I never got into it and I feel like I'm missing a huge social part of my life. I've tried alcohol and it just tastes bad. Maybe if I had enough to get inebriated I'd feel different, but so far nothing about the experience of drinking has been good. Also I grew up around Baptists who don't have drinking in the culture, so maybe that's part of it? My parents never had alcohol in the house and there was never beer/wine at family gatherings. I never even saw a full glass of beer in person until I was like 23.
Bars are too loud and there's too much expectation to drink, parties have the same problem, drinking at home alone sounds sad. I go to concerts and I'm the only person without a huge glass of beer. People hand me drinks and I'm like "nah" and they get mega confused.
What do I do
Is this the opposite of a problem?
Shit man we don't drink because it tastes good we drink because that's how you get drunk. If they invented a way to do it with a pill or nasal spray or a dermal patch I'd be game (boofing is a hard pass tho). Straight alcohol tastes like ass especially beer that's why I mostly drink sweet wines like moscato or a cocktail with lots of mixer.
I am extremely anxious, insecure, inhibited, self conscious and antisocial so I basically can't exist in a social situation unless I get at least a little tipsy. I consider it a necessity for socializing. If you don't have that problem then no reason to force yourself to drink. Lots of people don't drink. I also don't know any violent alcoholics and I don't get hangovers so I don't have a lot of the negative associations with drinking that many people have.
And there's a huge leap between bar hopping and drinking alone in your room. You can have a romantic evening sharing a bottle of wine with your partner, you can have share a few drinks with friends around a campfire, you can treat yourself to a little can of something after a day of yard work or a long hike. All nice enjoyable little moments. People have been drinking wine forever for a reason. It's just nice. But if it's not your thing that's okay and you shouldn't feel bad. Some people might try to make you feel bad about it but that's just their own insecurity about how much they themselves drink more than anything I think.
The one time I got inebriated I did become more social, but I mostly cried and offered people way too personal information. other times alcohol has had no real effect on me that I've noticed.
I tend to not wanna socialize. I have avoidant personality disorder though.
Oh hey I have that too. And yeah that's the thing about removing your inhibitions. I spend so little time talking to people and it can start to all spill put once I get drunk. I usually smoke weed when I drink which kinda helps me rein in that tendency
solidarity there comrade. i hate that i black out so easily, because the times i have drank at house parties and such are the only times in my life that i remember being socially functional and normal-adjacent, or enjoying being around acquaintances/strangers/friends of friends.
god i wish i could do that shit without writing off the next day
Alcohol causes significantly more anxiety than it cures, it just defers it until you sober up, and if you continue to use it as social lubricant you risk alcoholism and degradation of your sober social skills. I started drinking exactly the same as your second paragraph, and it’s inherently unhealthy to use alcohol like that. I’m not saying you’re problem drinking, but drinking to rid anxiety is inherently problematic, and can lead you to some really dark places, so please just be careful. It can get out of hand really easily and lead to major consequences in your life that I wouldn’t wish upon anyone.
Maybe I'm built different but I've been drinking for a good decade now and this has not been my experience at all. Is this typical for other people?
Same here. I've never experienced anxiety as a result of alcohol.