Introduce yourself & your "reason" thread

SuperCereal

going off the grog for 2010

have gone dry for two months once and 6 weeks more recently, decided to attempt 12 months as drink gets in the way of sport, drink got the last 14 years now its sports time ot shine.

I run marathons but my time is not as impressive as the simple satement of "I run marathons"

want to do it in under 3hrs 30mins this time March 7th in Barca

apart from that very dull intro i also feel there truely is more to life than being drunk and then hung over, recovered and dying to get drunk again, I enjoy so much of life and think it could be even better sober.

Do outings/sober events happen often?

I can cook for Vegans (Out side of cooking for meat eater, I mean as an extra feather in my cap im Vegan proficient) {No idea how to spell pro fi cient} Anyway back to my poin t i cook very well and love food so food centered event vying away from wine would be very wlecome.

My names joe, 27 and post a quite boozey xmas day Ill be healthy and sans booze from ~Jan 1st til Dec 31st 2010.

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SuperCereal wrote: »

going off the grog for 2010

have gone dry for two months once and 6 weeks more recently, decided to attempt 12 months as drink gets in the way of sport, drink got the last 14 years now its sports time ot shine.

I run marathons but my time is not as impressive as the simple satement of "I run marathons"

want to do it in under 3hrs 30mins this time March 7th in Barca

apart from that very dull intro i also feel there truely is more to life than being drunk and then hung over, recovered and dying to get drunk again, I enjoy so much of life and think it could be even better sober.

Do outings/sober events happen often?

I can cook for Vegans (Out side of cooking for meat eater, I mean as an extra feather in my cap im Vegan proficient) {No idea how to spell pro fi cient} Anyway back to my poin t i cook very well and love food so food centered event vying away from wine would be very wlecome.

My names joe, 27 and post a quite boozey xmas day Ill be healthy and sans booze from ~Jan 1st til Dec 31st 2010.

Good man Joe. I like your motivation. You have some good goals for next year and the reward will be brilliant. Best of luck with it.

Similarly, I might have a drink on Christmas day and that will be it. I'm really looking forward to a sober 2010. My reason for going off it is to get fit again. I used to play soccer at the county level when I was in my teens and I would like to be able to do this again. Coupled with this, my motivation is quite simple: I'm sick of spending a fortune and sick of the hangovers. Drinking just isn't fun any more.

Great thread.

_oveless

I started drinking in my early teens, cans of cider in a field, that sort of stuff. Have always hated it, the taste is disgusting; beer, cider spirits cant stand them, but had to drink because my friends all did. Never enjoyed a single night out, hated that I had to drink because it was the norm. About 4 years ago I stopped drinking, and one by one my "friends", stopped talking to me. So is it worth it? I don't have to put up with any more drink related bullsh!t, but I don't have any friends

aurelius79

_oveless wrote: »

I started drinking in my early teens, cans of cider in a field, that sort of stuff. Have always hated it, the taste is disgusting; beer, cider spirits cant stand them, but had to drink because my friends all did. Never enjoyed a single night out, hated that I had to drink because it was the norm. About 4 years ago I stopped drinking, and one by one my "friends", stopped talking to me. So is it worth it? I don't have to put up with any more drink related bullsh!t, but I don't have any friends

This is probably the worst problem for non-drinkers in Ireland. It's an absolute shame that there is very little recreational alternative to the pub scene. Not many people will turn down a night on the piss to go to a movie or dinner etc. All I can say is stick with it.

Get involved with community projects, volunteer, join a sports/arts club, join the Socialist party!!
There are many people that don't drink, it's up to you to go out there and find them.

Racy

Hello everyone my name is Racy and I stopped drinking when I was 18, I only drank before that because of peer pressure and I gave up because I never enjoyed drinking and I hate the influence Drink has over our society

Lisa8786

I still drink occassionally as in go out maybe once every month or two which is a massive change from 3 times a wk and only have a few drinks also a massive reduction!Main reasons are

-save money
-have way more energy its unreal
-much fitter and enjoy going to the gym
- have much better mood don't get that kind of dip in mood 2-3 days after a session
- since cutting down I've started finding other things to do with my life. I took up some old hobbies which I had neglected coz I was either too tired, too depressed or too hungover to bother with. I'm really enjoying pursuing these and I hope one day I can make a career out of one of them. I wish I'd done this sooner but better late than never and the way things are now I know I'll never go back to just drinking all the time for entertainment.

Ciaran187

Been relaxing on the drink since late 2009 and nearly completely off it since the new year (a glass of wine with dinner once or twice).

Quit for a few reasons
- Drinking any more than one drink now gives me a sick stomach
- I hate hangovers & the associated depression
- I don't like myself when I'm drunk - not messy drunk or anything, but I prefer sober me
- Money

Was at my first concert sans drink last weekend. Was brilliant.

So now I'm off it for good (bar an occasional glass of wine with dinner, as said previously).

bounci

drink feels like a waste of time for me, so if I do drink its very rarely and only guinness, which living in dublin means hardly ever. crap quality. I like to drive so drinking is not an option, and like to remember my night out. love clubbing sober, which over the years has caused a lot of slagging and disbelief. would like to meet more people who dont need alcohol to have fun. so apart from the odd guinness a few times a year, i dont drink. so hi there

sciff

Guys, I'm a teetotaller for about 5 years now, but nevertheless cannot speak from your perspective, since I'm a foreigner - Russian. There are a few things I want to say though.

1. Being a non-drinker is actually much better than to drink.

To prove this (to yourself), do just two things:

a) familiarize yourself with the article on how your brain (hence your thoughts and long-term intellectual abilities) is affected by the ethanol/ethyl alcohol;

b) find a book called "Easy way to control alcohol" in a bookshop, written by Allen Carr, and you'll see, that there's no real benefit and no point in swallowing alcoholic beverages

Good luck in being sober among drinkers!

Bassfish

I'm cutting way way down on drinking for health and money reasons. I love waking up Saturday and Sunday mornings with a clear head and being able to get up early and make the most of my days off. I'm not going to cut it out altogether but i definately want to get out of the frame of mind of wanting to go out boozing all the time.

sciff

Bassfish wrote: »

I'm cutting way way down on drinking for health and money reasons. I love waking up Saturday and Sunday mornings with a clear head and being able to get up early and make the most of my days off. I'm not going to cut it out altogether but i definately want to get out of the frame of mind of wanting to go out boozing all the time.

That's the advantage of being a teetotaller. Waking up - no matter what - with a clear head, operating just like a well-lubricated engine (think of another analogy, if you wish). The reasons why people drink on different occasions are purely fictitious, it's just because all of us believe that we lack something at those occasions and this "something" is alcohol. In fact, everything we need to enjoy ourselves with others is contained within our brains. "Hormones" it is called. Dopamine, adrenaline, etc... And when we don't interfere with them, by taking in such substances as alcohol (and other addictive drugs), they are being produced in sufficient amounts to maintain our joy of life

fionnmar

I want to nip my drinking in the bud. I drink to relax approx 3 times a week and tbh I am worried about my drinking patterns and think I just need to cut it out for a while. If its a problem to stop for a while (I am thinking lent) then I do have a problem. Besides all that I am just sick of waking up in bits, hiding hangovers at work, feeling like ****e. I need to find healthier ways to de-stress

sciff

fionnmar wrote: »

I want to nip my drinking in the bud. I drink to relax approx 3 times a week and tbh I am worried about my drinking patterns and think I just need to cut it out for a while. If its a problem to stop for a while (I am thinking lent) then I do have a problem. Besides all that I am just sick of waking up in bits, hiding hangovers at work, feeling like ****e. I need to find healthier ways to de-stress

This might be a serious reason to doubt those standards and beliefs, regarding alcohol consumption, to which we are exposed in our society and which we just accept while being young enough not to question them. Ask yourself such a question: is it really worth decreasing your "dose", or it might be much easier and better to go "cold turkey", without trying to balance on a knife-edge? Do we really need this "crutch" at all social occasions? Or we are quite capable of enjoying ourselves without the use of any addictive drugs and hence without all those unpleasant consequences, like waking up in bits, hiding hangovers at work, feeling like s**t, etc.

fionnmar, I'll be waiting for your feedback. It's just interesting to know how you'll feel during that sober period. Probably, you'll find it easy to live without the booze.

Yoshimi1983

Hello!

I don't drink anymore. I won't call it a lightening strike but I realised I preferred my life alcohol free. I find that when I'm enjoying myself now, its 100% more enjoyable than any alcohol induced fun times I had. Its real I guess.
I do find Irish dance floors quite hazardous though it seems people only dance when they are very drunk and thus rowdy, rude and quite smelly!

I enjoy socialising with old drinker friends if we go dancing or they are only having a few and thus can maintain interesting conversation. But I'm looking to build a new coterie of non drinker buddies, so I'm going to try and tune in regulalrly to this forum

tunguska

I gave up drinking because Id had enough of the same old crap: Go out drinking at the weekends in souless night clubs or pubs. Talk the same old crap over and over, the same old music and situations, people getting locked and starting fights or getting upset over stupid things, rude people with not an ounce of sense shouting and being obnoxious, waking up the next day feeling like a zombie, thinking that there has to be more than this. Every week getting more and more disillusioned, drinking less and less while friends got obliterated, taking a step back and seeing the carnage for what it really was. Then eventually not drinking at all and seeing how pathetic it all is. Its a joke, people and their drinking. Its a crutch they use against reality and the way things really are. Its a buffer to protect people from the emptiness of their lives, from the awkward silences, from the rejection. Its like that film the Matrix: on alcohol you live in the matrix, off alcohol you see the real world. Enough was enough and the booze had to go.
Unfortunately the friends went at the same time. Once I stopped drinking I got less and less invitations to go out at the weekends. I gave up alcohol but I still wanted to hang out. Even though I wasnt crazy about pubs and clubs I still wouldve gone just to be with friends. But it didnt work the other way. It wasnt any great conspiracy, nobody was sitting back planning to exclude me, it just kind of happened bit by bit. Id find out weeks later about parties that had taken place that somebody had fogotton to tell me about. It was very hurtful stuff and it was hard not to take personally. But I came to understand that it was more about the insecurities of my friends than a sudden dislike for me. They wanted to be around other people who were drinking because being around a non drinker is a stark reminder of the abnormaility of consuming 10 pints in one night. Poeple dont want to know that their drinking is harmful or a problem, they just need a quick and easy escape from their lives. And thats what booze is, a quick escape. There are other ways to detach from pressures or stresses of course, like meditation or exercise but these things are difficult to master and take time and effort. And most folks dont want to make that effort. Not the people I know anyway.
So its been difficult, Pretty much every social activity that takes place in this country revolves around drink. But Im glad I did get out of that world, its a horrible, souless existance. Ive seen alcohol destroy a few people even at my realitively young age. Its scary how controlled by booze a lot of people are. I know guys who cant even sit down and watch a football match without a drink in front of them.
I may not get too many invitations to go out at the weekend but at least I stayed true to myself and thats the most important thing of all I guess.

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tunguska wrote: »

I gave up drinking because Id had enough of the same old crap: Go out drinking at the weekends in souless night clubs or pubs. Talk the same old crap over and over, the same old music and situations, people getting locked and starting fights or getting upset over stupid things, rude people with not an ounce of sense shouting and being obnoxious, waking up the next day feeling like a zombie, thinking that there has to be more than this. Every week getting more and more disillusioned, drinking less and less while friends got obliterated, taking a step back and seeing the carnage for what it really was. Then eventually not drinking at all and seeing how pathetic it all is. Its a joke, people and their drinking. Its a crutch they use against reality and the way things really are. Its a buffer to protect people from the emptiness of their lives, from the awkward silences, from the rejection. Its like that film the Matrix: on alcohol you live in the matrix, off alcohol you see the real world. Enough was enough and the booze had to go.
Unfortunately the friends went at the same time. Once I stopped drinking I got less and less invitations to go out at the weekends. I gave up alcohol but I still wanted to hang out. Even though I wasnt crazy about pubs and clubs I still wouldve gone just to be with friends. But it didnt work the other way. It wasnt any great conspiracy, nobody was sitting back planning to exclude me, it just kind of happened bit by bit. Id find out weeks later about parties that had taken place that somebody had fogotton to tell me about. It was very hurtful stuff and it was hard not to take personally. But I came to understand that it was more about the insecurities of my friends than a sudden dislike for me. They wanted to be around other people who were drinking because being around a non drinker is a stark reminder of the abnormaility of consuming 10 pints in one night. Poeple dont want to know that their drinking is harmful or a problem, they just need a quick and easy escape from their lives. And thats what booze is, a quick escape. There are other ways to detach from pressures or stresses of course, like meditation or exercise but these things are difficult to master and take time and effort. And most folks dont want to make that effort. Not the people I know anyway.
So its been difficult, Pretty much every social activity that takes place in this country revolves around drink. But Im glad I did get out of that world, its a horrible, souless existance. Ive seen alcohol destroy a few people even at my realitively young age. Its scary how controlled by booze a lot of people are. I know guys who cant even sit down and watch a football match without a drink in front of them.
I may not get too many invitations to go out at the weekend but at least I stayed true to myself and thats the most important thing of all I guess.

That's a brilliant post. Very truthful and lots of people on here can relate to this. I certainly can. Thank you.

Forest Fire

tunguska wrote: »

I gave up drinking because Id had enough of the same old crap: Go out drinking at the weekends in souless night clubs or pubs. Talk the same old crap over and over, the same old music and situations, people getting locked and starting fights or getting upset over stupid things, rude people with not an ounce of sense shouting and being obnoxious, waking up the next day feeling like a zombie, thinking that there has to be more than this. Every week getting more and more disillusioned, drinking less and less while friends got obliterated, taking a step back and seeing the carnage for what it really was. Then eventually not drinking at all and seeing how pathetic it all is. Its a joke, people and their drinking. Its a crutch they use against reality and the way things really are. Its a buffer to protect people from the emptiness of their lives, from the awkward silences, from the rejection. Its like that film the Matrix: on alcohol you live in the matrix, off alcohol you see the real world. Enough was enough and the booze had to go.
Unfortunately the friends went at the same time. Once I stopped drinking I got less and less invitations to go out at the weekends. I gave up alcohol but I still wanted to hang out. Even though I wasnt crazy about pubs and clubs I still wouldve gone just to be with friends. But it didnt work the other way. It wasnt any great conspiracy, nobody was sitting back planning to exclude me, it just kind of happened bit by bit. Id find out weeks later about parties that had taken place that somebody had fogotton to tell me about. It was very hurtful stuff and it was hard not to take personally. But I came to understand that it was more about the insecurities of my friends than a sudden dislike for me. They wanted to be around other people who were drinking because being around a non drinker is a stark reminder of the abnormaility of consuming 10 pints in one night. Poeple dont want to know that their drinking is harmful or a problem, they just need a quick and easy escape from their lives. And thats what booze is, a quick escape. There are other ways to detach from pressures or stresses of course, like meditation or exercise but these things are difficult to master and take time and effort. And most folks dont want to make that effort. Not the people I know anyway.
So its been difficult, Pretty much every social activity that takes place in this country revolves around drink. But Im glad I did get out of that world, its a horrible, souless existance. Ive seen alcohol destroy a few people even at my realitively young age. Its scary how controlled by booze a lot of people are. I know guys who cant even sit down and watch a football match without a drink in front of them.
I may not get too many invitations to go out at the weekend but at least I stayed true to myself and thats the most important thing of all I guess.

Thanks for that. I need to give up or divorce is on the cards. I have 3 kids and am in my 40s. Been drinking virtually 3/4 nights a week for 26 years as have most of my friends. Are we all insane in this country? Drink should be very expensive or banned. I don't want to pass on my traits to my kids so need to do something. Cutting down does not work. Thanks, FF. Jeez, better not use my initials as signature.

Amtmann

Bottle_of_Smoke wrote: »

Have you all got "reasons" for not drinking or just don't enjoy it/never interested?

I drank from age 18 to 27 on average about 8 times per year, perhaps only 3 or 4 pints per time. I never really enjoyed it though. I just didn't "get" what almost everyone else seems to "get" from alcohol.

Anyway, last year I realised, quite accidentally, that it had been a good ten months since I'd imbibed alcohol so I said "feck it, I'll just not bother having it ever again".

I don't like it, I don't need it, it smells bad, it makes people say and do stupid things, it's expensive, it contains empty calories, and far too many people in this country are dependent on it (but don't seem to realise it because getting drunk is considered completely normal).

Hokuto

Alcohol in general tastes horrible. Utter rank.

Sunnyisland

I drank from the age of roughly 14 till I was 47,like a lot of people I thought it was the in & only thing to do, As alcoholism is a progressive disease by the time I was in my late 20,s alcohol was a huge part of my life until eventually alcohol was my life,Best thing I ever did was stop drinking it nearly killed me.

nesbitt

I was always a lightweight when it came to drink, would get drunk quickly and absolutely die the next day with a hangover. I would drink a lot less than some of my mates but suffer loads more from it. I drank in the usual social way here from my late teens to about 40. Drink consumption just fizzled out for me as I became increasingly ill with a digestive problem. After my surgery and recovery I just don't drink now. I have a very busy family life with early mornings and want to live well on a restricted income/budget. I love to cook, enjoy food and live music. I never really craved the oblivion that some people seem to need from drink. Socially here in Ireland you can feel isolated and indeed rejected by some people. I feel comfortable with some drinkers who have a healthy relationship with drinking but feel out of my comfort zone with those who need/have to drink or indeed can't simply just have a few drinks but have to get really drunk. My ex husband, Uncle and Grand Dad all have or have had alcohol dependency problems. My Dad never touched a drink till he was forty and just enjoys a good quality wine with a meal now so I can talk to him and we relate totally on the subject. Lastly I did say over a coffee with my ex recently something along the lines of what kind of a life would our kids have if we had both been drinkers and he said totally whole in earnest that he would never get involved with a drinker. The irony oh the irony....:)

Forest Fire

Went to AA a few times to see what they had to offer. Their problems were so far worse than mine that i did not feel worthy of being there. The stories they told had me in tears. I couldn't speak of my mild woes. I'm not a messy drinker, nearly always in control. Keep it all bottled up, even 'the fear' the next day.
What's funny was that on Saturday night my wife tried to wake me as there was a fire nearby and she was scared. I was comatosed...although I did manage to shout at her '**** Off' and 'Go climb a mountain bitch'..I mean where did that come from?
I've stumbled around the attic(where I go if I've been drinking heavily so as not to kick my wife to bits in bed) trying to get out the wrong end and badly hurt myself, but after all this drinking, i can get up and have a reasonably normal day on painkillers. It's all absurd.
I love white wine, my mouth waters sometimes thinking about it but if I don't buy it, I won't drink it. A lot of self-control needed over the coming weeks!

mfceiling

HANGOVER - plain and simple.

2 pints of guinness and you would think my head was trying to open from the inside!!

Non alcoholic beer now is a nice treat.

Couple on a friday and saturday night and sure you couldn't bate it!!

languagenerd

I'm 19 and I just never started drinking.

I remember being about 15 and reading in the newspaper about how something like 80% of A&E admissions and crimes committed at the weekend were alcohol related, and I just thought "If it causes that much pain, why would you bother?!".

My way of thinking has changed a bit since then, but I still don't drink. If people want to drink, that's their decision, if I don't, that's mine. .

I go out and have great nights out with friends who drink and I find them hilarious when they're drunk... but at the same time, when they're feeling sick the next morning and checking their sent messages think "f*ck!", I know I don't wanna be in that situation. And I don't want to be the person that's keeping everyone entertained, or worse, the person everyone's worrying about all night. I also have friends who only drink occasionally, and some of the best nights I've had with them are the nights where we're all sober! I guess I've always been able to have fun without drinking so that's why I never started.

People tell me to "never say never", but right now, I can't see myself ever thinking "I can't wait to get pissed tonight!", it's just not who I am!

newtothis22

Just came across this forum today and what a great idea. Well sometimes you just have to hit rock to realise you need to make a change. \well that was last night. I'm sitting in my house mortified and ashamed today and don't ever want to go outside the door again. I am not an alcoholic I am a binge drinker and do not possess a stop button when I start. Other people can have alcohol and know when to stop. I keep going until I completely lose control and do the most stupid things. And some of these things are done in a state of black out which is even worse. I'm in my 40's which makes it all the more pathetic and I just can't cope with the shame and anxiety that comes after the session is over. I can honestly say I will feel this way for at least a week if not more...that's how long the horrors last. So today instead of hiding and wishing for tomorrow I have realised that I do not ever want to go through this again. I have decided I do not want to drink again. I want my life back or should I say I want to enjoy my life without the intermittent f**k up's.

newtothis22

Thanks for you post. I read it and could almost have written it myself. I totally relate to what you have written. I still feel just as bad today and normally where I would feel really crap for a week until it would wear off then go and do it again, this time is different. I don't want to ever feel like this again. It completely erodes any self confidence you might have. I can honestly say that the person that scares me the most in the world is myself as I cannot believe what I can descend to when in that awful state and I need to have more respect for myself. So while I know I will have to go through a week of feeling like this I cannot forget this feeling either as I am now off alcohol and I hope I stick to it.

Emoi

I don't drink it for the same reason I don't eat fast food or smoke cigarettes.

Oh and maybe because when your not thirsty why would you continue to drink??

Who keeps ordering dish after dish in a restaurant when they are full??

Drinking culture is completely void of any logic.

Also I've never cared what anybody's opinions are of me, I do what I want when I want and I don't need to belong to a group to feel my life is worth while.

Nothing could possibly make my personality any better!

sarahisainmdom

Reasons you ask?

1.) I'm underage.

2.) I don't think it's healthy to rely on alcohol to enjoy yourself.

3.) I may not be the most confident person but I think relying on beer to give you confidence is equally unhealthy as No.2.

4.) Why should I? One good reason?

5.) I prefer the taste of plain old minerals.

6.) It's bad for you.

7.) It's potentially addictive.

8.) It can make you do silly things (including more serious things like driving into a lake or starting a fight with someone you would not be able to beat).

9.) I have bad enough balance as it is!

deeduck48

hi all, great thread!great forum infact, thought i was starting to lose it a bit until i read some of the previous posts. always enjoyed a drink, though never the falling over drunk/ blackout kind of night though i did once break my ankle on a college night out but thats a long story :P
Spent 3yrs with the wrong guy, broke up 4 yrs ago and met my now husband, only to realise that in 3yrs with wrong guy, we had spent ONE night sober, never really got drunk together but the 1 glass of wine in the evening thing got to be every evening...
me and hubby enjoyed a drink once a week and that was fine but both had a low tolerance for the stuff as we only had 1 (literally) glass of wine and fall asleep on couch.
in the run up to the wedding last yr we stopped drinking out of sheer stress and my OH was doing all the overtime he could get.then the wedding came, neither of us had drank more than 1 glass of wine in months, and as is obligatory at irish weddings, our glasses were topped up continously all night.i remember dancing and bits of conversations but thats it.:( Woke the next morning to find out that my hubby's step father had a blazing row with his mum and step siblings and left in the middle of the night (drove drunk). Even though they have since reconciled, i cant help feeling bad that i dont really remember the night, and that drink fuelled a huge arguement between 2 people who normally dont drink alot.
We started trying to get pregnant after we got married but no joy for a few months, and we both decided that we should try going off it for 1 month starting new yrs day.
even though we normally didnt drink much, knowing that we now couldnt was tough. then, on our last week i came in from work to find my OH standing with a pregnancy test saying "come on, you cant have had the flu for 5 weeks"!did the test, it was pos and the switch flicked in my head. No more drink.my attitude has now changed and i dont think i'll ever bother with the stuff again. people keep saying rediculous things like, well if you breastfeed you cant drink, as if i should selfishly put my own needs first??the amount of well educated people who keep trying to persuade me to "have just one" to "relax d baba" is scary!
why are family celebrations centered around drink?:eek:

SleepAtNight

Quit drink a few years back and it has been one of the best decisions I've ever made. All my drinking consisted of binge drinking, there was no such thing as a couple of pints. Started drinking when I was underage and it was a novelty and rebellious but also enjoyed the confidence it brought. When I first went to college it was the usual one or two nights a week (depends on what you could afford!) getting fluthered.

Then began to take ecstasy, coke, anything really, on drinking sessions...basically lost all inhibitions with regard to taking drugs. Drinking sessions then turned into a couple of days on the trot at least. There was no such thing as one night out...it was through the night and on into the next day as well. As ya can imagine I made a tit of myself a few times when pissed so when a session did finally end I'd end up in the horrors wondering did I say or do anything stupid (even if I hadn't but would still get paranoid because of the few times I did).

All drink sessions didn't involve drugs but drink made it almost impossible to completey cut out pills because no matter how good my intentions, once half cut and someone offered I could never refuse. The feeling sh1t for days and the terrible anxiety that went with recovering from a hangover were what finally drove me to say enough is enough.

There's an unwillingness to accept responsibility for a persons actions associated with the binge drinking culture. It's like every weekend is a roll the dice sort of scenario where people allow the drink to direct how their night/weekend pans out. The "I can't believe I said/did that" line is on the lips every Monday morning...and it is like another poster says a Matrix world. A world where we invent another version of ourselves with the help of alcohol.

Don't know why it's so bad in Ireland but low confidence and self esteem definitely have to be driving factors.