It’s a Tuesday morning and the second day of Fall. I took the day off work to get some things done. Right now I’m posted up on a comfy chair at beautiful Summit Park in Blue Ash taking care of business.
I went public with my decision to quit drinking via a Facebook post Sunday night. I was expecting to be called lame, or boring, or too serious, or a host of other things by some of those whom I have been drinking buddies with for a long time. I had mentally prepared for that. That did not happen. In fact, everyone was overwhelmingly positive and supportive, and I feel as if I can now go on living happily without alcohol and not feel like I’m sacrificing anything at all. I thought it would definitely present a hit to my social life, but I haven’t seen or felt that, and it doesn’t look like I really will.
I have been debating giving up alcohol since 2013 – 6 years ago! And the reason I kept telling myself not to quit was because I would have friends drift away if I cut out that part of my life. I built up this huge obstacle in my head, and in reality I would have been fine the whole time, and probably would have built other relationships had I quit then vs now. I’m sure I’ve turned off potential new friends several times by being a heavy drinker, and it wasn’t infrequent that I would go to a social event with the goal of getting hammered rather than the goal of connecting with cool people. That won’t be the case anymore.
I won’t say that I’m never tempted to drink anymore. I was walking down the street a few days ago and started craving a Colt 45. Like, what the fuck?
I think that I will keep this lifestyle for a long time though, because I have a higher opinion of myself than I did before. That’s not to say I ever had a low opinion of myself, but I am proud of myself for making the decision to better myself and definitely think I became a higher value person because of everything that I am working on and doing in my extra time and that I plan to continue doing. I feel like a winner all the time, while before I only felt like a winner some of the time.
Iron Sharpens Iron 