I bought a bottle of wine to split with my sweetie over dinner. I really don't want any. I find myself with thoughts like "I'll have to pick up my son later anyway, so I should cancel the plan to drink some wine" or "Nal pretty much ruins the evening, so why do that just to drink something I don't want?"

Both of these things are perfectly reasonable, I guess. Maybe I'll just blow it off. I was thinking I should remind my brain that alcohol is no fun any more, but I guess I don't need the reminders at this time.

On the other hand, I am curious about the whole wine phenomenon. Maybe it will taste good? Maybe I'll finally get an insight into why wine drinkers take longer to be cured?

No final decision yet. I'm not really sweating it; I'll just see where the evening leads.

Good topic Melissa. The whole wine thing has become cultural in North America. "We've got a wine for that" I'm old enough to remember back in the day hardly anyone drank wine. If I'm not mistaken the explosion came in the 80s when California wines started winning prizes in Europe and then the big push came. There were some cultures, like Italian and French in North America, who drank wine as part of their meals - but this whole wine thing has grown into a different animal.

We can't forget that alcohol is BIG business. Now I'm not suggesting a conspiracy of any kind - and I'm certainly a fan of business - they make money for everyone, and employ lots of folks - BUT alcohol is a product like any other. Advertising is how it's marketed - and we can see the result - ads for beer, wine, and vodka especially, are everywhere!!!! Happy, laughing young people, dancing, eating, and drinking! Who would't want that? We never see these people throwing up when they get home

Women are drinking more than they ever have - and we're told this is good because women need to be assertive, and 'just as good as men' but in this case it has not had a good result! With the destruction of the family, especially the extended family, women are under huge stresses as well. And let's face it we drink for a reason! Does anyone get drunk for pleasure? Pleasure may be the initial goal with the first or second drink, but it always ends badly for many. Most of us drink because of anxiety, and other psychological problems, not for pleasure.

Another push for drinking is people go out to eat more than they ever have too. And I certainly have never gone out to eat where there was no alcohol consumed (not counting McDonald's ).

So a complex problem. Are we going to continue to be pushed into doing something we know is bad for us personally? Our weakness lies in that we drink for a different reason than those who don't become addicted. That's why some use alcohol, some shopping, some gambling, some cocaine...it's the feeling of relief we get, not the substance.

Hope this wasn't a hijack!!
Babs

No worries about the hijack. I ended up not bothering to drink any, anyway.

Alcohol is definitely part of the culture, and wine more so than ever. Millennials are into wine in a big way. Me, I'm just an aging GenXer who has reached indifference and no longer sees any real point to drinking alcohol. I wish them joy of it, though -- most of them won't develop a real problem, so they might as well enjoy it.

We had a nice dinner. My husband drank some of the wine. I did take one sip, to see how it tasted, but I didn't want any and just filled my own glass with water.

I'm not even sure I quite remember what the high feels like. I guess I did reach the Holy Indifference Grail. It just took longer than the more obvious cure.

I still eat too much junk food, though.