I have another friend who says this is the reason why he drinks. It quiets his brain. Just an observation that I find interesting. I've never thought of alcohol as having that kind of effect.
Perhaps it is the most common reason I choose to have a drink -the 'noise' in my brain. However, the noise is not new to these past two days where I have not been drinking; it is, if not a product of, coincident with my depression. I suppose the difference is I cannot go home and have a glass of wine, and wine with dinner, and a generous two fingers of whisky in the evening - and yes, I realise that's 'a lot.'
I've never considered myself an alcoholic -and still don't ("admitting you have a problem...", I know)- but I certainly have not gone a day without a drink in a very long time. The last time I
committed to not drinking lasted less than 24 hours, and the time before that, about a month/5 weeks.
I can 'not drink,' and I seldom feel like, "I need a drink," but I do both enjoy and want to enjoy alcohol. I have seldom pursued drinking to get drunk, but far more often I've found a bottle of wine that I like, and had the whole thing, and certainly I am more than tipsy by the end of it, I'm not going to pretend I somehow avoid becoming inebriated. I enjoy my Guinness, and my scotches and whiskeys, and I tend to enjoy them to excess, but never
for the excess,
en generale. This perhaps all sounds like the dithering protests of alcoholic, however.
I've chosen to stop because this past long weekend, while visiting her family, my girlfriend felt that I embarrassed her one evening. Now, I don't feel I was embarrassing, and the impression I got from her brother and sister was not that they felt I'd embarrassed her or myself, but I suppose it is her feelings, not theirs nor my own, which count here- I cannot say, "You shouldn't feel embarrassed," as though I understand the inner life that brought to that feeling.
As well, my girlfriend specifically asked that I don't get drunk anymore, but I chose simply to stop altogether. I wonder that this is artificially hard on myself, or that it actually is wiser - I can easily see the pleasure of one good glass of wine leading to the temptation for a second, and then, well, why not the usual, a strong nightcap while I read or write...
I maunder.