Affirming your alcohol-free identity can be a powerful and energising experience, living your best life and investing in your personal growth is invigorating. However, there are a lot of myths out there that may be either holding you back, or making you feel a little less comfortable about taking on a world that still romanticises alcohol.
Let’s take a look at 10 of the most common myths out there and BUST them!
1. Will I be labelled an alcoholic?
You don’t have to label yourself an alcoholic- EVER!
This is an easy one to bust, think about being a vegetarian are they labelled a meataholic?
Or a non-smoker a smokeaholic? No of course not.
This is simply a product of drinking culture attempting to normalise drinking at the expense of the non-drinker. Drinkers and the alcohol industry as a whole want you to believe that drinking a foul-tasting toxin is normal and that being a non-drinker is abnormal. Which of course is nonsense.
2. Will not drinking mean I will spend the rest of my life miserable?
Living an alcohol-free lifestyle brings new energy, self confidence and new opportunities. Your life will get better in many ways when you stop drinking, even if it seems hard to imagine at first.
Relationships will be stronger, real relationships, rather than those based on a drinking association. It’s no surprise loneliness is associated alcohol abuse.
Feeling sober means exactly that, feeling. Everything. Food tastes better, mornings are brighter, your mood is lightened and your future way brighter. What’s miserable about that?
Do all vegetarians go to a BBQ miserable, sorry for themselves and unhappy about desiring meat? No. of course not, there are proud of their life choice, they chose their lifestyle based on health, vitality and longevity. You get to choose what you eat and drink, almost every diet imaginable is accepted these days, get proud of your choices and alcohol-free lifestyle!
3. Will I lose friends if I don’t drink?
When you chose an alcohol-free lifestyle, you will see how many of your connections revolved around alcohol. Some friends you may choose to spend a little less time with, some you might choose not to see at all. Don’t let that hold you back, you will strengthen relationships with people who love and care for you, they will undoubtedly see an improvement in you and support your journey of personal growth.
In social circles there is nothing more boring that the drunk. People are attracted to like minded people, much better to attract exciting, interesting people than be stuck with drunken bore.
You may lose acquaintances, but your true friends should always be supportive and they are ones that you will find will be happier to spend time with you.
4. Do you have to avoid places that serve alcohol if you don’t drink?
In our current society alcohol is commonplace, you can’t simply avoid all places where its sold. Social events, private homes and grocery stores are an essential part of our lives and present nothing to fear for non-drinker.
Alcohol is going to have a cigarette moment, one day we will look back in disgust at the practice of ingesting a poisonous toxin to create the illusion of a good time for entertainment!
Your choice to live alcohol-free life is a proactive and positive, don’t mourn for the life of an addict, alcohol is not your friend.
Be confident in your choices, you can’t banish alcohol or avoid it forever, and you have no need to, you should have no more desire to drink it than petrol or cleaning fluid, and you don’t need to avoid those either do you?
5. How will I be able to fit in at parties?
We are perfectly able to meet people and make friends without alcohol, people often use alcohol to endure events they don’t enjoy.
Any enjoyable event like a party, a birthday, a wedding, or even a work party will become more enjoyable without alcohol, we enjoy these occasions in spite of the alcohol not because of it. Good company, friends, great food, music, these are all the reasons why we like these events not drinking yourself numb.
The longer you live a sober lifestyle, adopting new coping skills and comfortable with not drinking, the more comfortable you will be.
6. Will people constantly judge me for not drinking?
There is a common fear that by not drinking other people will incorrectly jump to the conclusion that you are an alcoholic or ‘have a problem’.
Whilst it’s only natural that we think our lives are central to what everyone else thinks, it’s more likely that people will have little or no interest in your drinking choices.
It’s becoming increasing normal now for people to live alcohol-free, miss-placed stigma is far less likely than you think.
Be proud of your healthy lifestyle. Drinkers don’t like to drink alone, they will prefer to encourage others to do so, mostly to make themselves feel better about their bad habits.
They will no doubt openly (or privately) admire your conviction! This, coupled with the compliments you receive for how good you look will do wonders for your self-confidence.
7. How do you date if you don’t drink?
Living an alcohol-free lifestyle may actually be a plus to many dates, it says a lot about you, your attitude to health, family and how you invest in your future. Often the first dates can feel a little awkward, hence we some people rely on alcohol to loosen them up or give them courage to meet someone new. The problem with that is alcohol reduces your inhibitions, which you have for a very good reason. Too much and you descend into a bumbling idiot.
Studies show that people find being sober highly attractive, it says a lot about your confidence and self-control and self-esteem.
If you find the first date challenging, don’t choose the typical bar or restaurant, go bowling, visit an art gallery, try painting, find a photo booth, take a romantic walk or some urban exploring. All will make you far more memorable than a bottle of wine and a hangover.
Dating sober without the distraction of alcohol may also result in much better judgement on your part, so dating if you don’t drink may be different and effect your love life, but in a far more positive way than you think!
8. Is being sober boring?
The drinks industry spends billions promoting the idea that drinking alcohol is fun, glamourous and sophisticated, so it’s understandable that the idea of not drinking would be boring.
The reality is very, very different. Notice how everyone in an alcohol advert is impossibly beautiful, happy and carefree? Notice also that no one will be drunk, EVER. Remember their slogan, drink responsibly? They push the actual real-life outcomes on to the drinker, washing their hands of the carnage drinking causes. Ill health, crime, broken families, abuse, debt, this list goes on, none will feature in the glossy adverts.
The most boring person at the party? The drinker after a few, repeating themselves, offending others and full of regret the next day. No being sober isn’t boring, far from it.
Drinkers do a lot of talking, usually only talking.
When you leave alcohol behind you do a lot of doing! New interests to fill your time, so when you meet people you can talk, about the exciting things you are doing, with passion and gusto about a life lived to the full.
and some of them will shock you!
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