Its always funny when I go out with some friends or hang out with people at a restaurant or bar setting and see their reactions when I tell them I don't drink. It has become such a norm in society to drink that I'm looked at as crazy for not drinking. I have always felt that you can have fun without getting intoxicated and stand by that no matter what.
I gave up alcohol around 2019 during my 2nd year of college as part of my decision of going monk mode which I will elaborate more in a later post. I gave it up along with a lot of other things to reset and focus but didn't think it would still be the same five years later. I had my fun years in college you know having fun with alcohol with my friends and stuff. It was funny because I was the first one to be 21 in my friend group so I would be the one always getting the alcohol and others for parties, tailgates or overall just nights in which we would stay in and chill.
There would be days in which I would drink a lot and not remember what happened the night before you know the same college stories you hear. It was all fun at times you know going to parties and also having good moments with friends but after a while it started to get old. The same things and cycle wasn't for me and I felt like I needed a change. Going into monk mode for me during my 2nd year was for me to find purpose and focus on exactly what matters and part of that was giving up habits that weren't benefiting me.
Monk mode changed my life a lot and really helped me find purpose and focus on things that matter in life. For some reason I never had the urge to drink after that even during social events and I decided to give it up all together. After graduating college and working in the mental health field, I have seen how much alcohol impacts the lives of people and their relationships to others. There are stories every other day about drunk drivers getting stopped for DUIs and even recently a 19 year old drunk driver killed a family of 5. It is really sad and no one deserves to lose their loved ones because of someone's wrong decision.
I also see a lot of people in my field who struggle with Alcohol and drugs. It gets really bad that they can't help it and feel like there is nothing else they can turn to. Even if they get help for a little bit, they relapse and go right back to it. It is not easy to deal with this and no matter how much it may be destroying them, there is nothing they do to stop. I never wanted to be in this position and know I am disciplined enough to be able to control it but still never felt like drinking. 5 years later, it's still the same and I don't plan on changing anytime soon.
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