6 Months Sober - How I Quit Drinking Alcohol
I’m Officially 6 Months Sober
I Cut Alcohol Out Of My Life, This Is How
To understand exactly how I quit drinking alcohol, I recommend that before continuing, you read my previous blog post, Why I Quit Drinking.
Quitting drinking was easy.
At least, it was once I took the right steps.
I had tried to temporarily quit or lower my consumption temporarily a few times, and it kind of worked. The issue was that when I resumed my normal amount of drinking, all that happened was my issues came back, just now I had a lower alcohol tolerance.
The biggest hurdle that got in the way of my quitting was the fear of missing out (FOMO).
I love partying, I love having a good time, I love meeting new people and I love doing ridiculous things. All of those occur when I’m drinking. I hate missing out on a good time.
Any time I tried quitting the date was always delayed because I just wanted to go to one more party. If it wasn’t delayed then I would restart drinking again earlier than I planned because of a special occasion.
It’s my brother’s birthday, this DJ is in town, or everyone is going to be there… whatever the reason was, it always got in the way of my plan to go clean.
Again, FOMO.
So how did I quit drinking alcohol?
Keep reading if you want the answer.
My Why
The reason why I told you to read my previous blog post, Why I Quit Drinking, is because that was the main reason I was able to quit successfully.
My “why” became more important than my “why not”.
Everything started adding up more and more. I was in the process of trying to learn new things, building stronger relationships, and drinking just kept getting in the way.
My “why” meant more to me than having a potentially fun night.
If you want to quit drinking, you need a powerful “why”.
I Became A Non Drinker
The moment I identified myself as a non-drinker, quitting became easier.
It’s always hard to look at your friend in the face, the same friend you’ve had countless fun nights with, and tell him “I don’t drink anymore”. The nice part is, it gets easier the more you do it. Even better, the more you do it, the more people have your back.
Once you start identifying yourself as a sober person, you actually take that identity upon yourself and you don’t want to be anyone else. Not only that, but others start to see you as that sober person as well.
If people see you as a sober person, a lot of people may end up assuming it’s because you have an alcohol problem.
That’s okay. Let them.
No one wants to be the guy to convince an ex-alcoholic to have his first drink.
When you become “the sober person”, it becomes much easier.
Replace Alcohol
It’ll be a lot harder to quit drinking if you’re only drinking water when you go out. Don’t get me wrong, I love water and have gone to parties with a water bottle, but it’s a lot easier if you replace it with something good.
I replaced alcohol with numerous different things.
My go-to has been coconut water. I can walk around the party with a 1L bottle of coconut water. People normally compliment it and do not ask any questions.
Another good replacement is komboucha. Yes, I know there’s like 0.1% alcohol in it. No one is getting drunk off kombucha. It’s good however because it’s different, tasty and can be a good treat on your night out.
Whatever your replacement is, make it something that you look forward to!
Other great options: tea, fancy soda, a Slurpee, or vitamin water.
New Activities
I used to be at the club every weekend.
In fact, for nearly 7 years straight, I was at the club every Saturday. I was either working, drinking for my birthday, or travelling and ending up in a club anyways.
It turns out there are other fun things to do that don’t involve drinking. Who would have thought?!
Take this time you would when you would normally be out partying and try some of these other things out.
I personally love playing Catan (a board game), but there are other great board games too. Going to escape rooms is also a great alternative or just movie nights in!
When I don’t do something fun like that I focus on achieving my goals. That means reading, doing courses, or putting in extra time working!
Great Support System
Not everyone is as blessed as I am when it comes to having a great support system. Once I told my family, friends and girlfriend that I was going to quit drinking indefinitely, they supported me (for the most part).
No one really pressured me when I reminded them I’m not drinking during parties. Best of all, my girlfriend and friends would still spend a Friday or Saturday night with me doing activities that didn’t involve drinking.
If you have a great support system, you can achieve quite a lot.
That’s really all there is to it!
The biggest difference between quitting this time vs one of the last times was my “why”. My “why” is the reason I am now over 6 months sober instead of just having done another 2 months spurt.
If you want to quit drinking, you can, you just have to want to bad enough.
Find the discipline inside you, figure out your “why”, and find something new to do with your time. You can do it.
Thanks for reading
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Be love