Top 5 Reasons To Stop Drinking Now
I recently went on a journey across the country with my family for roughly 10 months. I could point to a number of things that had an incredible impact on me. Snorkeling with my daughter in the crystal clear water in Maui. Holding my son as we watched a grizzly bear graze in a thicket in Yellowstone. Or, going on countless hikes with my now 1 year old son strapped to my chest and hearing him babble on in excitement at the sights we saw. These are all indescribable feelings that have filled my soul in the deepest and most unforgettable ways. Feelings that are impossible for me to describe in a 1,000 word article.
These experiences were exactly what I expected to encounter along the way. What I didn’t expect, however, was that none of these experiences would have the greatest impact on me. The truest value of this journey came when I made the decision to stop drinking and stop distracting myself with outside influences (mainly sports). I chose to grapple with my ego and come to terms with the fact that I was solely responsible for not being the best version of myself. I chose to go bone dry sober for just over 2 months and it has directed my life in a more positive trajectory. Here’s the top 5 impacts it had on me and why you shouldn’t wait any longer to cut the distractions, put down the beer and pay attention to the voice inside of your head.
Physical Benefits
Being sober feels great and the impact is almost immediate. I lost 20 pounds, my mind is clear, I never had a hangover or a headache and I felt amazing. Health wise, I haven’t felt this good in 20 years. The health benefits alone were enough to convince me to have a healthier relationship with alcohol moving forward. Feeling healthy and clear beats a good buzz every day of the week.
Improved Mood
Once I cut out alcohol, I realized how much energy I spent justifying drinking to help me cope with the simplest daily tasks. For instance, after a long drive, I’d then have to go through the process of setting up the camper which takes all of 30 minutes. I’d convince myself that setting up the camper sucked, and that I needed to have a beer or two to make myself feel enjoyment while doing that. When you eliminate the thought process that drinking makes these small tasks manageable, you realize, the tasks aren’t the issue at all. The issue was my own mindset. When alcohol is taken out of the picture, you’re in the moment and you experience things on a deeper level and you have a greater focus on everything around you. I just found that I wasn’t getting frustrated as much once I stopped making excuses to crack open a beer. Which brings me to my next point;
Made Time For Inner Work and Self Improvement
My initial thought process when I cut out alcohol was “man, this just got a lot more boring.” Which, when you use alcohol as your form of entertainment, sure, it can seem like a buzzkill. So, I shifted my thought process from consuming sports and beer to consuming knowledge that led me to perform the inner work and healing I needed to make me feel better about myself. I read Neville Goddard and the laws of attraction. I listened to amazing podcasts outside the realm of sports that centered on mindset and spirituality. I read about the ego, the importance of shadow work, the power of manifestation and things that probably sound super new-agey to the average guy. I focused on using my time in a productive manner. I was growing and evolving and getting more things done. My focus was to become a healthier, more present, more patient and more engaged dad. Eliminating these distractions has done just that.
More Resonating Lifestyle
It’s amazing how alcohol totally consumed my evenings, weekends and all my free time. That’s what I was going to do when the kids went to bed and I had “free time.” I pushed everything else to the side because alcohol was my escape from my busy lifestyle. It sounds ridiculous, but I’m sure it’s totally relatable to other guys who have kids or work intensive jobs. When you eliminate the escape, you’re more focused on what you need to do. You become more available to do the things you have been meaning to do that connect you to source. You should be spending that time doing things that make your soul happy rather than just distracting yourself from the reality of life. It’s the act of raising your vibration. Don’t focus on things that are negative and cause you stress and anxiety. They aren’t going anywhere. Rather, take the time to do things that light your soul on fire. Do things that resonate deeply inside you. Read, create, learn, grow, expand, etc. The distraction isn’t helping you cope, it’s literally holding you back from finding and harnessing your truest passions and priorities.
Reduces Stress and Anxiety
It sounds counterintuitive to everything else written in this article. Guys drink and watch sports as a major form of stress relief, and I get it. Nothing else matters when you’re watching an amazing game or having a cold beer sitting by a fire. But after a while you realize that this form of stress relief seems cheap and ineffective. Once that game is over, your stress and anxiety is right there waiting for you. When you chose to drink and detach, you’re going to wake up with a more magnified version of the anxiety you were trying to escape. Feeling healthier, having a clearer mind, being more present, focused and productive are the ways to defeat your stress and anxiety. You’re actively crushing the things that are causing you stress. You have learned to handle that stress and anxiety in a proactive and healthy manner. The simple act of cutting the distractions, stripping the opportunity for detachment and handling the issues you’re dealing with brings all of this together.
In the end, I could go on and on about how cutting out alcohol and distractions changed my mindset and life. These aren’t groundbreaking thoughts or surprise results, but I hope this article acts as a green light to get going.
The stigma is that if you give up drinking, you must’ve had a problem with it. The problem isn’t the drinking necessarily, the problem is the mindset on escaping and distracting yourself. The distraction is keeping you in the same spot and will keep you in the same cycle of feel stressed by work/life, drink to escape, feel like crap, repeat.
Give yourself a goal, whether it be one month, two months or even two weeks. I guarantee you’ll feel the difference instantaneously and start down the path of being a more present and mindful man.
