Think I've really gotta cut down now - I did do a dry month last year to try and break my habit, because I was literally watching the clock to see when it was whisky time. But I slowly got back into the routine of it again. Realised now I've started to feel very sluggish every day, and I have very little energy - I am stressed out from work and life in general, but I'm sure drinking also has something to do with it (in fact it's part of my stress coping mechanism).

I'm not exactly pounding bottles of whisky every day, but I reckon I've definitely inched into excessive territory. My exercise is also being affected too, which is a big thing for me as I'm a very keen runner and I've gone from working out 2-3 hours a day (yes I was going pretty hard) to maybe 45 minutes every other day. Not good.

I gave it up about a year ago. Mainly because I came down with " Burnt mouth syndrome". It really sucks and alcohol made it worse. The medical field doesn't know a lot about this just yet, but hopefully there's a cure soon.

It took me a long while to get past my 20+year drinking habit, there’s really no “casual” drinking for me… once I have one it pretty much opens the flood gates. 8 months sober this month, it’s been a journey but I have never felt better. I have lost weight, lowered my blood pressure, skin is no longer red and inflammed in areas, joints feel better and I am no longer sleeping like shit and exhausted everyday. Never realized how crappy I felt with alcohol, not too mention the money I save. This thread partly made me realize I should try to quit, so thank you for that.

Congratulations! Stay strong.
I was also the kind of drinker that couldn't do casual. I always wanted to get wasted.
Approaching 5 years alcohol free and everything has gotten better, overall.

I know this pinside isn't the most queer friendly place, but after diving back into AA/NA(which yes- i know, isn't for everyone and this thread isn't about 12 steps groups, but hey, it's my experience) to help some others and make some friends following a cross country move, and subsequently finding pinball after that move, I ended up writing this little story about pinball. Maybe it helps someone remember why we have this hobby and the things we do to make sure we're around to enjoy it.

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Every Friday night I have the same routine, get home from work, relax, play a game or two of my home machine, and then eat a lovely dinner from my partner. Following dinner, I head to the South side of the city. In a dimly lit basement at the oldest continually operating Alano Club in the country, a small group of Queer folks host an AA meeting that’s lit by battery candles and an LED lightstrip that only completely works when set to green. It’s gritty, it’s dark, and the discussions are heavy. There’s moments of joy, there’s moments of sadness, there’s lives changed, hopes found, and new friendships formed. It’s an embodiment of the Queer movements, self-help and solidarity for the alcoholic or addict that so often is left to die. After an hour of solidarity and peace, nobody’s ready to say goodbye for the evening. As we stand on the porch having a smoke, discussing weekend plans and the latest shashay away on Drag Race, rides are offered and we pile in the cars of those of us who still have license’s and drive the mile to the late night coffee shop. It’s not advertised as a Queer hangout, but it is. It’s a Friday night in Minneapolis and the tables are dotted with folks working on computers, Settlers of Catan games, and no two coffee mugs match. Our group always goes to the basement, the basement walls hide their original paint color with the scribbles of the unheard. There’s not a square inch of the walls that aren’t covered in Marxist slogans or a colloquialism of Queer love. It’s fabulous, if the gritty basement from the meeting is where change happens, this is where the ideas of the changes are born.

This basement is also filled with pinball machines. Pinball’s Queer. Between the rainbow lights, the loud music, and the dubious legal history that roughly matches the timeline gay liberation, the machines just fit in the basement. It’s also fitting that every machine seems to have its unserviced issues, just like us. Toy Story has a broken ball lock, Godzilla has a plunge that barely gets to the pop, and half the old EMs have broken rubbers. But they all work, and they’re all alive to tell their story through the magic of light, sound, and luck.

It’s a church room for Queers where there’s no conformity in this basement, sitting around mismatched chairs, wobbly tables, and a change machine that only has quarters stocked every other week. It's here that people ask for help. There’s been many a night where someone shares they’re struggling to get through the days for some reason or another. It’s here where we discuss hopes and dreams, the bullying endured, the parents who left us, and friends that have passed too soon. We’re here and working on ourselves so that the next generation doesn’t have to suffer like too many have before us. At some point though, we need to celebrate. A conversation reaches a lull, or someone shares something so vulnerable, that it needs a moment to sink in. That’s when the quarters come out. Why pinball, because it’s there, because we need something to zone into while the hard topics sink in, because in this basement, the twilight zone feels real. We get to celebrate the triumphs, the agonizing defeats and drains. We’re safe, we’re protected, and it feels like something that’s just as Queer as we are in a world that all too often isn’t Queer. We’re a bunch of misfits in this basement, doing our best to make it to the next Friday doing a little better than we were the Friday before. There’s no other place I’d rather pinball or be Queer than here.

you can see my location - you can figure out what coffee shop in about two seconds on the map.

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GREAT job gang...!!!...Bout to leave for my 2nd sober Indy 500....Feel’n and Sleep’n Great...!!!
Stay Frosty Ya’ll............Joey

I’ll be there too, nothing but water!

I've been doing much better. Getting better sleep and going through a rough time with employment
.I haven't turned to it yet. Keeping it very low in moderation.

I partied a lot from my first beer at 19 til my late 30s. After that, mostly binge drinking - I didn't drink every day, but when I did, I wanted to get good and drunk. Now, I get "drunk" once or twice a year.

There was no conscious decision to drink less. As i got older (60 next weekend), the hangovers just became much less attractive. My ex would give me the stink eye if I reached for a second beer, she was convinced I was an alcoholic, so in some respects I'm glad for that, as I know if I'd been left to myself I would have indulged way more. My new girlfriend enjoys a beer or drink, we have lots of booze in the house, but it's rare we actually have something, and it's very moderate when we do. Just has to do with getting older?

I remember going to bars for lunch in my 20s, seeing that old guy (prob my age now) sitting there alone at the bar, getting pickled by himself, nobody bothering him, and wanting to be him. Not so much now.