Have you ever regretted drinking alcohol and wanted to quit? If so read on for compelling reasons to quit alcohol now.
It’s 11am, you roll out of bed after a booze fuelled night.
A pounding head, nausea, fatigue, dizziness…the anxiety hits, you check your phone, you have 3 missed calls and numerous unanswered messages – “YIKES”.
Your alcohol induced blackout means you’re missing hours from the previous night.
So you put your phone out of reach and roll over to spend the rest of the day feeling ill. You regret having had that first drink – and all of your antics are on social media.
Alcohol makes us feel good for a little while, thus it’s addictive for a reason. It becomes a habit and we spend the work week anticipating that first drink, second, third, fourth…what more reason do we need to quit alcohol.
Drinking styles
People approach alcohol differently, including:
– the always sober people, those who see no reason to drink.
– those who enjoy one drink, and that’s their limit.
– those who have no off switch and enjoy an occasional or regular alcohol binge.
All of the above will find this post useful – read on for your reasons to quit alcohol.
Reasons why you should quit drinking alcohol
Now is the time to quit and be a better you, alcohol is an obstacle we can overcome. Make a concerted effort to quit alcohol, set yourself goals that help you remain motivated to quit.
Why quit drinking alcohol?
#1. You’ll be wealthier if you quit alcohol
Alcohol is expensive, especially when purchased in a bar or other venue, its got a high mark-up. We dislike paying for bottled water but we’ll spend much more on a beer or glass of wine.
The cost of buying alcohol to drink at home can add up. How much do you spend a year, could it be better spent? For example: a holiday, shopping, building up your savings or paying off debt.
In fact drinking alcohol can be more costly than just the purchase price, other costs include:
- Impulse buys – these seem like a great idea at the time, but drunken purchases are not always sensible purchases.
- Gambling – a small fortune can be gambled away online or in the Casino, because of lowered inhibitions.
- Alcohol extras – the cost of the extras that go hand in hand with drinking: taxis, takeaways, dry cleaning bills…
- Employment – drinking alcohol and skipping work must be the number one reason for sick days. Without sick days how much more progress could we make at work. With a good sick record, being a reliable worker, no lost shifts – promotion could be more likely.
Consequently you can lose income or promotion because of your hangover days. What’s more lost workdays have even more impact on the self-employed or those on flexible hours.
#2. Quit alcohol for more life opportunities
As with work opportunities becoming available, life opportunities will be more abundant:
Driving
Not drinking alcohol means we can drive wherever we want, for example, if we went somewhere and decided to have a good drink we would be stuck in that location until we ordered a taxi home.
Alternatively a sober person can leave and go wherever and whenever they want, this is useful if the event turns out to be a dud, and you want a quick escape.
Also, if we binge the night before, we shouldn’t drive. Because alcohol stays in the system for many hours, it could cause you to drink drive.
Consequently the consequences can be substantial – a serious accident, being criminalised, losing your license or even going to prison.
So, making sure you don’t drink drive means restricting your activities to where you are or relying on other means of transport. This can be especially costly or inconvenient if the previous night drinking was on impulse and you had plans.
No hangovers
Hangovers can disrupt our plans, leading to another wasted hangover day. Conversely no hangover, no limit to what you can go and do.
New adventures
Having a lively social life that involves drinking is time consuming and leads to repeating the same thing every week, meeting down the pub every Saturday means that you’re missing out on other more satisfying and life-affirming adventures.
Meeting new people
Having a group of drinking buddies is fun when you’re drinking, but what do you have in common? Breaking out of this cycle of spending time doing the same thing with the same group of people will open up your social circle.
Indeed not drinking can open up new opportunities to meet different people. People who you’ll likely have more in common with than just alcohol.
#3. A sense of empowerment
Alcohol is addictive and habit forming, we crave it, and we are controlled by it, being consumed with anticipating the next drinking session.
Quit alcohol and we get back control over our lives and will make us stronger and more confident. Alcohol has an influence on us and what we do.
This sense of empowerment and overcoming an obstacle in life means that we will have achieved something great, including:
- Will-power – we have given up something that has taken mental strength, if we can give up alcohol what other bad habits or negative things in our life can we quit.
- Control – we take back control over our body and mind, rather than cravings controlling us, we control our cravings.
- Resilience – this strength, flexibility and toughness can be of benefit to us throughout our whole lives.
- Confidence – a new level of belief in ourselves and our abilities.
#4. Quit alcohol to be healthier
Research shows that alcohol is bad for our emotional and physical well-being. There’s so much information out there readily available, which is easily accessible for more in-depth reading.
Here is a brief highlight of some of the reasons why giving up alcohol will make you healthier:
Emotionally healthier
Turbulent emotions – Once the feel good buzz wears off we can feel sad and anxious. If we self-medicated ourselves because we were feeling down we would feel even worse once we are sober.
No more regrets – Alcohol lowers inhibitions, so we may regret the things we have done whilst drinking. But if you do have regrets there are ways to heal them.
Better quality of sleep – Alcohol disrupts our sleep, the better sleep we have the better we feel, and the healthier we are emotionally and physically.
More mental energy – Drinking alcohol leads to brain fog which prevents us thinking clearly, disrupting our decision making, memory and focus.
No guilt – No more lying to our loved ones about how much we drank or hiding alcohol bottles around the house.
Alcohol stocks – No more concern about having a stock in the house, the panic that hits when your stock runs low.
Physically healthier
You’ll look better – Alcohol causes weight gain due to the empty calories and the food binges that can go hand in hand with drinking.
Alcohol dehydrates you meaning that your skin will be damaged, this dehydration makes you look older.
Increased cancer risk – Throat, mouth, oesophagus, stomach…it’s a long list…
Decreased brain health – Dehydration is not good for the brain, there is no safe level of drinking when it comes to the brain.
Increased likelihood of liver disease – Your liver will rejuvenate if you stop, it’s a remarkable organ, but don’t take the risk of causing irreparable damage.
Accident prone – Your chance of having an accident increases, leading you to put yourself or others at risk.
Aches and pains – Alcohol makes those little niggles worse, robbing your body of nutrients, so you’ll feel achier.
Give up alcohol and you’ll be emotionally and physically healthier, it will help you live a longer and happier life.
#5. Better memories and experiences
Events that we attend can be amazing – music concerts, food fairs, weddings, city breaks. They create great memories and are worthwhile experiences.
However, when we consume alcohol our memory is effected. By not drinking we can be in the moment and take away great and lasting memories.
When you don’t drink and someone asks how an event went, you can tell them what you did and how much fun you had, instead of lying to yourself and others – because you can’t remember anything from the event.
The memories we make can be tarnished if we did something silly that we regret when we’ve had one too many.
Wouldn’t it be great to have no more blackouts and remember the great things we’ve experienced rather than reliving them through our friends, social media or photos on your phone.
#6. You’ll have better quality relationships
It’s amazing how you have a good drink with someone and they’re suddenly your best buddy, then you either never see them again or if you spend time with them you either don’t get on or all they want you to do is have a drink with them.
Drinking buddies
Are they real friends?
You’re essentially ingesting a drug which makes you enjoy spending time with this person, it’s worth asking yourself that if you were sober would you want to spend time with them or would they want to spend time with you.
The drunk you
I’ve overheard someone say that they’ve invited someone to a party, because they’re great when they’ve had a few drinks. Therefor to me this says that they like the drunk in the person, but not the person.
When we drink we our not ourselves, often we can be more outgoing and fun for a short while. Is this who we want to be?
No more lies
Being sober means no more lying to your family and friends about your excessive drinking, trying to hide it. But consequently it means making sacrifices, for example drinkers don’t want to spend time with you because you’re sober.
Respect
It will likely be that friends and family will have a new found respect for you, and if they see how happy and healthy you are without booze they may follow your lead. I don’t believe that true good quality relationships can be built around alcohol.
Your partner
This can also be true when in a relationship with your partner, it’s not uncommon that partners can only tolerate each other when drinking, this isn’t a healthy foundation for a relationship, and if you do choose to quit alcohol, you may find that you have nothing in common.
Moving on from this sort of relationship can only be positive and distancing yourself from your drinking buddies or changing your drinking habits may open up a whole new world.
A world in which you meet interesting people who like you for you and not your alter ego, booze filled self.
#7. An enhanced life experience
Whatever you choose to do in life, it should be about having the best experience possible. This potentially means quitting alcohol, it seems fun in the short-term, resulting in long-term consequences.
Get rid of this thing that is limiting you and you’ll be able to see a world filled with endless possibilities, without the stopping and starting of drinking: hangovers, recovery, a few clear non brain fog days then drinking again.
Without this to get in the way, your life will have more meaning; on your death bed it’s very unlikely that you would say: ‘I wish I had drank more alcohol’.
Without the burden of alcohol constantly bugging you, you can be more optimistic about your future.
In conclusion…
To succeed in life, sacrifices must be made, to quit alcohol is a short-term sacrifice. As a result you may have a quieter social life, be invited to less stuff and lose some drinking buddies.
However in the long run you’ll have more money in your bank, you’ll be fitter and look better, you’ll have a better circle of friends, experience new things, have less regrets and embarrassing incidents and you’ll ultimately be happier.
And lets be honest…
…drinking alcohol is losing its sparkle, with Sober October, 100 day no drinking challenge, and many celebrities opening up about never consuming alcohol, the trend is moving in one direction.
So why not be ahead of the game, stop now, be the real authentic you and start as you mean to go on, find what works for you.
Spread the good news and bring others into what will become the new normal, a more sober world, and a sober, better, new improved you.