Is there anything to do but get drunk?

Question

It seems in todays society if your between the ages of 16 to death living in america you have to drink to have a good time why is that, and is there better things to do other than doing drugs and getting F'ed up in order to have a good time without being a religious weirdo

By the way I do not subscribe to this philosophy just looking for perspective and possibly some more activities to participate in

To make it even clearer I dont drink or do drugs so dont criticize me you ******* you know who you are

Answer 1

People drink and do drugs out of sheer boredom, and to try and escape the pain of life. Boredom that extends beyond merely not having anything to do, but is more a boredom with existence itself, an emptiness at a life that often seems pointless, cold and going nowhere, especially in a post-modern, sceptical world where for many God in the traditional sense has become a shadow of the past and people are groping around for some answers.

The only problem with all these kinds of escape, is that they don't actually work. You drink because it stops you feeling depressed for a few hours, but when you wake up it makes you worse than before, (alcohol is a depressant, and it ruins your liver. Smoking makes you die from painful lung cancer, etc). Same with any drug. Even sleep isn't a valid way to escape, because you can stay in bed and try and hide from the world, but you can't sleep forever, and you wake up feeling more irritable and groggy and depressed than before. (Unless you kill yoursellf and that's not a solution either. Been there (in that mindframe) done that. Just another escape like getting drunk, and I don't want to be the one cleaning up the party after me. Plus there's no guarantee that would be the end (ie may be another false escape like alcohol); might have to come back and do this whole thing again because I missed the point the first time- would be bloody annoying. Don't even want to think what the hangover might feel like! Would be much better wouldn't it to get it right this time, and try and enjoy the party through healthy means, instead of having to get plastered off my face with booze and taken to casualty missing all the fun :)).

All these drugs are here in this world for a reason: to teach us something. It's not a coincidence that every form of escape from life has some kind of negative side-effect. There is no drug that will make you feel amazing and not screw you up later. Not a single one. Many things can be drugs, not just chemicals. Sex is a drug. Traveling is a drug. Shopping is a drug. TV and internet can be drugs. A drug is something that can be addictive, and that brings with it temporary pleasures followed by an even greater come-down, emptiness, frustration, harm etc, physically, emotionally, in terms of time or money wasted etc. Eg people sometimes go shopping not because they need anything, but because they crave the high they get from buying something new. That high lasts about a week or two, then they need another "fix", another dress or pair of shoes or computer upgrade or phone accessory, and each time the high wears off they feel emptier than before, and have to keep buying to feed their habit. It's really the same principle as injecting a needle into your arm, just much more socially acceptable and noone will admit to it in this consumer culture. You won't get banged up or sent to a rehab clinic for being caught in possession of a an illegal stash of millions of dollars' worth of shoes hidden under your floorboards! But maybe you should be :P


Any chemical drug that is powerful enough to alter your mind, will also cause you more harm than benefit. They are not there as a sadistic trick by God just to kick us when we're down by making us more depressed or destroying our bodies, and making even our only form of escape harmful to us, even if it might seem like that; they are there to show us that trying to hide is not the answer. They are there to help us. By touching the fire and feeling pain we learn that fire is dangerous. We have to know that these things exist in order to learn not to use them, to learn the difference. If everything was perfect we'd never learn anything. We can try them and then we realise they are illusory, and only take away the pain temporarily. But the pain will remain as long as we run away from it. It will keep chasing us like a vicious dog biting our ankle. The faster we run with drugs, the more excited and angry it gets and it chases us even faster, and once the drugs wear off it catches up with us and attacks us twice as hard. So each time we look for something that makes us run even faster, but each time the dog becomes more powerful and more angry, and we start getting desperate looking for faster ways to run, until we run out of ways and we can only sit and wait helpless for the enraged dog to catch up with us. But if we stop and turn around and look it in the eye, it strangely loses its power, and starts backing away in fear. Turning our back to it and trying to avoid it is what gives it power, but facing it destroys it.

Being with people who care about you and respect you is far more empowering than dowsing your brain with chemicals. If you're with people who love you you can enjoy yourself and feel confident about yourself without the need for drugs. Drugs are a substitute for genuine relationships; they allow you to enjoy yourself when you know you wouldn't be having a good time otherwise. But ultimately this enjoyment is an illusion, because if you remove the drugs you're not actually happy. The best nights out for me are nights when none of my friends drink anything- we may not even leave the house- but we want to be in one another's presence and we enjoy being together and having a laugh. Sometimes you can laugh so much your stomach hurts, and you haven't drunk a drop, if you're with the right people. You can have a laugh playing with children and doing stupid things and you don't need anything. It's funny that little kids don't need to get drunk to learn to have a good time. They can just make a game about everything. As we grow up, we learn how to become miserable gits, and can't enjoy ourselves without help. But we weren't always like that.


Drugs and alcohol are a substitute for genuine love. People feel emptiness and boredom inside due to lack of love, and they try and mask that with drugs, but their effects are so short-lived. Once you replace this with genuine loving relationships, it becomes easier to avoid these kinds of escape. When people love you and value you, and when you love and value yourself, that is the only drug that you can take in unlimited quantities and it has no negative side-effects. If you love yourself and other people love you, and you know you have a right to be here, your natural high comes from inside, and it stays there, and you don't need to pour something down your throat which will wear off a few hours later.

People need to be more open with each other about their feelings, and stop fighting each other so much. There's no point fighting people or criticising them; there's no time for that and seriously, what does it achieve? If you really know your friends on a deep level, you don't need to get wasted just to have a conversation with them.

Also you meant you're not your :P

Answer 2

Why? Because people get bored too easily. They get bored so they drink...and then even the "boring" things seem fun. Why do they get bored so easily? because most people are so used to being stimulated by TV or Music or something ALL the time they can't just sit there and relax.

I don't think it is necessary to drink to have a good time. I live in a small town so it seems like a lot of people drink to have fun...but I manage. It depends on your personality type I guess. Me and my friends have fun going to the park or bowling or watching movies or just talking and hanging out.

Answer 3

Wow -- what a horribly slanted view of America -- no you DO NOT have to get Drunk to have fun or have a good life -- and MANY millions live every day sober and responsibly.

Answer 4

Anyone with a halfway decent IQ doesn't need to drink to have a good time

Answer 5

first off, being religious.. is not being a weirdo. you can have a good time with your friends without getting drunk. eat something yummy, socialize, watch a game.

Answer 6

WELL OBVIOUSLY IF YOU'RE TOO LAME TO BE COOL THAT YOU NEED TO GET DRUNK TO "BE COOL" WELL, YOURE STILL NOT ONLY LAME BUT STUPID TOO. I DO BELIEVE THAT AMERICA USES IT TO SOCIALIZE MORE BUT IT SHOULDN'T BE THAT WAY. IF YOU ARE WITH PEOPLE YOU KNOW, YOU SHOULDN'T NEED TO GET DRUNK TO HAVE A GOOD TIME AND IF YOURE MEETING SOMEONE NEW, THEN YOU SHOULDN'T BE DRINKING BECAUSE FIRST IMPRESSIONS LAST A LONG TIME

Answer 7

Probably not...knock yourself out.