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I tried some things when I was younger. But I quit by the time I was 20. I seldom drank after that and quit that in 2000. I also come from a family with addiction issues. Unfortunately my drug of choice is carbs. 

Even if you avoid the most common causes of addiction, the addiction problem is also known as addiction amoeba. This means it can pop up as gambling, sex, food, etc. They all affect the brain the same way.

I've never run into issues with others about the fact I don't do mind altering stuff. I guess I'm too much of a homebody for it to come up.

Devil's Lettuce LMAO!!!!!!  

You are the most non-judgy non devil lettuce consumer, I've always loved that about you.  Thanks for letting your friends be themselves, actually encouraging us to be ourselves.  You set a great example in many ways, and I wish there were more like youuuuuu. 

There's enough to do in life that you don't have to worry about defining yourself by the things you don't do. But I totally get that people might misunderstand and think you're judging them. I think it's because a lot of former drinkers and addicts define their whole life by their sobriety. Good for them if it works, but I've always thought it was kind of sad they didn't have anything else. 

I go through phases with alcohol. My father was a paranoid schizophrenic alcoholic who I never got to know, so for a long time I avoided in entirely. Then I tried some and felt elated, energized, relaxed, happy... That sense of *is this how normal people feel? No wonder they're not depressed...* Then I was scared by how good it felt. It took me a good ten years to realize I *wasn't* an alcoholic.

Now, if there's booze in the house I'll have a couple drinks every night until it's gone, and then do without for months because I hate shopping so much that a stop at the liquor store is more trouble than it's worth.

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Very well penned. Addiction runs in my family too, as well as abusive behaviors. Plus, I have a constellation of allergies. Your essay could be speaking directly from me. In fact, I have had virtually identical discussions with my own kin.

Among my immediate kin, the most prevalent addiction is smoking. Now, if you want to smoke in your house or car, fine. I happen to have allergic asthma (I actually have EIB and non-allergenic asthma too). Anyway, among my most virulent and most immediate triggers is cigarette smoke. Even if you don't smoke around me, if it's in your soft furnishings, it will bring on an asthmatic episode. And, if you smoke, it is in everything and every place you are. So, no… I cannot hang out in your house or carpool with you. It's not a judgment on you for smoking. It's just an attempt for me not to end up in the emergency room or be hospitalized AGAIN for respiratory distress. Before I formed my own household, with a complete moratorium on everything I'm allergic to, I had pneumonia more than a dozen times (including just days after I was born), had chronic bronchitis for two decades, and was hospitalized multiple times as a result. For these reasons, I don't go to the homes of family members who smoke.

[sigh] Speaking to my kin now: No, I'm not judging you for choosing to smoke. However, I cannot help feeling you have chosen cigarettes over me, and then judged me for choosing my actual life over your cigarettes.