiction, lots of people self-medicate for stress in this way. And I have never ever in my life thought, wow, I wish I could get drunk or have a drink or whatever because of something unpleasant in my life. Is this a tool writers use to manipulate characters? Or is this a part of reality that I just don't get because of the life I have led?
I have never been drunk, though with my (non-existant) alcohol tolerance, if I have my annual Christmas Party glass of wine without eating first I can get pretty warm and happy.
Drunk people make me uncomfortable.
I have known people who were alcoholics, so regularly drunk or drinking heavily. But that was a state of being for those people. I *expected* them to be drunk whenever I interacted with them.
In my entire life, I have only closely associated with ONE person who drank to reduce stress. Like, I'm feeling miserable, let's get drunk, kind of drinking. Or, I have to do this stressful thing, I'll have a drink first, kind of drinking.
Am I unusual in this respect? Because in fiction, lots of people self-medicate for stress in this way. And I have never ever in my life thought, wow, I wish I could get drunk or have a drink or whatever because of something unpleasant in my life. Is this a tool writers use to manipulate characters? Or is this a part of reality that I just don't get because of the life I have led?
