I’m currently 23 and at this age, I feel like a lot of people are drinking and partying a lot, but I feel like it’s no longer my favoured type of entertainment. At one short moment of my life, I did enjoy it. And don’t get me wrong, I do enjoy drinking and partying maybe once or twice a year, but to take part in those activities at the frequency that many of my friends do it, I can’t. Because so many of my friends at the time loved that as a past time and knew I once loved it, it was hard to take a step back and remove myself from the scene. So here’s why I quit drinking and partying so much and how I stopped.
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Just to make things clear if it wasn’t clear enough, I do still drink and party, just not often. As I said before, maybe once or twice a year is good enough for me for an all out partying night with ‘heavy’ drinking. Also, there is nothing wrong with liking the partying life. You do what you want and enjoy, it is your life, not mine. As for drinking alcohol, I don’t mind taking my time sipping on a mixed drink or two over dinner and chatting with a friend or just enjoying a drink on the patio. For taking shots and chugging drinks, that’s not my thing and probably never really was. These are just my opinions for my own life and my experiences.Â
Alcohol to me never tasted good unless it was super watered down or heavily disguised with lots of sugary cocktail mixes or fruits. I never once enjoyed the taste of alcohol and craved to drink it for the taste. In fact, I actually like the virgin versions of mixed drinks more. When I did drink alcohol ‘a lot’, it was always mixed and never in shot form. I hated the idea of having to ingest it to get the tipsy or drunk feeling. In fact, a lot of the times I felt like it wasn’t worth suffering to try and take the alcohol down just to fit in and ‘have fun’ being drunk or tipsy. I know a lot of people find shots disgusting but still take it. To this day, I never understood why taking shots was such a cool thing to do if people hated the taste and sometimes vomit trying to ingest it.
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Being drunk and tipsy was fun back then until people started judge you for how much you can drink or how much pure liquor you can take down without any chasers or mixers. Why was that such a big thing? Why was that so cool? It always seemed very sadistic and masochistic of people to want to be the best and taking the most disgusting shots down until they pass out or puke and do the same to other people. I’m a little girl with little tolerance to alcohol, so a few mixed drinks was good enough for me to feel good and to not overdo it. And as you know, I always mix my drinks because it tastes awful. Because of that, I’d get insulted and picked on a lot for the little amount of alcohol and will I had to consume until I puked. First, why do I want to drink until I puke? That is not fun. Second, it costs a lot less to get drunk, so I’m fine with my little tolerance. Third, that really ruins the mood because I’m just trying to enjoy myself rather than get pressured to drink stuff I don’t want to drink in an excess amount. And yes, even my own friends did give me trouble for not ‘keeping up’. This point was when I started to rethink my decisions and why I was going out to start having fun, then regret my decisions every single time because I’d get picked on for enjoying myself.
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Another thing that I hated about drinking was what some people become when they consume enough alcohol. The beginnings are always fun and everyone is happy, but as the alcohol sinks in, I felt like it either pulled out the bad/negative side of people or the poor decision making sides. I often sober up quickly because there are little times where I’ve accidentally over consumed alcohol. So I know and I see everything that happens. I avoid over drinking so I can avoid the things I witness people say and do without knowing. Not everyone, but many can turn ugly inside and out. It causes arguments (dumb ones and irrational ones) and unwanted actions with or without strangers. I was often the person to take care of these people and it’s really not fun at all. They request help, you give it to them, they reject it and insult you. You try to calm an argument, they ignore you. You try to make people see each others’ point of views instead of arguing, they take out their anger on you. There really was no way to win anything when the people you were trying to help were drunk.
Now let’s talk goals. I’ve always had big money saving goals for the future. I never believed in wasting all your money on excessive things you don’t need. Don’t get me wrong, I have had my fair share of money wasting with my disposable income in high school, but as high school ended, I knew there were things I wanted and I’d have to save if I wanted them. Partying is expensive. Especially if you don’t live close to the places you often want to go and have to pay for $60 cabs to get home. Not to mention the need to buy alcohol. People do pre-drink and that does help, but no matter what, more than often you end up buying drinks at the club. The drinks are already expensive to begin with, but get more expensive when factoring in tips and how many drinks you buy. You don’t think it’s a lot, but it adds up. This is also taking into consideration that I’m not someone who likes taking free drinks from guys or hitting up someone else’s booth whom I’m not familiar with. Even if you do get bottle service, that stuff is cheaper, but still expensive. Generally, the cheapest rates are about $150-200 for a small bottle from what I’ve seen. Those are quick to go through if there’s a lot of people. If people have the money to spend on going clubbing or drinking often, by all means, you do you. But for me, I’d just personally rather spend my money on something more meaningful or on events/activities where I can actually talk to someone and bond without yelling.
So after taking all those things into consideration, I took a step back and realized that lifestyle really wasn’t me and wasn’t worth it. For some it’s fun, they enjoy it a lot, and will continue it for a while. For me, I just had to take myself out of that scene and do what I enjoy the most rather than get dragged into excessive alcohol consumptions. So now, instead of going clubbing and drinking for my birthdays or special events, I like to plan events where I can actually catch up, talk, and try something new. For example, picnics, hiking, fishing, etc.
Now, leaving the scene wasn’t easy. Some of my friends to this day still enjoy those activities. And I mean, nothing wrong with that, do what you love. But when I was trying to leave the scene, it was hard. I’d get messaged often about why I won’t go out or what I was doing that was better than going out and getting drunk. At one point the teasing for not drinking got worse. Sometimes the whole “but it’s my birthday” card would be played. For some reason, the people who didn’t want to drink years ago were always allowed to not attend these events without being harassed, but I wasn’t. People just accepted that others didn’t like the scene and it was fine for them to not attend, but for me, it for some reason wasn’t. It definitely took some time and I did have to have some talks with people about my viewpoints and why I stopped, but eventually, it all worked out. Friends now accept that fact that it’s not my scene and it’s okay.
I feel like real friends respect your decisions for choosing not to do things for justified reasons. It might take some talking to and understanding, but if someone doesn’t respect you deciding not to do something you don’t like doing, they’re not your friend. You shouldn’t have to be pressured to do something against your will. Don’t spend money attending events you don’t want to be at. Don’t waste your time on people who insist that you do things you hate. Love yourself and find a new group that accepts you and loves you enough to support you.
This is just my story and reason behind not drinking alcohol excessively and partying anymore. And I’m glad I stopped doing it because I’m much happier now.