I Went Three Years Without Alcohol & This Is What I Learned

I’m sipping a Wolf Blass Shiraz (from 2016) as I write this.

Not the best wine I’ve had, but it’ll do.

Just last year, I would have written this with a cup of green tea as my drink of choice.

And five years ago, I wouldn’t have written this at all. Not just because it would’ve been a lie, but because I would’ve been way to smashed to even see straight.

After a boozy month five years ago, I decided to quit alcohol for good.

Thirty straight days of alcohol-fuelled debauchery left me disillusioned with the world’s most popular drug of choice.

A bottle of vodka a night was the foundation. I’d usually throw a bunch of beer, wine, whiskey, or whatever was around on top of that too (my tolerance was insane).

I woke up feeling nauseous and empty after a month of boozing and had the same thought millions of hungover dogs have each morning across the globe:

I’m never drinking again.

Except this time I meant it.

I suddenly realised that alcohol wasn’t helping me…

• Catch good times (only chase them)
• Dull my emotions (only make them harder to control)
• Live a life of freedom (instead I was a slave to a poison)

Don’t get me wrong.

I did have good times with alcohol.

Alcohol was the center of my social life at university (isn’t it for most people?).

Man, we used to have some great boozy times.

Regular whiskey tastings (I was a bit of an aficionado), cool shisha bars, just shooting the breeze with a couple of cans, summer days watching the boat races with Pimm’s and cake (Oxford… lol), formal dinners where we acted like football hooligans in suits, and a weekly radio show where my co-hosts and I would get completely and utterly bladdered before going on air and humiliating ourselves.

But those days were in my past.

When I woke up with a hangover, a guilty conscience, and a busted down front door (long story), I knew I wouldn’t drink again.

I thought it would be forever.

Turns out I happily went around three years before knocking back a cold one again.

I Went Three Years Without Alcohol & This Is What I Learnt

You don’t just cut an addictive substance out of your life for many years and not learn something.

I learnt a lot from quitting smoking and I learnt a thing or two from going booze-free.

Here are a few things I noticed.

People get mad and offended at your personal choice

The hardest thing about not drinking isn’t actually abstaining from alcohol…

The hardest thing is explaining to people that YOU DON’T DRINK.

I will never fully understand why people get so offended by the innocent actions of others.

When I choose to have a Diet Coke instead of a Budweiser, I’m not hurting anybody.

In fact, the chances of me hurting anyone (including myself) are drastically reduced because I have a clear head.

And yet…

Try to go to a social gathering and watch the reactions of people when you decline a drink.

People simply will not accept it.

• Maybe it’s because they perceive that anyone breaking from the established norm threatens their way of life.
• Maybe it’s because people wish they could be sober for social events (but can’t).
• Maybe it’s because they’re concerned I can’t have fun without a drink.

I was never self-righteous in my decision not to drink.

I was just exercising my freedom as an individual.

But the crabs wanted to claw me back into the bucket.

Which leads me to the next thing I learnt from not drinking…

You stop doing crap you hate

I HATED going to nightclubs.

But I always felt like I “had to” go to nightclubs because “everyone else does it”, because it’s the “cool” thing to do…

I had to drink sooooo much to put up with the nonsense that goes on in a nightclub.

And I can honestly say I’ve never had a good time in a nightclub (and I’ve been to a lot).

I’ve also been inside nightclubs sober…

People look like zombies.

It’s embarrassing.

And I used to be one of them.

Also:

Look around a nightclub if you’re ever in one. 

MOST people aren’t enjoying themselves at all.

Quit alcohol and you probably aren’t ever going to find yourself in a nightclub again.

That’s a win.

You do more stuff that’s exciting when sober

Quitting alcohol coincided with me travelling the world.

I know a lot of tourists like to get hammered abroad.

I understand wanting to try to local fare, but after seeing the world through sober eyes, I thought it was a bit of a shame to go travelling and deaden yourself to the wonders around you.

I’ve been to some pretty cool places and I still have vivid memories of them.

I know I would have forgotten a lot of cool stuff if I’d been drinking at the time.

Grinding away at work can be easier with alcohol

Going without alcohol isn’t all rainbows.

I work a lot.

Often I’ll work way into the evening, while other people are chilling in front of the TV.

Some days I’m not feeling it.

On those days, a spot of booze can really help you along.

The other day I was grinding away trying to finish one of my books (my goal this year is to publish a YA trilogy).

It was getting late and I wanted to give up.

But instead of giving up…

I stuck some jazz on the record player and cracked open an ice cold can of Asahi.

Ahhhhhhh……

I wrote for another 2 hours, had a blast doing so, and ended up with a pretty good chapter (if I say so myself).

Alcohol gets a bad rap because people abuse it and do stupid things.

But in moderation and used responsibly, alcohol can be a performance enhancer.

A nice red wine or a cold beer can chill you out, make your more creative, and help push you just a little further.

Alcohol can make work feel like play.

That’s something I missed in my three years without alcohol.

Alcohol can be a nice reward

Sometimes kicking back with a couple of beers and a good bit of beef is a really nice reward for a hard day’s work.

If you stop drinking, you have to find some other way to reward yourself.

Sometimes it doesn’t happen.

You might forget to reward yourself if you have a Type-A personality like me.

But you also often end up rewarding yourself in ways that are healthy.

Here are a few rewards I’d use when alcohol wasn’t an option:

• Working out (a good gym sesh will make you feel good)
• Massage from my girlfriend
• A hot bath with epsom salt
• Yoga

You’re more clear-headed without alcohol

I know… Duhh… Right?

But you really don’t notice the difference until you’ve had alcohol out of your system for a while.

I listened back to some of my old radio shows where me and my mates used to get hammered on air…

Things I noticed from listening to my drunken ramblings:

• I sounded like a guffawing moron
• Misunderstandings happened all. the. time.
• Didn’t really listen to what others were saying
• Arguments were very common (because of above factors)

I’m so much sharper without a drink.

And, now that I’ve stopped being tee-total, I acknowledge that if I have a drink that I’m going to sacrifice some intellect for the night.

Alcohol is not evil

Even though I was never self-righteous in my alcohol-free years, I did secretly think alcohol was bad.

But now my thoughts have matured.

Alcohol isn’t inherently bad. But some people give it a bad reputation.

I think a lot more people are addicted to alcohol than would care to admit.

If you can have a bit of booze without being an asshole to people around you, then alcohol in moderation isn’t bad.

But if you’ve been drinking consistently for a few years, I would recommend every drinker take at least 1 year off from alcohol.

You’ll probably learn a lot about yourself.

In my alcohol-free three years, I was more productive, in better shaper, more clear-headed, nicer to be around, and just generally happier.

Have you gone a long time without alcohol?

Was it difficult? Rewarding? Did you miss the booze? Are you still abstaining now? And, if so, do you have plans to return? Let me know!