I absolutely have underlying concerns about my ability to control it without built in consequences, thus the question. I am curious if others who are in my situation have been put over the edge by retirement.
I never feel like I need a drink but I do have trouble stopping after I have started drinking. I know this is an issue and that many would label me a "functional alcoholic". This is the term they use to describe people who can successfully manage the problem without letting it affect their work, relationships, finances, etc....
Addressing the problem now is not what I wanted to hear! LOL
My cheapness may end up saving me. I spend about half of my "entertainment" budget on drinking. At some point I might figure out how much sooner i could retire if a quit totally and it might be the carrot I need.
This is an interesting variation on "But what will you DO all day?!?"
1970s-80s Navy had quite the alcohol culture; I enthusiastically supported the cause at every opportunity (and in between) for over 20 years. I probably burned through most of a platoon of guardian angels and a few mentors. (Hey, Gumby, remember CAPT Armbrister USMC?) In the late '90s it started to tail off. No incidents or issues; mostly fewer opportunities due to spending every spare minute parenting.
But now in ER I hardly drink at all. I had a glass of a shipmate's wine gift a couple months ago when they came over for dinner. I have a couple beers with a neighbor over at his house for dinner 2-3x/year. I used to drink a beer or two when we'd eat dinner with spouse's parents, but they left the islands in 2006. I haven't bought beer in a number of years. Nearly-full recorked wine bottles sit in our fridge until we can't remember who we got them from, and then the wine gets poured down the sink. No cravings, no holes in my life, don't miss it when it's not there.
Even if people aren't full-blown alcohol-dependent, I think they can have an ingrained tendency toward alcohol consumption that depends on environmental triggers. Most of mine were work/stress related so when those triggers stopped, so did the drinking. Then I started training taekwondo three nights a week and was usually too physically wiped out to attempt to compound the feeling with alcohol. When some sort of trigger would occur (fixing Mexican cuisine, seeing a TV commercial) if I didn't have beer in the house already then it was too much trouble to haul my butt up out of the recliner to go on a beer run.
I'm not sure that one or two weeks' vacation is enough time to recover from work-related fatigue, let alone test-drive an ER lifestyle. Most ER wannabes find that they need a sabbatical of a minimum of three weeks before they start emerging from the "fog of work" to decide how they want to live their ER life. So if you spend a week's vacation getting hammered, it doesn't necessarily imply that you're going to be doing that for 40 years of ER.
I think that once you take a sabbatical (three weeks minimum, preferably longer) or start your ER and can plan your own life without employment interference, you'll find that you're too busy with your life to spend your time drinking. And if you have a physical goal to train for (a marathon or weight loss or some other achievement) then you'll be keeping an eye on your diet and won't want to waste your calorie ration on alcohol.
You could work on your drinking now if you think it'll speed up your ER date. A goal of frugality is inspiring, but I can attest that deprivation leads to bingeing. I wouldn't worry about drinking in ER, except to consider that you'll have so many personal plans for each new day that you won't want to spend the evening before getting wasted.
I think you can confidently wait until ER to see how you feel about alcohol without having to set aside any of your budget in reserve for rehab...
