I've been working a lot lately, which is a good thing, however, one thing it makes clear is how much I miss a beer after a long day - like an 11 hour day. Oh well, the time does fly by once you get to around the two month mark.
I have a friend in her early twenties and who once told me she hardly ever drinks - that she hates the taste of alcohol, and therefore rarely gets drunk, if ever. I thought about this for a while and drew some conclusions about myself and my own drinking. Of course I didn't like the taste of alcohol either when I first tried it. Beer, wine, liquor, everything tasted terrible. The only way me and my friends could think of touching the stuff is by making a competition out of it.
We played drinking games to get as much alcohol into our bodies as quickly as possible. This method of harsh conditioning is what eventually led to sipping on a beer while playing the drinking games. Once we hit that point, it was clear we had entered into a new level of maturity - we no longer drank with the sole intent to get drunk, but as something to do while we did stuff.
I believe that if someone didn't go through pulverizing their body into simply submitting to the taste of booze - at a young age when that ridiculous activity is condoned, then chances are they never will. This is how you have people who walk around saying "I don't drink because I don't like the taste."
I will go into a couple of the games in the next posts, because who knows, maybe you will like them:)
I played a few drinking games myself. But I never really did like them. I never initiated them and usually avoided them if I could. But I do remember very much not liking the taste at first myself. It took a while before I could tolerate it. I still don't really like the taste of it. I think it is a natural human reaction not to like it. Like not liking the taste of ammonia or paint thinner. You just get used to it after a while because you like the feeling of getting the buzz and getting drunk.
ReplyDeleteI agree though that it feels good to drink after a long day. Once you get used to that, it is hard to replace it with something else. So, question for you non drinkers; what do you do after a long day of work? I mean an unusually long and hard day?
I would not be considered a non-drinker, but my consumption of alcohol has diminished to almost zero as I have gotten older. So here is my answer to that question:
ReplyDeleteAfter a hard day I do the same thing that I do every day - go home to my family and enjoy my time with them, without ever even thinking of alcohol.
Yes, I have heard that having kids simply takes a lot of the opportunity to drink away from you, and so over time I'd just forget about it. We plan to have kids soon, so I'll be able to experience that too.
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand, I knew plenty of parents growing up that kept beer I'm the fridge, so I have to think it still ends up being a case by case type of thing -- for lack of a better phrase:)
I have continued to work long days and each time it becomes less obvious that I am not drinking, so I do believe this is conditioning- just like quitting (or starting) anything else.
Here is an article some, ahem, pisshead has written on beer being an acquired taste: http://www.brewsnews.com.au/2010/02/beer-a-taste-worth-acquiring/
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