Control

[asterroc]

A couple of my students recently have asked me ... well, they said, "you know what it's like to drink a lot, you were a college student." And my answer was no, I don't know what it's like. "C'mon, you have to have drunk." "Yeah right, of course you drank." And no, I didn't. I didn't really drink anything until grad school, and even to this day the most I've had in a night is three. I think I've done this on three separate occasions, and one time I really thought I was going to puke and fall over with just that little.

So the question is why not? And reading through some literature on binge drinking, I figured it out. There is exactly one thing in the world that I can control: Myself. I am not willing to give that up.

Comments

[xoder.livejournal.com]

I've never partaken. I don't like the idea of psychoactive materials at all. Hell, I avoid caffeine unless I know I have to stay up past by what my body wants by at least 4 hours. And, as I have a family history of alcoholism, I'd rather not chance it.

[zandperl.livejournal.com]

I discovered in college that I've a mild sensitivity to caffeine. I use it sparingly as needed, and keep myself well-hydrated at the same time.

I believe my father was an alcoholic during his college days (when he met my mother), I know he used to drink a lot but I don't know how much. I see no need to press him on it.

[gemini6ice.livejournal.com]

When I get depressed, I want a drink. And when I get really stressed, I want a cigarette. Are these cravings genetics combined with knowledge gleaned? Or are they simply environmental?

Of course, I don't give into these cravings. (Okay, I gave into smoking once during a particularly frustrating group software engineering project my senior year)

[gemini6ice.livejournal.com]

Philosophically, I feel the two major "meanings to life" are experience and creation. So caffeine, which doesn't do much but aid in alertness (and therefore making one simply more aware) and productivity (by supplanting adenosine uptake, the process that makes nerves sleepy), is completely all right to me.