Not drinking alcohol makes me a weird person.

I think I was 19 the first time I drank alcohol. It was probably at a party, and I wanted to try and probably do the same things as my friends.

I went to a number of social events in my twenties and, apart from a couple of times when I ended up drunk (and totally regretted it), I rarely drank alcohol. In fact, I have always drunk Coca-Cola or water at parties and restaurants because I have never felt any pleasure in drinking alcohol.

I must admit that, once or twice, I was amused by the kind of disinhibition I felt after drinking, but it has never been enough to make me like alcohol.
Actually, I hate the taste of wine, I find it too dry. I don’t like champagne because it seems to go straight to my head as soon as I drink a glass. I drink a beer now and then (and by that I mean maybe a beer every three months).

As I grew older, I began to find it strange how some people regarded me because of this.
One day, I went to a birthday party at a restaurant, we were all seated around a table and I was the only one who had ordered a soft drink. When the waitress came to serve us, one of the guests started asking me questions about why I didn’t drink. It made me feel weird, as if he thought I’d been an alcoholic or had an alcoholic parent. Plus, it was a bit too invasive.
I also know that some people find me annoying because of it. They see me as an uptight person who doesn’t do funny things. But that’s okay, I don’t care. I don’t need to prove anything to them.

Yet I’ve never understood why not drinking could be such a subject.
I feel the same way when people talk to me about the fact that I don’t want to have children or that I’m a vegetarian. Why does this always intrigue them? Why does it make me and my peers such strange people? Well, it obviously has to do with the society we live in and how a person should behave and live their life. Well I believe there are no social rules that we are obliged to follow. You can go to a party and have fun without drinking, you can make friends without drinking either.
I’m even more puzzled because I don’t see how it should be seen as something strange and questionable. I don’t drink alcohol, which doesn’t harm my health (besides, I rarely drink Coke now), and it doesn’t affect the way I behave and think. I don’t ask people why they drink because it’s none of my business, and I don’t understand why the other way round isn’t equally valid.