Any DJs here struggling with alcohol?

[Realthangpoon]

Used to drink heavily on the weekends the last 10-15ish years. It’s so normalized in my country it’s crazy.

Don’t really regret it because I’ve had some super fun times but alcohol really brings out the stupidest version of me. Binge drinking, ****ing the wrong chicks, cheating on my girlfriend, binging on all kinds of drugs, ... Pretty degenerate stuff really. I’ve been drinking way less lately and am trying to cut it out completely. The side effects are now way bigger than the benefits. It interferes with my sports goals, work, sleep, hormones etc. Some of my friends are early 30s and still stuck in party hard mode and it’s sad to see. I don’t want to end up that way.

 

[FlexpertHamilton]

I have never had a problem with alcohol as I generally dislike it, but there are other drugs (light drugs, that are legal) that I have had minor addictions to on and off. More of a polysubstance abuse in a rotation. Alcohol would still be much worse though. It seems like some people are more prone to certain addictive behaviors (alcohol and food included) than others.

 

[FlexpertHamilton]

There's a very old study about kids being tested on delaying gratification and following them later through life and finding that the impulsive kids who didn't pass the gratification test were also more prone to addictive behaviours. A lot comes down to self-control.

Yeah but the question is why do some people innately have more self control and less impulsivity than others. Some of it is probably genetic but the rest is probably childhood trauma.

Also my point wasn't that some people are more prone to addiction in general but what I meant is some people are more prone to specific addictions more than others. I've also found that fascinating. Some people turn to food, some cigs, some alcohol, whatever. I've done my fair share of drugs but the hardest thing for me to kick has always been caffeine, which is kind of amazing - I can quit nicotine products far easier than caffeine! In fact, I'm not sure I even want to give up caffeine for good. But it would be cool to have the self control to only do it once in a blue moon. Man, that kick you get from having a strong cup of coffee after 2 weeks of no caffeine is unbelievable.

 

[FlexpertHamilton]

I'm not caffein addicted, but I drink a lot of coffee. It's weird, but on me caffein has the reverse effect - I can have coffee at 23:00 and go to bed and fall asleep right away. How strong do you drink your coffee? My espresso is pretty strong.

They say that even if you can sleep after drinking coffee that doesn't mean it's still not impairing your sleep. Though if you have a super high tolerance maybe it doesn't effect your sleep as much. What I'm saying though is a strong cup of joe after a days or weeks without it kicks like a mule. I normally use high quality instant coffee from Starbucks and drink it straight in cold water (say what you will but their coffee is decently strong). If I use grounds I prefer a french press or "cowboy coffee" but both of those are way more effort than they're worth. I purely drink for the caffeine.

 

[obelisk]

21 days alcohol free as of today. Not always easy but I feel much more emotionally-balanced and far less reactive. It's not simple trying to remove that and other dopamine sources as ways to mute or not deal with sober emotions and feelings though. Building a better version of me slowly for what it's worth.

 

[DarwinTaurus]

37 days sober. Also haven't touched caffeine since late September last year. Now the only thing I need to do, is get back into exercise.

 

[Crissco]

I had 3 months sober, I checked myself into rehab then a sober house. Once out of the sober house I went back to drinking again, pretty heavily. If you want to quit you will.

 

[BackInTheGame78]

Haven't had a drink in many months now, probably over a year. When I am working out regularly I won't touch the stuff. Hard enough at my age without adding in alcohol to basically make it twice as hard.

Even before then I would only drink rarely here and there. Many times I'd even go on dates and order water.

It's never been a thing for me tho...if I never had another drink again the rest of my life I wouldn't care at all. Now try that with pizza or ice cream or dark chocolate? Hell no.

 

[BackInTheGame78]

Pretty much all my American friends who came over to Amsterdam and drank my coffee consider it strong, but the Dutch like strong coffee.
See the sign:
View attachment 12121

Curious, how common in the Netherlands is it to see signs in English or for natives to speak English?

I've always been amazed at how well many Europeans speak English versus Americans who take years of classes in school in French, Spanish or German and can barely speak a sentence when they graduate.

 

[Crissco]

Extremely common. Mandatory English classes in every level of education. Every person between 12-70 speaks English, but you will find children under twelve to have a more rudimentary grasp and elderly people who never learned English, so their English might be more difficult to understand.
Virtually everyone between 18-60 speaks at least Dutch, English and German, and most also speak French and/or Spanish and/or Arabic. It's quite common for Dutch office staff to speak 4-5 languages; I speak six plus a smattering of dirty words in another five languages.
My 13-year-old daughter is in the second grade of Gymnasium; she speaks/learns Dutch, English, German, French, Greek and Latin and is doing an extracurricular language course in Czech.

Most signs are in English and in many Amsterdam shops and cafes you cannot even order in Dutch because the staff isn't native Dutch. This is also why many expats do not learn Dutch; everybody speaks English and when they hear your accent they will switch over to English right away.

This just shows me Europe is ahead of America in terms of education, at least in my opinion

 

[BackInTheGame78]

This just shows me Europe is ahead of America in terms of education, at least in my opinion

That's been well known for decades now

 

[DarwinTaurus]

37 days sober. Also haven't touched caffeine since late September last year. Now the only thing I need to do, is get back into exercise.

Damn it. I let myself down. I had a friend visiting town a few days ago, and I was drinking with him. I lasted 63 days. Time to start sobriety again.

 

[Redwood]

I've only have just been sticking with beer regularly.