Sometimes people make broad assumptions about others based on one small detail of their behavior or personality. If a woman tells you she’s a vegan, you might assume that she would lecture and berate you whenever you ate a burger or a steak.
You might also think she hugs trees in her spare time, doesn’t shave her legs and donates half of her paycheck to Save the Whales. In reality, she might be lactose intolerant and just feels healthier when she doesn’t eat meat. She might miss the heck out of rare prime rib and have a closet full of fur coats.
Not drinking alcohol can also conjure up an overblown image in people’s minds. A fun-loving girl might assume that if you don’t drink, you will judge her harshly for her sinful habit of drinking a beer every now and again. She might think you don’t like to party or let loose and have fun.
She may assume you spend an hour in church every day, are always preaching clean living and like to say a little prayer before you have sex, which you like to do with your clothes on, the lights all the way up and some gospel music in the background.
Just show her that you too are fun-loving and normal in every way, and explain to her in a not-too-serious way why you choose not to drink. Depending on your reason, you might say something like, “I’ve seen what drinking can do to family, so I just decided a long time ago that I’m going to avoid it.”
