Amazing Benefits of Giving Up Alcohol that Will Improve Your Life
My life revolved around alcohol for over forty years. I used to tell people that I was lucky because I had never lost a job or got a DUI.
Now, almost five years alcohol-free, I know that not getting a DUI was not lucky. I realize that if I had faced fines and legal penalties, I might have quit drinking many years earlier.
I never understood younger people swearing off alcohol. My first thought was always, ‘I’ve spilled more alcohol in my life than you ever drank’. Today, I am both impressed and grateful when I run across young people who realize how much better their lives are without it.
I was extremely uncomfortable for a long time after I quit drinking. The longer you drink the more it consumes your life. By the time I quit, I didn’t have any friends that didn’t drink. I didn’t think people gathered in groups for anything that didn’t include alcohol.
If you drink the way I did you won’t magically develop a better lifestyle after quitting. Sober traits will seem foreign and elusive and may take a long time to develop. They are worth waiting for. Almost five years alcohol-free I cannot think of any reason I would ever desire a drink.
People quit drinking for a lot of different reasons, but I can tell you from experience that nobody quits long enough to really get sober unless they are doing it for themselves. I swore off alcohol many times for many different reasons long before I actually gave up on the stuff.
If you do quit and stay sober long enough there will come a day when you realize what the underlying reasons for your drinking actually were. Quitting drinking will not make any of those problems go away. It will leave you in a position to face them head-on with no anesthetic. Hopefully, you will have developed healthier coping mechanisms by that time.
I would never advise a person new to sobriety to hang out around people who are drinking. Remember that nothing is forever though. I can go to family functions, work events, or even bars without any subconscious arousal or desire for alcohol rearing its ugly head.
I drank long enough to earn some physical maladies that I will carry for life. GERD (gastroesophageal reflux disease), Barrett’s Esophagus, and stomach ulcers. Actually, the stomach ulcers have healed but acid reflux and Barrett’s, although manageable, are never reversible.
If you are on the fence regarding your drinking remember there are many worse physical repercussions than what I bear. You could easily develop hepatic steatosis, Alcoholic hepatitis, or cirrhosis. Cancer, stroke, heart attacks, wet brain, erectile dysfunction, hypoglycemia, and many other problems become the fate of many heavy drinkers.
Enough of the doom and gloom side, just remember that a party lifestyle will catch up with your body. Do not be like Dave and think it won’t happen to you.
I enjoy my life without alcohol today. I can laugh until I cry, sing, dance, act as much a fool as I choose, and all without drinking. Not that I do those things often, the point is that there is nothing you have done better under the influence of alcohol, than when sober. I used to believe that my billiard skills, dart throwing, and even chess game, were better when I was drinking. Today the only game I play regularly is Scrabble with my wife, but that has more to do with age than abstinence from alcohol.
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