Hello all!
So a little backstory, I drank really heavily when I was in college like 5 days a week and since then I really haven't binge drank except maybe 9 times in over 8 years.
Since my crazy undergrad days, I've had about 2 standard drinks per day, averaging for a total of 14 per week, trying to keep in line with what the previous health studies said about drinking in moderation. Mostly because I was using those 2 drinks as a night cap to fall asleep quicker.
I never had a reason to quit because it wasn't hurting my relationships, my job, and my health. (usually the signs that you need to quit drinking)
Well I'm having a lot of digestive problems and decided I would take a month off booze to see if I could reset everything. (since I haven't really given my body a true break since graduating college.)
Anything to look out for or helpful recommendations for anyone else who has done this? 31 years old btw
Thank you
I was drinking about as much as you when I was your age. When I got my first job in the profession that turned out to be a career, I was partying 4-5 times a week because the job entailed a midweek break that was almost like an extra day of weekend. So I would be drinking Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Wednesday at a minimum, and more if the circumstances were right (bar special, special occasion, taco Tuesday). I got married after that and the wife was a partier, so the drinking didn't slow down much. Then we had kids and it slowed down (for me) quite a bit. The wife, not so much. I had an alcoholic father and the one thing I promised myself is that my kids would never see me drunk. To this day, they haven't. Then I got divorced and the drinking ramped up again for me.
Then one day it just stopped. It wasn't any grand plan on my part to stop drinking, I just stopped drinking. It no longer held any interest for me. I guess I grew up ... finally ... or grew tired of the bar scene, or just grew tired of feeling like $hit on the mornings after, I don't know what it was specifically. Maybe a combination of all of them. And you know what? I really don't miss it. Even when I was drinking, I never found it necessary to buy beer every time I went to the grocery store. All my drinking was done outside the house, so it was no trouble to quit with no alcohol in the house, which was how it always was anyway.
Don't get me wrong, I still enjoy the occasional beer or maybe a bloody Mary, but never more than one and, at this point, I haven't had even one drink in more than two years. The reason being that I'm cooking at home more instead of going out to eat. That's the only time I ever have a drink now is when I go out to eat, but I don't even get a drink every time I do that either. I just don't think about it or remember to do it because it's just not that important for me. For someone who used to think he might be an alcoholic, that's pretty remarkable to me. So my advice is don't sweat it. If you're anything like me, you won't even notice it that much.