Background

Exactly one year ago, I had my last alcoholic drink to date. I don’t remember exactly what it was. A few days later, I thought: what if I stopped drinking alcohol for good?

Reasons

I didn’t have any specific reasons. Like many others, I might have a drink or two at a party. I never particularly enjoyed alcohol, except maybe Moscatel from Setúbal. Once, on a hike up Seceda in the Dolomites, a beer paired well with an apple strudel.

Shift

The main context where alcohol appeared in my life was grabbing one or two ciders or beers with colleagues after work.

Beer gives you an excuse to slip into a conversation circle and something to fidget with—the label on the bottle.

But I started noticing that beyond that, alcohol had zero utility. The conversations flowed just as well without it. The jokes were just as funny.

Damage

The downside was clear: alcohol wrecked my sleep. Every time I had a beer after work, I would wake up exhausted the next morning, and it disrupted the whole week.

And let’s be honest: one beer doesn’t take long to drink. So you either get a second one (which wrecks sleep even worse) or switch to a Coke (too fizzy, too sweet, and has caffeine).

Limiting the damage

The common advice is to drink less, or less often. But if you do drink, that’s hard to stick to because of social pressure.

Not drinking at all, on the other hand, eliminates the problem entirely.

My experience

So how did this year go?

Pros

• +++ Sleep isn’t wrecked by alcohol – a huge win for such a small change. I’m really happy about this!
• +++ I don’t pay for a useless drink – beer costs at least a few euros, so I can save the money spend it on coffee that I actually enjoy.
• ++ I don’t risk dying from alcohol – people die from alcohol for many reasons: it’s toxic, addictive, and dangerous when mixed with driving. I probably wasn’t on track to die from it, but now that risk is completely gone.

Cons

• (-) I don’t get to experience the taste of alcoholic drinks. This impact ranges from none to very small. For example, I don’t like wine anyway, but Moscatel is tasty. Still, it’s nowhere near worth sacrificing my sleep quality.
• (-) I need to answer the “why” question. Life is short, and I do spend some time explaining why I don’t drink. But maybe that’s an investment in other people’s lifespans?

Conclusion

I really recommend stopping drinking completely. The effort required is tiny, and the benefits are huge. For me, it took very little psychological energy to stick with it. Plus, having stuck with it gives me a little bragging material (like this post!).