I don’t drink due to complications with my epilepsy. I also don’t drink sparkling water or carbonated drinks because the carbonation is incredibly painful for my throat.
Thankfully having the epilepsy as an angle excuses me from the barrage of people who ask why I don’t drink. There’s still the occasional pushers but they stigmatize themselves when everyone else realizes.
Not drinking does definitely hurt your social life though, in the same way that not smoking or not doing drugs does. It’s about the shared social activity of it all, as much as how it makes one feel. However if you’re just semi proactive in suggesting hanging out with people, and set your own social terms, people just naturally adapt to it.
Not drinking has never negatively affected me in the long run socially because of that.
The biggest issue has been dating because while I can explain away my medical condition professionally and socially in other scenarios, it’s difficult to do so when dating as disclosing a medical issue can implicitly be seen as a “defect” in a possible future mating partner for many people. Thankfully, again, just setting the social parameters yourself often just works, and the people who are put off by it aren’t great future partners to begin with.
Thankfully having the epilepsy as an angle excuses me from the barrage of people who ask why I don’t drink. There’s still the occasional pushers but they stigmatize themselves when everyone else realizes.
Not drinking does definitely hurt your social life though, in the same way that not smoking or not doing drugs does. It’s about the shared social activity of it all, as much as how it makes one feel. However if you’re just semi proactive in suggesting hanging out with people, and set your own social terms, people just naturally adapt to it.
Not drinking has never negatively affected me in the long run socially because of that.
The biggest issue has been dating because while I can explain away my medical condition professionally and socially in other scenarios, it’s difficult to do so when dating as disclosing a medical issue can implicitly be seen as a “defect” in a possible future mating partner for many people. Thankfully, again, just setting the social parameters yourself often just works, and the people who are put off by it aren’t great future partners to begin with.