We live in an age I never expected to see. An age where being T-total or not drinking is not only becoming common but cool.
As someone who grew up surrounded by drinking as a cultural norm it’s sometimes hard to see how we got here.
But over time I’ve known more and more people who have quit or significantly reduced their alcohol intake. And more and more young people who just never really got into it in the first place.
For me, the realisation came in my early thirties that something needed to change.
I’m not 100% sure why, but maybe it was because my hangovers were getting worse as I got older.
I was tired of feeling terrible the day after a night out. And increasingly frustrated that I was wasting my time, particularly at the weekends by being hungover.
I needed to take action.
So I took a break from alcohol. I was interested to see how hard would it be to go for an extended period with no drinking.
My primary concern was social events. Would I be labelled boring? Would it feel odd going to parties? Would I still have fun?
And the truth. It was remarkably easy to do.
- I didn’t miss it.
- People barely noticed.
- I felt way better about myself.
- And I enjoyed myself at social events as much and if not more than before.
So it was a great success. What I found was that the offer of the first drink is the only bit that needs any thinking.
You walk into a room or a bar and someone offers you a drink. You just need to be ready to say ‘no thank you, but I will have a [insert non alcoholic drink of your choice: water, fizzy pop, tea, coffee, etc]’.
Once I’d got over that first step it’s plain sailing. The first drink is the only point where emotionally I felt some resistance. Probably because there’s so many years of learned behaviour to say yes when offered a drink.
And the benefits of not drinking sell themselves when you get into it.
A) you get to be the smug ‘not hungover person’.
B) you sleep better and feel well rested the next day.
C) you get more done at the weekend.
D) it’s better for your body and you also end up avoiding all the hunger for snacks that comes with a hangover.
E) you save money because you’re not buying alcohol and associated snacks.
The list goes on.
From a great shape perspective there were two key benefits.
- I lost weight (presumably because I was avoiding the calories in the booze and the associated snacks I’d eat).
- I had more free time where I didn’t feel groggy to go and do exercise.
This is what they call a ‘win win’.
I went about 12 months without drinking. It felt remarkably easy to do it (millions of people do of course manage to avoid alcohol every day for all their lives without any issue).
But this break gave me what I needed, which was to reset my relationship with alcohol. At its core, it meant not having casual drinks during the week and not needing to drink at social events.
Today, I would not describe myself as T-total. I am more relaxed about it. My intention is to be someone who in general doesn’t drink, but if I am on holiday or there’s something big to celebrate then I’m happy to relax the rule.
That keeps it all pretty easy and straightforward (everything about busylifegreatshape.com must be super simple and super easy). What I want to avoid is getting into an internal debate about whether I should or should not drink at a certain event. The default answer is always no. Easy.
The other risk is that you could start justifying having a drink at all sorts of special occasions. I’ve found myself being quite tough on this. Other people’s birthdays, parties, leaving parties, even weddings don’t count. Otherwise, before I’d know it there would be an excuse every week.
So like everything in life, people need to find their own balance. For me, I want a super simple approach that gives me results. And so far it’s working well.
Cheers!
