Watching people party their life away

I don't have an alcohol addiction problem, but I've been around quite a few people in my lifetime that have had trouble putting the bottle down. I'm currently involved with someone that has a bit of a drinking problem and also carelessly puts other substances in his body that he can get his hands on, whether it be pills, hallucinogens, etc. This isn't something that occurs on a daily basis, but at least every weekend a new drunken episode occurs and who knows what else. It is a long distance relationship, so I'm unsure of what extent goes on in a daily basis. The most frustrating part is listening to him say that he is going to start doing productive things in his life and he is tired of drinking, but always ends up at someones house by the end of the night with a beer in his hand. I can understand addictions are hard to beat and they put a lot of stress on other people involved in the persons life, but as I look around at a lot of people in my age group, I see a lot of people still partying. I'm 25 years old and that is still young, but I would think that around this age, people should be settling down a bit. Instead, I see groups getting together to drink and get high like they are still in high school. I just don't understand or get it. Does anyone else notice this too? It really bothers me!

Addiction is a difficult thing to deal with and there are still a lot of people partying out there that are at an age that they should be doing things with their life. Like you, my personal belief is that by age 25, the partying should be behind you. The thing is, 25 is when the brain is finally fully developed so its the transition stage when people start gaining that capacity (hopefully) to make better decisions, so its more than likely that it would be a couple more years before people would actually take the steps to give up the partying and do something constructive with their lives.

Hi ~ I'm a recovering alcoholic, and at age 23 I was just BEGINNING my drinking career. I drank HEAVILY for 20 years before deciding that i'd had enough. I'm lucky that I lived that long.

Alcoholism is a terrible disease -- one drink is too many and a thousand isn't enough. It creates a compulsion in you that you MUST have a drink -- you have no choice, or so you think. Your body physically NEEDS the alcohol. You make loads of promises to quit, and you quit a million times -- only to pick up that first drink again. Most people have to hit "bottom" before they really quit. They have to lose something, i.e. their license, their homes, their family, etc., before they can 'see' what alcohol is doing to them and their loved ones.

I HAD to go to AA to stop drinking -- I just couldn't do it on my own. Thank God they were there for me.

This generation has more things available to them, i.e. Cocaine, marijuana, speed, alcohol, than any other generation has had. There seems to be more and more drugs coming into the picture all the time. And these things are easier to get than they ever were ---- Life is difficult so instead of learning how to cope with daily life, people decide to take a substance to make them "feel good." Trouble is, they NEVER consider the end result -- addiction. They always feel that "it will never happen to me because I can control it." BULL.

More and more people are waiting longer to "settle down." Many don't marry until they're in their 30's. Many don't start careers until their 30's. So they have more time to "party hearty" -- and potentially ruin their lives.

Because I've been thru it, I hate to see it happen too. I sure don't know what the answer is.

this site may offer you some suggestions on why this phenomena occurs:
http://www.newroadstreatment.com/new...dult-addiction

in regards to your bf, there's a 12 step program to help ppl like you deal with the problem drinker/user. it's called al-anon.
http://www.al-anon.alateen.org/is-alanon-for-you
the quiz is most helpful at this site.

Thank you everyone for the advice! It is just hard for me to grasp how so many people around my age are still into the groupie, drinking/party scene. When I was in high school, I always assumed that right around the age of 25 things would die down quite a bit. Instead, I see groups of people even older than me partying it up every weekend. I hate how people form bonds around getting together to drink. Isn't there anything else in life that can be enjoyable enough and more productive/useful that people can do?