Answers for "Why did you quit?"

[Honest Injun]

I was just wondering if any of you had any good or favorite answers to the question, "Why did you quit?"

I love Chemical Turk's: "I perfected it. Just like the game Tic-Tac-Toe I always knew the outcome before playing. So I don't play anymore, it lost its FUN."

I am going on vacation in a couple weeks and know I will be bombarded with this question and want to be armed.

Any ideas for good answers would be much appreciated.:)

[Jackalope]

Possible answers to why did you quit:

It was time.
I am sick of booze.
I find that alcohol doesn't really agree with me anymore.
I am better off without it.
I don't really like it.
I didn't like drinking's effect on me so I decided to stop.
I want to be healthier all around.
I am on meds that don't allow me to drink. (I never use that one, or any falsehoods at this point, but it's useful to many people.)

[peanuts]

I was just wondering if any of you had any good or favorite answers to the question, "Why did you quit?"


Because beer makes my bum look big.

(I think someone has something similar in their 'signature', but I cannot remember who. Apologies for the plagiarism.)
Peanuts

[Maximus]

Because I already drank my share of beer for my life!

[canalview]

I mostly say 'to lose weight'. I had (and still have) a pretty big beerbelly, so most people just seem to nod and accept that as an answer. ;)

[nudedude]

What would you say if you were honest....lol

Because alcohol turns me into a complete and utter idiot, sometimes nasty or just a plain embaressment. I wake up the next day feeling like death and a jittering mess, spending the first half of the day worrying what I did the night before, and the second half drinking again. Not your usual worries though, its a kind of deep sickly feeling in the pit of your stomach, and it plays over and over in your mind whilst you try to put the very little bits of what you remember together.

This second night I drink is a bit different than the first one, I normally lie to family and loved ones about what I am doing, especially if I have stole a bottle of wine out of my dads wine rack because I couldnt handle the hangover anymore. The following mornings worries are normally when is my dad goin to have ago at me about the missing wine, better leave the house, cant handle the agro...pub could be good. So yeah thats why I quit drinking. lol

On a serious note though, I have just said dont want to drink anymore, goin to take it easy for a while.

[cejay]

It depends who I'm with but I have found that a lot of time people answer the question themselves, right after asking.
A close friend who I would have been honest with asked, then after asking said "Just aren't into it anymore?" I just had to nod, he went on to tell me about another friend who did the same and our convo moved on to more important (and fun) things.

CJ.

[Honest Injun]

There are some good answers there.

Here's one I've come up with:

I always drank hoping it would relax me. I quit when I finally found out that alcohol was precisely what was causing stress and anxiety in my life.

[DiggerDave]

Because I already drank my share of beer for my life!Lol, I said much the same thing to my eldest son just the other day. To that I'd also add ... because my drinking had gotten beyond the joke!

[jm8]

the last time I drank I ended up jumping rope in front of a group of people with my shorts down around my ankles

(seriously)

[Jasper]

Because I already drank my share of beer for my life!

Yeah, similiar, I say "I used up all of my drink tickets". Or "It didn't agree with me" (did you come to that conclusion when you were puking over the toilet or when you were running down the street with your pants around your ankles?).

[indigoiis]

"It cost too much."
In more ways than one.

[Steve]

Because I was going to lose everything I cared about.

PeaceWalker

[Ella Fant]

"...because I now take care of people with Liver Disease. "
Partially true. I do have a lot of liver patients now, but I needed to quit long before that. People just instantly shut-up when I say it. Some look guilty and look down at their drink....

[jm8]

more

1. because i got tired of the roller coaster of working hard to recover from a binge, start feeling better after days of sobriety, and then going right back to it. it's so much easier and logical to just stay this way (sober, healthy, and feeling good.)

2. because it's great to wake up on the weekends having my biggest problem be deciding what to have for breakfast. actually, it's a blessing to even be up early enough and to have an appetite for breakfast in the first place.

3. because I enjoy coffee in the mornings, but couldn't partake when i was drinking because i was always too anxious and nerve wracked during those morning afters.

4. because it's so much fun to go to the gym and ATTACK the workout instead of hoping to get through it and that it doesn't attack me.

5. i look better

6. i feel better

7. i save money

8. i make better food choices

9. i don't have hangovers, anxiety, or low blood sugar

10. my BP and triglycerides were getting high

11. my metabolism, appetite, and testosterone go up

12. i don't have to wonder if people can tell i'm hungover or drank heavy last night at work

13. i'm not dehydrated

14. i don't have to wake up with cotton mouth all night and have to guzzle water

15. i snore less or not at all

16. i'm less of a prick, or not at all

17. get along with the wife better and have more and better sex

wow, good list, that was a good positive reinforcement. i normally don't count, but today is day 14 for me. last time i had 2 weeks, i blew it with a weekend binge. not this time, not again.

and i still need to make a decision and go eat something for breakfast, it's damn near 11 am here.

[Anmaal]

Because I felt like I was losing myself. I didn't know who I was anymore, and the person I had become I didn't like. And, religious reasons.

[bigsister987]

16. i'm less of a prick, or not at all

17. get along with the wife better and have more and better sex

.

Hmmm, I wonder if these are connected.... :D

[jm8]

HA! bigsister, i should have guessed women would have not let that one slip by.

of course you are right, but it's also a physical thing too.

[magicmartin]

My answer: "Been there, done that!"

[Honest Injun]

That's a great answer, Magicmartin.

I also loved your answer on the "Why I hate Booze" thread. You said:

"One word really: Control.

My drinking controlled everything. It controlled my fear, my dreams, my sense of worth, my finances, my outlook, my appearance, my brain, my everything.

Now I am resuming control." --Magicmartin

P.S. Love your avatar too.:D

[Rich]

I ask them why do you drink?? Most of the times they will say I don't know. A lot of time they say to feel good. I just reply I already feel good..


Then I bust a beer bottle and stab them with it and say, "HA NOW DO YOU FEEL GOOD JACK?" :D

[BigMac]

Then I bust a beer bottle and stab them with it and say, "HA NOW DO YOU FEEL GOOD JACK?" :D

wasn't expecting that one!

What do I say? I've only had to explain it once. I'm fairly new to this. When I was offered a beer after I had helped out a friend, I just said, no thanks, I've given up drinking. A friend of my friend asked, why? then politely said, I ask because I gave it up 8 years ago. ....hey, we're not alone!

I said, I was just drinking too much. just some nods was the response.

[Honest Injun]

It was kinda like with cigarettes for me. I had to quit completely. And for good.:)

[PBgirl]

I love this thread...I think it's really helpful.

I recently quit smoking and it's not a big deal for me to tell people that I can't drink or else I'll crave a smoke. Everyone supports smoke quits...isn't that funny?

But I was thinking about this very question the other day as I'm preparing for another visit home where I'll be around friends. Many already know of my struggles in the past. Some won't. It's funny, seems more and more people are drinking less and less...it's the ones with the problem who are the curious ones. People are much more into their health these days, at least at my age. If anyone pushes it I'll probably just say something like, "I don't want to, that's why". What are they going to do, challenge me?

[manatee hunter]

"You prefer me drunk??? Thanks for the compliment..." Works pretty good, but it can backfire, depending on your sober personality;)

[Bridgit]

I'm allergic to it.
My doctor told me to.
I felt like it.
It goes against my religion.
Yuck, that stuff makes me sick.

[Hoots]

I was tired.

[Kayvee]

"It wasn't doing me any good." Tha's my regular answer, and that's the truth.

[KSA]

Thanks, I've had enough already.

[Honest Injun]

I am an all or nothing kind of guy.:)

[spongebetty]

I like KSA's answer. That could be taken a couple ways.

"No thanks, I've already had enough."

[harley]

1. I quit because I wanted to live.
2. I quit because I don't want to lose another family.
3. I quit because it was getting me no where in life except in debt and an early grave.
4. I quit because I love my baby daughter and don't want to put her though a bunch of crap with my drinking.
5. I quit because I chose to better my life.
6. I quit because I just got sick of being sick and tired all the time.
I could go on and on but i'll leave it at this for now.

[ed blaq]

I quit for three reasons only.
MY Wife
My Daughter
My Son
Nuff Said!
Day 16!:D

[hemingway]

Public answer....

"I was starting to get really bad reactions and hangovers after just one beer. Felt like I was allergic to it. Can't believe it, I used to love my beer. Oh well......No, I don't want one thanks, it honestly does make me feel like shit but thanks anyway"

Private answer....

I could feel myself dying. Quickly.

[jonesing]

[QUOTE. I quit because I love my baby daughter and don't want to put her though a bunch of crap with my drinking.[/QUOTE]

amen!!

[blue angus]

Public answer....

"I was starting to get really bad reactions and hangovers after just one beer. Felt like I was allergic to it. Can't believe it, I used to love my beer. Oh well......No, I don't want one thanks, it honestly does make me feel like shit but thanks anyway"

Private answer....

I could feel myself dying. Quickly.

I could feel myself dying. Wow.

Hemingway, I saw your quote from Hamills book and it reminded me of a great Gatsby quote from the same book;

"One night I did hear a material car there, and saw its lights stop at his front steps. But I didn't investigate. Probably it was some final guests that had been away at the ends of the earth and didn't know that the party was over"

I think I may have even pointed that out the last failed time I was here...lol

I think the main reason that supercedes even my own selfish concerns for my health that I seem to so easily minimize when convenient, is the growing awareness of my 11 year old son...

He is no child anymore and he "sees" things now.....(who am I fooling, God knows what he has seen his whole life)

One day I will have to tell him about drinking and his alcoholic genes and I need to do that sober.

I just have to.

I need to re-start my old journal (which I cannot bring myself to even read), and since I get paralyzed at the thought of it, I may just paste my response
here as it seems like a good place to start.

[T-Bone]

Life is too short to waste another minute in a drunken state.