Alcohol

[Stocker]

Profile pic checks out!

Nick Nolte was born in Omaha and there’s Nolte’s in the town I grew up in! So I’m not too far away!

 

[Stocker]

A guy in Lincoln got 2 DUI’s 4 hours apart this week. It looks like there is an upside to drinking, you can be in the Guinness book of world records nobody reads.

 

[Nick87]

Went to high school with a girl who got then 24 hours apart. Her senior year

 

[Gellar]

Spent too much time in Colorado over the past few years
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I bought 3 different 6 packs of NA mentioned in this thread. I think I’ll just quit drinking all together if it comes down to it.

 

[David58]

A guy in Lincoln got 2 DUI’s 4 hours apart this week. It looks like there is an upside to drinking, you can be in the Guinness book of world records nobody reads.

Thousands of New Mexicans just said "Hold my beer. Wait, lemme finish it first!"

 

[Johnny Bravo]

I love scotch...scotch...scotch...scotch....here it goes down...down into my belly...

 

[BTripp86]

I was never a brawler. I was more of a 'Hey everybody, who wants to shave their name in my chest hair?!' sort of drunk. Wives love that sort of stuff too...

My big problem when I was drinking hard (marines tend to do such) in my late teens to late 20s was I always seemed to wake up to some chick that looked nothing like I'd remembered the night before . The old " a 2 at 10 becomes a 10 at 2" deal. Now granted, sometimes she wouldn't be that bad but others??? Woof.

 

[mxracer317]

Those of you making fun of the Mormons and coffee on the other thread, you know who you are… looks like the Mormon’s got the alcohol things right.

 

[KilZdonk]

I appreciate all the honesty from everyone. I have made a lot of friends because of but, have also lost my best friend to Alcohol.

FYI, the new suicide prevention number is 988 ... never hesitate to help or to recommend help, no matter who it is.

 

[DaveinWV]

Some folks like me just can't drink. I almost became a stat but luckily turned it around. My family on both sides is riddled with alcoholism and I'm choosing to break that cycle. I sure don't begrudge anyone that can do it responsibly I'm just not one of them.

Cudos for turning away before you are controlled. I approached it several years ago and throttled back. I still like it, just don't really want it.

 

[7mm08mo]

Kinda late to the thread, drank in high school like a fish, quit when I couldn’t remember how I got home. Didn’t touch the stuff for 20+ years. Got divorced and vodka became my new best friend, we got way to close. Can’t hardly drink it now, maybe I healed or just realized I didn’t need it. I like bourbon, and beer, have some when I feel like it. Don’t need it everyday or want it. Occasionally I tie one on but not very often. I would say the only thing that I can’t live without is hunting and Copenhagen. Booze is nice when I feel like it but as I type this I’m recovering from elbow surgery and not the least bit upset that I can’t have a drink, but was completely pissed that I couldn’t chew before my surgery and had to fast from it from midnight until after the surgery which was at 3:00 in the afternoon. Bourbon around the campfire is one of my favorite things to relax to.

 

[220yotekiller]

Not directed at me but from a family of the same I totally do. Tobacco, alchohol, drugs (ive never used any type of drugs but definitely a family trend, certain foods, hunting (sounds dumb but I don't moderate much of anything it's either an obsession or a dead issue). Addictive personality.

this is the reason l don't drink and why l never started, if l had it would have killed me. l don't mind people around me drinking but don't show up to work drunk, don't drink and drive, and don't even think about handling a gun. l have no tolerance for any of those things.

 

[Nameless Range]

The friend of mine that I mentioned in the OP who was in the ICU, is still there. Off the ventilator, but infectection in his organs, had major surgery, life still in the balance.

Mid 30s, successful career, intelligent and kind, has a loving family. I believe anyone, regardless of upbringing and nurture, could be susceptible to alcohol and the potential undertow of its eddy.

 

[VikingsGuy]

Not particularly hunting related, but I graduated 8th grade with about 20 other boys. I graduated high school with about the same. Of guys in my class who I went to K-12th grade with, which were all mostly the same folks, 5 are dead. When I think about all the ones who came and went, it really pans out to be about 15-20% of the boys I went to grade/high school with, are gone. 4 of the 5 of those deaths related to alcohol. Other's I grew up with are still here, but have had relationships collapse due to the drug. I am not even 40.

Got the news today that another one of my friends who I hadn’t seen in a few years is in the ICU with organ failure.

Alcohol is strange. For many, me included, it is part of the lighter times in my life. It’s absolutely a part of fishing and hunting camp. It’s never been a problem beyond self-induced misery. But for others, it tears worlds apart, and even ends worlds, and 20 years ago I would’ve never predicted for whom this would be the case.

Obviously, society has seen that prohibition causes more harm than good, and I wouldn’t want it. But I could see myself 100 years ago in the 19-teens, without the foreknowledge of what prohibition would bring, thinking that the world would be a better place without alcohol.

I know it’s not really hunting related, but venues to anonymously muse on things with likeminded people are lacking, and HuntTalk is that place for me.

Wow - bummer to hear. I agree with your overall assessment.

I am surprised at the numbers. I went 7th-12th with the same 60 guys (and 60 gals). I am 55ish and while drinking was common place in high school and a few have shared they are in recovery, none are dead or hospitalized yet. In college, I was in a fraternity with 40ish guys. The drinking was beyond stupid - can't believe a few didn't die at the time. I know a few in recovery, but again, all still alive and walking around. I am sure in both groups there are unrepentant drunks, but I would expect liver failure type deaths to be things in our 50s, not 30s/40s.

Your experience is shocking, and disheartening - add to this the oxy/fent issues sweeping the country and we got a lot of sad shit we need to fix - maybe time for both sides to quit worrying about pronouns and get to it.

 

[Trap]

Most definitely genetic. All the men on my dad’s side of the family are/were alcoholics. And now, all either sober or dead. My dad quit drinking before I was born, so I didn’t grow up with it in the house, but still found my way to it anyway. There are also epigenetic/environmental factors that can certainly play into it (think generational poverty) but just using my family as an example, my brother and I had a great, safe childhood yet alcoholism was still very much in both of us.

I think both. I often wonder if Montana has a lot more drinking than other states or it was just my friends and family Everything we did growing up involved drinking at some point. I had a great childhood but there was just a lot of drinking. Eventually, I was like rtraverdavis. The fun was gone and I couldn’t live with or without alcohol.I have been sober for years and my life is ten times better. Alcoholism runs rampant in my family. So it definitely seems to be genetic also. I also joined that secret society rtraverdavis it worked when nothing else did for me

 

[hank4elk]

It just takes one day. To say no, I'm done.
How you get to that day is up to you.

 

[Southern Elk]

This song popped up on youtube the other day. It’s Joe Walsh of the Eagles telling his story of getting sober. I have a friend in AA and this is exactly the way he says it works. What a cool song.

 

[MThuntr]

I've reduced my alcohol consumption and now that I'm winding down on "lift assisted" skiing there won't be the temptation to have an après-ski. I bet I'll be down to 1 or 2 a week. Trivia night generally means having a beverage. I got after the beers on Friday and it ruined my Saturday spring ski in the sun.

My social group had a big shift with my buddy and his gal having their first baby last week, one getting ready to move over to the Bitterroot, and another has a girlfriend that he only gets to see on the weekends. I don't drink alone so flying solo will definitely slow the nonsense down.

 

[rtraverdavis]

This song popped up on youtube the other day. It’s Joe Walsh of the Eagles telling his story of getting sober. I have a friend in AA and this is exactly the way he says it works. What a cool song.

Another great song about coming out of the fog:

 

[Nameless Range]

Got the news today that another one of my friends who I hadn’t seen in a few years is in the ICU with organ failure.

I wrote this back in February. The fellow I referenced here, got out of the hospital a few weeks ago - lost most of his pancreas, still has internal infections, wounds that have to be cleaned, and is trying to learn to move again after 9 months of being bedridden. He’s been on painkillers for the better part of the year and will take another year to get off of them, and his life will never be the same. At one point shortly after the OP, a family member of his asked me to make a video basically asking my friend to fight to live- to stay alive - a weird and difficult video to make.

One of my best friends damn near lost everything in July, and left his family for over a month in rehab due to alcoholism. I had no idea things had gotten so bad. I spoke to him frequently and he hid it so effectively I have often wondered since if I really know the people I think I do. People can obscure darkness.

Maybe it is the approach of the latter half of my life, but I’ve been thinking of it a fair amount, and cutting back. I’d be lying if I didn’t think there was an upside and didn’t enjoy it at times, but there are also some really compelling facts out there about how it is terrible for your body and mind. Even in small amounts.