Korean Job Discussion Forums

[peter07]

I just completed six months without booze. I'm getting older and my body cannot take the alcohol as well as it did when I was younger.

The biggest differences in my life are:

1) Greatly reduced irritability
2) I lost 5kg
3) Saved LOADS of money
4) Drank lots of soda since I still like to hang out at bars
5) My skin cleared up and improved, something which many around me pointed out
6) My health overall got better
7) Better memory and concentration and the ability to think more clearly
No more hangovers to nurse Sunday or otherwise
9) Increased willpower knowing that I can quit something if I want to

I am not against drinking and might drink again (though moderately) but just thought everyone on this board might like to know the benefits of no booze.

[The Floating World]

I hear ya. Past 6 weeks I've gone from minimum of a 1.6 ltr pitcher a night for 2 yrs straight without 1 single day off to barely any and even then only at weekends and in moderation (had 4 330cc botles of bud last night and have a cold so just heated up a 380ml bottle of blackberry wine to drink with a movie.)

The benefits for me are mostly more energy, more physical strength and a more positive general outlook. The being less iritable also, but I believe that comes from not being knackered at work all the time since I stopped the nightly boozing.

[Yaya]

Yep, I haven't touched booze in months, either and it's a liberating feeling. I got sick of working on weekdays and boozing it up on weekends, it got old.

[Mr. BlackCat]

My doctor told me that if I stopped drinking I would live longer. I asked him if I stopped drinking why I'd want to live at all.

Just kidding, of course. Good on ya for doing something you wanted to do.

[fortysixyou]

OP ! KUDOS !

I'm thinking of doing the same thing as I am drinking way too much and way too frequently. I managed to go a month off a little while back, and it was fantastic. I noticed the same improvements: tons more money, more time on the weekends (time saved not sleeping off hangovers), overall improvement in mood, increased clarity of thought.

That said there was one negative side effect: I noticed that drunk people are annoying.

It sounds cliche, but I might try to go six months after the new year.

[weso1]

This is something that has always interested me. I'm not a drinker at all. The OP's post made me think back to the last drink I had. It was about 5 months ago when my new coworkers took me out. I had 3 soju shots and two beers all night. Since then, haven't touched a drop. Alcohol just never appealed to me. I don't like the feeling of being drunk. It makes me emotions go haywire and it gets me nauseous too easily.

Every time I bring it up in conversation, people are shocked. Somehow, it's not normal to not drink? Can't some people just not have the desire to? Is it shocking when you learn someone doesn't smoke? I mean, it's they're choice. Maybe they don't like being light headed and having all their clothes smell like smoke. The feeling of alcohol just doesn't appeal to some of us, even if we are just a fraction of a fraction of the population.

Mary Jane though, man that's a whole 'nother story. I smoked my first doobie when I was 15 and that started my love affair with her. By the time I hit 18, I was smoking at least 1 or 2 blunts a day. It was like that all through university (still maintained a 3.5 GPA and never missed a class or lab - suck on that "pot kills your brain" propaganda.) I didn't "dry out" till I hit Korea. Different time then, no physicals or background checks. Just a passport and pulse was all you needed to be a hagwon monkey.

But unlike the OP, it seems ever since I stopped puffin trees, my overall status is a little worse. I think I have more mood swings now. I'm more irritable, generally dissatisfied with everything. Maybe I should take up drinking? haha

I was in Thailand recently and knew I had plenty of time before coming back to Korea I could blaze up a little and be clean by the time my health check rolled around. For a week straight I was chiefin'. I can say, I've rarely felt happier. It was like old times again. Everything was hilarious, I felt so up beat, and positive about everything. I probably watched every Lonely Island video on youtube a dozen times and I just felt amazing again. Slept like a baby too. Woke up refreshed and energized each day. Man, I was almost tempted to call it quits on Korea and head state-side again for a few months just to live that life style for a while. But I didn't. Came back, got back into the routine again. Now all I can think about it timing my vacation right to head back to Thailand, smoke up, and not worry about a drug test for a while when I come back.

So if booze is legal. Something everyone here has said makes them irritable, depressed, out of shape, and moody - then why can't weed be legal too? Something that makes people mellow out, feel happy and silly, and doesn't have any adverse side effects, at least nothing on par with alcohol and cigarettes.

Legalize it.
Regulate it.
Tax the sh*t out of it.

[shifty]

[weso1]

[shifty]

[peter07]

This is how I did it. I first took one month off several times, then decided to try three months since I had already done one month. After three months, I was like, OK, let's give it another three months. If I feel like drinking, I'll do it. Yet I never did and I have yet to touch a drop over that time. I'm thinking I'll go ahead and give it another three months but we'll see.

The reason I chose three months initially is that I read in an article that you don't fully feel the benefits of being sober until after THREE months of no booze. I can say six months of no drinking definitely felt better than three.

[Yaya]

America has a binge drinking problem, according to a new government report.

More than 38 million U.S. adults binge drink an average of four times each month, according to a new report from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The agency notes that the majority of people who binge drink are not alcoholics, but the trend is alarming because of the number of serious problems that can occur when people have too much alcohol, such as car accidents, violence and sexually transmitted diseases.

http://gma.yahoo.com/blogs/abc-blogs/cdc-millions-americans-binge-drinkers-173229438--abc-news.html

[Captain Corea]

I wonder how that study would look if done in Korea.

[Scott in Incheon]

Of course their definition of binge drinking is women having more than 4 drinks and men having more than 5 drinks in one sitting.

Hardly binging....

[northway]

[FDNY]

Hmmm, I read this post. I laughed. I cried. I was deeply touched. My big question is why you feel the need to use a quotation mark after your title? Like this is some amazing epiphany to life. My other question is what this has to do with living in Korea. It was my understanding that this is what this particular forum was for. Aren't there lots of AA forums on the web that this would be better suited for? Moreover, there are MANY things in our lives that are not 100% kosher for our bodies. Like eating meat and salt, breathing pollution, not exercising regularly. Will those be your next posts?