I want to find out about teetotallers ...

ELAPSED 17 / 349 REMAINING

Now that I've decided to "go teetotal", I thought I must learn more about teetotalism:

• what makes teetotallers choose their lifestyle?,
• what makes teetotallers able to abstain?, and
• what makes teetotallers tick?

Well I think to answer any of those, I need to ask the question "What makes drinkers tick?"

For me as a drinker (i.e. pre-2011) I would use alcohol as a social lubricant, a way to enjoy myself and be on a level with everyone around me who is also drinking. Jokes / moments of hilarity to the tipsy amongst us at parties or in the pub are more often than not 'shared moments' with our sober / teetotal brethren. Sure, the odd party / pub visit I've been to, I've remained sober so that I can drive home. But what am I going to do when this situation arises periodically and I have no choice? Okay, the choice is self-inflicted, but I really want to do this.

Also, the reaction of drinkers to non-drinkers is quite stark. A drinker will often eye a teetotaller at a party suspiciously, and regularly choose to not talk to them stood there with their lemonade, ice and a slice. Do drinkers feel threatened? I always did - sort of - and I think moreover a little bit jealous of a teetotaller's ability to both possess the willpower to abstain from the demon drink and - most importantly - to avoid looking like a complete dick throwing some highly irregular shapes on the dance-floor, tanked up on lager. A late-2010 drinking event in Chester had me throwing HIGHLY irregular shapes on a dance-floor, much to the hilarity of everyone else. Let's see 'em laugh this year :-))

So for me, I think teetotallers like to be in control of themselves, to indulge in 'drunkenfreude', and to be guaranteed a lift home (their own) at night. I think they like to avoid the 'gueule de bois' (wooden mouth), as the French put it, in the mornings, and they like to be reassured that there's less of a chance that their liver will resemble a crumbly yellow mass as cirrhosis sets in and gives them bouts of hepatic encephalopathy.

My other argument is that let's face it, until we were the age of 15 (or between the ages of 10 and 13 on the rough council estate near us) most of us had been teetotal, so why should it be difficult to spend another year bereft of beer?