I dont drink Alcohol

When I'm offered a drink I'll often just say "Actually a water (or coke or whatever) sounds great!". I avoid announcing that I'm not a drinker. Not that I'm ashamed at all but it seems to make people uncomfortable. I'm really just trying to get what I want without making it awkward. Most people think nothing of it because they really don't care.

There are the few here and there that feel like they need to find out why I'm not drinking. "Why aren't you drinking?" "Do you not drink?..." When I casually say "nope" and try to move on, they pull out the "Seriously?" while looking at me like I'm a moron. Thank you for that. At least there are fewer of them as the years go by.

i don't drink either, not a tea-totaler either.

I used to drink when I was in college, never got out of control drunk I would get to a point and not enjoy it, so I'd just stop and go to bed.

now I get a bad reaction when I do drink alcohol (I break out in hives and a rash all over), and yes, some people really are allergic to alcohol.

Don't worry about it, and your friends will be ok with it. I'm always the designated driver, and they are glad they don't need a cab.

Not to interrupt the sober circlejerk happening here, but I'm just chiming in on the behalf of folks who *do* drink but aren't a**holes about it to those who don't. If your friends give you grief about not wanting to drink with them, find new friends.

As far as pushy guys in bars go, "No thanks, I'm driving tonight" is an effective refusal of both the explicit offer of a drink and the implicit offer of sex.

From another moderate drinker- I agree 100%. If they want to be that jerk that buys you a drink when you clearly stated you don't want one, then you have the right to be that jerk (not really being a jerk, but you get it) that won't drink it.
Let them waste their stupid money.

I usually go 4-6 months in the New Year without drinking. I recently got a job in the bar, so it's become harder and harder not to. I think I've stuck around twice to have a drink afterwards, its a weekly thing there.

I now find myself going out Fridays, cause it's kinda fun to hangout there, and I enjoy dancing the night away.

But for months (fall-spring) I'd go out, or meet with some of the guys from work, and NOT drink. 4-5 of the other cooks drink multiple times a week, and LOOK like they do. So whenever a girl asks me about drinking and paryting, i simply point out that "if I drank all the time, I'd have the body of a guy who drank all the time" and few can say much back to that.

Don't even get me started at the 'regular's that are female and drink all the time. Again, you can tell they just party a lot...

So you're not alone in this.

another favorite line 'thatll look better in the glass/on the plate, then it would on my stomach'

Or 'its almost beach season' etc.

Few understand that I still wann alose 5lbs, so I can be leaner this summer. Few people are as sexy as me naked.

I don't drink, essentially for the same reasons you mentioned. I don't like the idea of putting something in my body that will change the way I think. So I would never drink enough to be drunk. I also think it tastes disgusting, so what is the point? If I want to drink something to have fun with my friends I'll grab a soda or something.

I find that people actually don't invite me to things when they know I don't drink. My so-called friends will go out to bars and not even ask if I want to hang out. And when I invite people to do something on a weekend I usually get turned down because they would rather go out someplace with alcohol. I'm extremely sick of it. Just because I don't drink doesn't mean I can't sit in a bar and hang out with people. I'm getting sick of being punished for making this personal decision.

I am 22 now, but when I was 21 I HATED telling people how old I was because they would give me this look that just screamed, "I totally know you're going to go get wasted every weekend just because you can now." Since I turned 22, apparently I'm far enough away from 21 that people no longer think I'm an alcoholic....

Is there anybody else who doesn't drink here? what do you say to people when they almost try to force it down your neck so you can 'have fun'?

When i say 'oh sorry, i dont drink' they have a face of dissapointment, buy me a alcoholic drink anyway, and i get really annoyed at that.

I don't drink either, just don't like the taste, and there's no point "spending" my cals on something that's just going to make me hot, and then make me fall asleep, lol...and I hate it when we go out and people try to get me to drink wine, or beer, yuck.

I'm perfectly fine with water or diet coke. I might drink a COUPLE of times throughout the year, but it's always at a friend's house where I can mix my own. I fill a glass about 3/4 up with ice and sprite zero and then add a shot of vodka. That's yummy and not many cals, but like I said, it's only about twice a year, and I can sip on that all night, lol.

Alcohol also irritates my acid reflux worse than almost ANYTHING else, so it's easy to avoid.

At family parties in my twenties I used to get the "why don't you drink?" questions, to which I would respond "why don't you smoke?" Then they understood that it was a personal choice.

Brilliant!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I have a hard time accepting that:
1) that some people really don't want to drink alcohol
2) that people can have just as much fun without drinking alcohol

It's my problem, not yours. I get that. But, still, while I'm not a pusher, I really dislike when someone is not participating. It just makes it suck. So, that might be why people do that.

Additionally, most non-drinkers that I know would just prefer to not be around it. But, sometimes they have to be, like certain events and such, so they tolerate it.

Unless there is a specific health reason, or alcoholism or something, I don't understand why you wouldn't just have a few and enjoy life. But, whateves.

Certainly, not all people that drink are idiots about it--I know plenty of people who drink moderately/occasionally with whom I really don't mind hanging out with my diet coke or sparkling water. What I have discovered though, is that the drinkers who make a big deal of someone's non-drinking tend to do it from a defensive "don't let me examine my drinking too closely" kind of place. The crux of the problem, really, is that problem drinking is endemic in society these days, and many many people have unadmitted problems with their drinking but the culture around us considers it normal and even required for people to drink. I don't drink--I'm one of those people that really can take it or leave it (shame I can't say the same about chocolate...) but my partner is a recovering alcoholic and has currently been sober for almost two years. The close examination (of both myself and addiction issues) that comes from living with an alcoholic, whether in recovery or not, really exposes the vice-grip that alcohol has on our society. It really is the elephant in the room.

I'm the person at the party who is terribly sad when they can't find diet soda. All alcohol tastes like cough medicine to me.