Published on 12, July, 2020
hi all. On my way to assessment (16 months and counting). One thing I’ve realised as I’ve reflected and made sense of the last 30/40 years (47yo) is my relationship with beer. I’ve always drank beer and often too much (no off switch) but I’ve now made sense of it. I promise I’m not making excuses for the beer drinking - but made sense to why I think I’ve always gone to it to help me.
as soon as I have the first drink I feel everything inside change. In essence it’s all about the noise/senses that start to calm down. And I’ve always drank in social occasions - and this takes the anxiety away that’s been building up all day.
I think what I wanted to ask is… is this familiar to anyone? And is there another option that a drink currently provides?
Yes, this very much sounds familiar to me. I'm not a heavy drinker, and when I do drink, it's light beer, but I do enjoy a few cans of an evening to relax and wind down. Before it was brought to my attention that I might be autistic, I just used to think I drank like anyone else - it's the weekend, it's allowed, it's fun. But for me, I realised I'd began to enjoy having the odd few Infront of the telly on a Friday or Saturday evening, rather than going on nights out and drinking ALOT like I was younger. It naturally became a comfort thing where I learnt there was an off switch but I still just wanted to relax with the odd few.
My wife would tell me it won't help, and would affect my sleep. But my drinking wasn't like that. No strong spirits or liquors. Just the odd bud light (I know haha) to relax me from a day of trying too hard