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PSA
So for those of you not in the know, I don't drink alcohol. I made this choice before I was of drinking age and I have kept with it because it is the choice that makes sense to me. I cannot articulate my reasoning any clearer than that, but that's fine; this is not a choice I feel the need to justify. I have no problem with the thought of other people drinking, but I have no interest in being one of them.
Having said that. Obviously I do have friends and co-workers and relatives and acquaintances who drink. This does not bother me, but it seems very much to bother them. I can go months at a time without this being brought up, but then it begins again: "Sarah, we're gonna take you out drinking. I really want to see you drunk, it'd be so funny! I'll take you to my favourite clubs, you can crash at my place, it'll be so much fun!!" A fine proposition, but one that I am sick to death of hearing. Look: I don't drink. You know I don't drink. You know that I have been of legal drinking age for four years and I have never had a drink, or wanted to have a drink. You know I don't see any appeal in getting drunk. I have told you that alcohol just makes my parents sleepy, and is likely to affect me the same boring way. I am so not interested in this plan at all and yet people keep suggesting this to me. My friends are mostly over this stage, but every time I have a new group of co-workers it's the same thing all over again. And how sure of themselves they must be, to think that they will be the ones to change my mind, that they will be the ones I let take me to the clubs. Look, dudes - my best friends have not been able to get me drunk. What makes you think you'll be able to.
I think I just realized that I've been living under the impression that peer pressure ceases to exist once you hit twenty.
Post inspired by an annoyance in an otherwise fantastic last night. A minor annoyance, but an annoyance nonetheless. :|
Having said that. Obviously I do have friends and co-workers and relatives and acquaintances who drink. This does not bother me, but it seems very much to bother them. I can go months at a time without this being brought up, but then it begins again: "Sarah, we're gonna take you out drinking. I really want to see you drunk, it'd be so funny! I'll take you to my favourite clubs, you can crash at my place, it'll be so much fun!!" A fine proposition, but one that I am sick to death of hearing. Look: I don't drink. You know I don't drink. You know that I have been of legal drinking age for four years and I have never had a drink, or wanted to have a drink. You know I don't see any appeal in getting drunk. I have told you that alcohol just makes my parents sleepy, and is likely to affect me the same boring way. I am so not interested in this plan at all and yet people keep suggesting this to me. My friends are mostly over this stage, but every time I have a new group of co-workers it's the same thing all over again. And how sure of themselves they must be, to think that they will be the ones to change my mind, that they will be the ones I let take me to the clubs. Look, dudes - my best friends have not been able to get me drunk. What makes you think you'll be able to.
I think I just realized that I've been living under the impression that peer pressure ceases to exist once you hit twenty.
Post inspired by an annoyance in an otherwise fantastic last night. A minor annoyance, but an annoyance nonetheless. :|
no subject
Part of it, for me, is that my parents' attitude was "okay, you're going to learn to drink responsibly at home" and so booze was not glamorous or mysterious or forbidden at my house, but there were rules attached to it, especially once my sister and I were old enough to drive. So by the time I was 21, which is the legal age in the US, booze was not very interesting and the ability to buy it legally was more a convenience than a rite of passage. Also, I kind of grew up in a familial/social culture (not sure now how much of it was my socioeconomic milieu and how much was my family) where drinking to excess was stigmatized behavior.
(Also also, I had a father who fancied himself a booze snob, so I was kind of raised to focus on quality and taste rather than getting smashed as quickly as possible--I'd never do shots, and girl drinks that taste like candy should just GTFO as far as I'm concerned.)
A lot of the people I know for whom the purpose is to drink to excess are younger than I am, so I take the attitude that I don't have anything to prove to these kids. XD Sometimes when people are all "lol y u dnot drink???" or "o lol letz get u drunk!!1! itll b so teh funz!", they're actually not secure with their own choices and attitudes and are looking for validation.
TL;DR: Fight the power. XD