The Addictive Personality Types

What's YOUR Addiction?

I stopped drinking alcohol in April of 2021. The way this plays out in social settings is hilarious to me because the go-to assumption is that I had some sort of drinking problem. My wife will be the first to tell you that in our 21 year marriage and before, she's never seen me shit faced drunk. Mainly because I never liked that “out of control” feeling. But people assume and at this point, I might start to fuck around with them because when I tell them why I stopped, it's like they get an anticlimactic facial expression, “Really? That's why? That's lame.” So if I had a problem they could give me their sympathy and increase their virtue but since I didn't have a problem, here crack another one open and drink already. 

I had gone on a beer run to pick up a 12 pack of SweetWater 420 IPA (the beer of Georgia before they sold out to a Canadian weed company). So there I was in Kroger, 12 pack in hand and I kept staring at the price. Up another $1.00. Now it was $17.99/ 12 pack. I looked at the other beers in the cooler and even the cheap beer flavored water like Miller Lite was increasing. It was then and there that I said to myself that this was the last alcoholic purchase I'd be making. I'm done. The price versus quality of enjoyment had tipped in the wrong direction. I no longer wanted to drink my money down. And a week later when I came to the last bottle, I drank it down and since that time I have not drank a sip of alcohol. The best way not to spend money is to abstain from it fully so that is what I did. All because the price is no longer something I want to pay for. Done. 

I've gotten other comments from people that wish they could stop like that (okay, wishing you could stop something, but knowing you are unable to is an addiction… just saying), or comments that stopping for the reason of expense is just strange (Alcohol or Ammo??? Ammo please. More ammo makes going to the range a longer lasting experience). And will also say, if it had been a problem, then I can see why so many people have issues with the people around them. Everyone kept offering me beer, wine, and bourbon until I relayed my story above. But for people with an actual drinking issue, they are more likely to take the drink than to explain why they are abstaining.

Maybe I don't have a super addictive personality. Back in the 90’s, several of my Asian (female) friends (and significant others) smoked, so I joined them because a few said it was impossible to stop. Well, let me test that. So I tried it for 2 weeks and then added up the expense as well as evaluating myself and finding that I had no overwhelming urge to smoke. So I stopped. There was no point. It was doing nothing for me and it required money I wasn't willing to part with and continue using on that activity. Done. 

Maybe a part of me doesn't understand addiction because I've never really been addicted. Or maybe I’m addicted to something else and I have no clue what it is because it isn’t harmful or life wrecking. I don’t know.

FUN FACT: Unlike so many other people, I’ve never tried marijuana and the reason is really simple… I hate the smell. I’ve hated that smell since first getting a whiff of it at a concert. My mind also translates that smell into the picture of some really dirty hippies doing unspeakable things to each other in the mud at a place like Lollapalooza or Woodstock. Pass.

Certain personalities are more likely to become addicted than others, this is a fact. Apparently it is in the genes.

I have to thank the Thinking Man Substack for posting up the below article today, otherwise the above for me would have continued to sit in my GDrive for several more weeks. Might as well finish it now when I can promote this excellent article below. Go ahead and jump over there and check that read out.

Why I’m Quitting Alcohol

Cleared out one article in my writing backlog, now onto the next. Shit… Is writing an addiction?