I never got into it and I feel like I’m missing a huge social part of my life. I’ve tried alcohol and it just tastes bad. Maybe if I had enough to get inebriated I’d feel different, but so far nothing about the experience of drinking has been good. Also I grew up around Baptists who don’t have drinking in the culture, so maybe that’s part of it? My parents never had alcohol in the house and there was never beer/wine at family gatherings. I never even saw a full glass of beer in person until I was like 23.
Bars are too loud and there’s too much expectation to drink, parties have the same problem, drinking at home alone sounds sad. I go to concerts and I’m the only person without a huge glass of beer. People hand me drinks and I’m like “nah” and they get mega confused.
What do I do
Is this the opposite of a problem?
Alcohol causes significantly more anxiety than it cures, it just defers it until you sober up, and if you continue to use it as social lubricant you risk alcoholism and degradation of your sober social skills. I started drinking exactly the same as your second paragraph, and it’s inherently unhealthy to use alcohol like that. I’m not saying you’re problem drinking, but drinking to rid anxiety is inherently problematic, and can lead you to some really dark places, so please just be careful. It can get out of hand really easily and lead to major consequences in your life that I wouldn’t wish upon anyone.
Maybe I’m built different but I’ve been drinking for a good decade now and this has not been my experience at all. Is this typical for other people?
Same here. I’ve never experienced anxiety as a result of alcohol.