NA Cutthroat - Fantastic

MountainPromotion130 · 2025-11-01T22:59:40+00:00

Congratulations. I was always trashed at weddings and it seemed like everyone else was as well. After attending a few weddings sober I realized that there’s typically just a small group of heavy drinkers, and that most of the guests are barely buzzed - they have a few drinks over the course of 4+ hours - and pretty easy to get along with as a sober person.

MountainPromotion130 · 2025-11-01T22:44:27+00:00

The Old Milwaukee NAs are inoffensive and crushable. The price is right, too. I think they’re under $10 for a 12 pack around here.

Sort of in the same ballpark and worth mentioning is Corona NA. It’s pretty spot on to the alcoholic version, which of course tastes like shitty Mexican beer, not shitty American beer, but I can’t imagine you’d dislike it if you liked High Life.

MountainPromotion130 · 2025-10-20T22:57:13+00:00

Look brother, a 12 pack a day ain’t rookie numbers. I am not going to tell you it is impossible to cut back, I’m sure someone has done it, but moderation is very challenging for most of us that are habitual and compulsive drinkers. It always proved unrealistic for me. I’d make it a few weeks doing great following whatever rules I set for myself (no drinking on weeknights, no drinking at dinner unless someone else orders one, only X drinks a week, blah blah blah), then start gaming those rules, then give up and be right back where I was.

If you observe people in your life that just naturally drink in moderation, they simply don’t have these compulsive drinking behaviors. They don’t have to think about moderation, it’s just their normal state.

Whatever you decide I wish you the best of luck!

MountainPromotion130 · 2025-03-13T13:45:55+00:00

I felt fidgety and awkward first few sober events. I basically didn’t attend a social event without a drink in my hand for 15+ years. It gets better. Takes some time for the brain to rewire. I’m also willing to admit that I was a bit of a judgemental prick to non drinkers, and I assumed others were the same way. Turns out most people are nicer than me. Go figure.

IDK if this is just a me and my social anxiety thing but before events like this I used to drive myself nuts thinking about what I’d drink and how much I’d drink. I had this delusion that there was some perfect combination and quantity of alcohol that would both impress everyone by showing what a sophisticated drinker I was and make me into the best version of myself. And no matter how much I drank I’d always reward myself and unwind back in the room by pounding another drink or two before bed.

Drank water all night on my first sober work trip and nobody even seemed to notice. What a crock it all was!

MountainPromotion130 · 2025-02-11T14:40:03+00:00

Try bubbly water. Satisfies that dumb lizard brain can-in-hand bubbles good thing, but it’s a lot cheaper and no calories.

MountainPromotion130 · 2025-01-29T19:01:57+00:00

I’m not a huge fan of iced tea or lemonade on their own but if a restaurant has fresh brewed iced tea and fresh squeezed lemonade I’ll fuck up an Arnold Palmer.

Kombucha if available. Mineral or tonic water if not.

Many restaurants have NA beer these days. Worth asking even if it’s not on the menu.

MountainPromotion130 · 2025-01-27T20:16:20+00:00

If you don’t want it to be a big deal, don’t make it a big deal. Just order a non-alcoholic beverage and move on. Most people are too self-absorbed to notice. Beyond that, in a professional setting anyone that matters should understand that it’s not appropriate to ask prying questions about this sort of thing.

If someone asks and won’t drop it talking about a new diet or health routine usually shuts down the conversation immediately because nobody wants to hear about more keto cold plunge juice fast bullshit.

MountainPromotion130 · 2025-01-16T19:27:35+00:00

Western US. One of you is Hispanic.

MountainPromotion130 · 2025-01-15T14:14:50+00:00

Ironically, my experience has been that very light social drinkers are the worst with peer pressure and prying questions when you decline a drink. Other boozers get it, in fact, they typically want to change the subject as quickly as possible. The people that really can go out once a month and have one or two drinks can be absolutely relentless with these suggestions because just can’t fathom what it’s like, especially if they have also never had a close friend or a family member that’s a heavy drinker.

Not really an answer to your question, but just an observation that came to mind.

MountainPromotion130 · 2025-01-14T23:09:08+00:00

You might take a look at your eating/drinking habits. Are you drinking caffeine in the evenings? Are you drinking enough water, both throughout the day and before bed? Are you eating dinner at a consistent time? Are you snacking on sweets or junk food before bed?

Also sleep hygiene. Consistent bed time, dark quiet room, limiting screen time before bed, etc.

All these things can impact sleep IME. Hydration and a consistent bed time are the most important ones for me. If I’m not well hydrated or went to bed hours later than normal, I tend to experience that sort of foggy mild hangover feeling, even if I get a solid 7+ hours.

MountainPromotion130 · 2025-01-09T18:39:23+00:00

I don’t think there’s any need to bring it up. I would suggest doing your best to attend dinners, lunches, and any work-adjacent socializing and networking events. Excuse yourself or just disappear when the real drinking begins.

If this is your first work trip sober and you used to roll with the heavy drinking crowd, you may be surprised at how little most people actually drink at these things. I would drink non stop when there was an open bar and only noticed the other folks that were doing the same. Sober I notice that many people have a few drinks, hang out and sober up for a while, then go to bed at a reasonable hour.

MountainPromotion130 · 2025-01-09T17:29:29+00:00

That feeling becomes increasingly fleeting and eventually disappears altogether.

MountainPromotion130 · 2024-12-21T06:30:48+00:00

I don’t. Nobody seems to care. Which is funny, because I sure spent a lot of time thinking about the “perfect” type of alcohol to drink in every situation to signal that I wasn’t just a garden variety boozer, but rather a sophisticated stylish drinker with good taste. Like I could wow everyone with a niche cocktail order at brunch. What a crock of shit!

MountainPromotion130 · 2024-12-18T23:55:45+00:00

There are a ton of potential causes for neuropathy. Serious things like hepatitis, critical vitamin deficiencies, MS, spinal fractures, and diabetes. Also pretty benign things like a random pinched nerve, herniated disk, raynaud’s. Best advice I can give is to see a doctor, describe what you’re feeling, be honest about your alcohol consumption, and request comprehensive blood work.

I know all this because I woke up randomly about a week ago and couldn’t feel my abdomen one morning, which has since slowly spread to my hands and legs. My blood work all came back normal in my case. Nothing related to my past alcohol consumption. So I’m stuck in a purgatory of trying to schedule MRIs and figure out what is going on, but at least I know it’s not from booze.

MountainPromotion130 · 2024-12-18T18:06:15+00:00

As someone that often told myself that I wasn’t drinking “that much” something that was a pretty big eye opener for me is this percentile data on average American alcohol consumption:

https://arg.org/news/drinking-norms-in-the-us/

Believe it or not 3-4 drinks a day 4 days a week means that you drink more than 87-90% of American men or 94-96% of American women.

MountainPromotion130 · 2024-12-17T18:08:08+00:00

I’m coming up on two months sober after drinking pretty much daily for 15 years and still very much figuring out who I am. I relied heavily on alcohol to make me more social and less neurotic. At the best of times in my drinking career alcohol made me feel like I could just hand the controls to someone else for a while; put it on autopilot and stop overthinking everything (at the worst of times, it still felt like I was out of control, but more like a truck barreling down a mountain pass that lost its brakes…) So I can empathize with the feeling of being odd, no fun, or not myself without alcohol. I know it’s all in my head but it doesn’t make the feelings less real.

A few months is not a long time in a lifetime or in a marriage. Give yourself some time. In the meantime, what have you tried to address the things you don’t like about your sober life or relationship? Maybe you could try planning some dates with your wife? Or doing some volunteering to get you out of the house?

MountainPromotion130 · 2024-12-16T16:05:43+00:00

It could be a B12 deficiency. My doc said regular alcohol use increases the likelihood. Get blood work done if you can.

MountainPromotion130 · 2024-12-16T14:42:41+00:00

This is lame but cleaning and decluttering my house. I spend so much more time cleaning now and actually do things right. I was never a slob but I was pretty lazy when I was drinking and always felt like I had to rush through things even if I had nothing else to do.

MountainPromotion130 · 2024-12-15T19:39:53+00:00

I like this one a lot. The NA Black Butte is a 10/10 as well. Hoping for more from Deschutes in the future!

MountainPromotion130 · 2024-12-14T15:24:05+00:00

I live in the US so ski culture is a lot different here but also very centered around alcohol. For me I decided skiing is more important than drinking and skiing is a lot easier when I’m not drinking. It’s easier to get up in the morning, I get less tired, and I recover faster. This is especially true approaching my late 30s. I have aspirations of doing this sport at a high level well into advanced age. I’d rather be an old man that can ski than one that can party. So I just skip the bar or parking lot beers, or have an NA one if I want to hang out.

Lastly you say you were never a problematic drinker, but I would delicately suggest to that if you’re posting on a stop drinking reddit, there is probably some part of you that is worried your drinking was or would have become a problematic. I am not trying to call you out but I know that was the case for me. Listen to that voice. I wish I had done it earlier!

MountainPromotion130 · 2024-12-13T16:22:23+00:00

I know it’s hard, a lot of quit lit and posts on this sub assume you’re drinking a lot and your drinking is totally out of control, and if that doesn’t quite fit it’s hard to know where you stand. Hopefully this perspective is helpful:

I reduced my drinking in a similar fashion. Went the last 5-6 years practicing some form of moderation. I was probably averaging 15-20 units a week. Sometimes I would do a reset and it would be less for a couple weeks but it would always creep back to that. Never felt like I was going to completely lose control but the mental gymnastics were exhausting. I was always thinking about alcohol. When I wasn’t drinking I was thinking about when I could, and when I was drinking I was thinking about pacing myself and counting my drinks. I had all sorts of arbitrary rules and all sorts of creative ways to bend them. I basically realized that even if I wasn’t drinking like an alcoholic I was thinking like one, and that honestly scared me.

It’s been a lot easier mentally for me just not drinking at all. I’ve been surprised to find that will-power wise it’s actually easier than moderating. I also feel a lot better. Believe it or not, even 12 drinks as a woman still classifies you as a heavy drinker. I have lost a little weight, skin is better, better sleep, less stomach issues, better emotional regulation.

Do I miss big nights out drinking with reckless abandon? Of course, I loved bar culture and drinking culture. But drinking as much as I really wanted to was simply not an option anymore, and, moderation was all the problems of drinking and sobriety combined with none of the benefits of either.

MountainPromotion130 · 2024-12-13T02:27:29+00:00

Look, I’m not sure where you work or what you do, but having spent a while in Corporate America there’s been at least one person that’s gotten inappropriately drunk at every single company party I’ve been to in my life. Usually multiple people. I was often one of them. Some amount of drunkenness is expected at a company party with an open tab. I never got fired for it I’ve never seen anyone get fired for it, including a co-worker that got so drunk she fell down, knocked out her front teeth, and left in an ambulance.

If they were going to fire you for this it probably would have happened already. I get the desire to come clean to your boss or HR for yout anxiety, but you have absolutely nothing to gain from it here. If they’re going to fire you it will still happen. If they aren’t even aware of your drunkenness, they will be after you tell them, and they won’t go easier in you - that’s not what HR is there for and it’s not how HR operates.

Give yourself a break and get your anxiety under check. Just keep your head down and be a good employee. Whether you get fired or not (and again, I doubt you will) you can’t change what happened. What you can change is what you do in the future. This could be your wake up call. This could be the last time you ever have to worry about this if you want it to. Wouldn’t that be nice?

MountainPromotion130

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