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Alcohol has been a huge factor in my life. I don't drink. Maybe one or two a year, but that's even rare. My past relationships were many times dictated by alcohol. The last one (it lasted almost 19 years) was the strangest of all. The guy didn't drink for the first 11 years of our relationship. He was recovering and had been clean and sober for the fifteen prior to my meeting him. So 26 years clean and one day he decided to have a beer. I put up with eight more years of bizarre behavior before finally calling it quits. I swore after that I'd never date or befriend really most anyone who hung in a bar or that alcohol played any part in their lives.

I have a very addictive personality. I ran the gamut with drugs, but managed to escape alcoholism. Thank goodness. Good article. (I really hate the subject, as you might know from my own writing about it.)

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I was never a drinker until I began work. A social wine (one glass). After marriage, I always had a glass of wine with my husband and that was it. I was always aware of the loss of control of people who got drunk and I didn't want that.

My parents had a midday gin or rum and a night time gin or rum regularly until their deaths. But i don't recall them ever being drunk.

I stopped alcohol after a gallbladder operation and accompanying sepsis. When I tried to have a nightly wine, I promptly vomited - apparently it happens to some folk. It wasn't hard thereafter to completely forget about alcohol and I don't miss that nightly wine at all.

Chilled water with lemon and mint, is just as good and I've found amazing recipes for stunning non-alcoholic fruit punches.

My uncle by marriage was an alcoholic - a charming, loving and artistically gifted man when sober, but a pathetic human when on a bender. It was sad to see.

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Alcohol is quite a versatile elixir that often changes a person’s normal demeanor into something totally different. I suspect my mother had social anxiety as she needed a Manhattan before attending social functions. It brought out the worst in my ex husband.

Moderation is key but too many people over-indulge and forget that the children are watching. The statistics are eye opening.

Thank you for sharing your experiences! Maybe someone reading this will be inclined to go ‘non-alcoholic’ in the future.

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I’m glad your children bring you joy and comfort. 🫶🏻 And thank you for the informative post. I was a binge drinker in my uni years but I was never the type to drink at home or alone. I rarely drink now and even then generally when we go out for a meal and often not. I guess some people are more prone to drinking than others.

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The stats are a little worrying of underage drinking. 😬 I didn’t start drinking until after I turned 21. Not even sure why I waited. I had my 21st birthday with my family in England and I would have been legal to drink after 18. 🤷🏻‍♀️

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There were kids in my high school that weren't interested in drinking. I'm sure they had better preparation and skills to opt out. Maybe they saw first-hand how destructive it could be. I did eventually, but it took time. Some said they just didn't like the taste! Whatever their (and your) reasons were, at least you never risked getting caught and underage drinking charges.

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