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Comment by harshitaneja | Hacker News Reader

I gave up on alcohol, cannabis and basically almost every stimulant with caffeine and tobacco more than a year ago with sugar and carbs remaining as the last substance I abuse.

I really thought giving up on alcohol and caffeine would have a much bigger impact on me but the only thing I notice is the minor negative effect it has on my social life from not being able to join people in for a beer or not using coffee when needing to pull all-nighters. Maybe it's just me being in late 20s and not old enough for it all to catch up to me.

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Same.

I stopped drinking 4 years ago and the only thing that changed is I had to start learning social skills from zero in my mid 30s again.

I don't have an issue to go out with friends who drink, it's just that I don't feel inclined to talk to people anymore.

Ya, it wasn't until my early 40s where a daily drink started to affect me. I never started out that way... had maybe 1-2 drinks/week in my 20s but over time the usage crept up there until 1 drink was a weekday thing (glass of wine with dinner or a cocktail later), maybe 2 drinks on a weekend night. It slowly normalized itself from something special to something routine. Once I noticed the effect it was having I started to dial it back and now I'm back down to 1-2 drinks/week... usually a glass of wine or a cocktail with my wife. I imagine it will continue to dwindle as I lose interest in it.

So given that you are only experiencing negative effects of quitting, do you think you'll start drinking alcohol/caffeine again?

I'm finishing a 3 month period of not drinking after two or so decades of moderate to heavy drinking, and I'm not really experiencing world shattering positive effects from it. I'll probably go back to drinking because in general I like it and I don't really feel the same negative effects others talk about (or at least not to the same magnitude). Curious about how you're thinking about it.

I wanted to quit smoking for good and that's one thing I am glad is not a part of my life anymore.

With alcohol and caffeine, I never thought I would stick with it for so long. But now that I have there is this inertia in me to break this period of abstinence. I am sure I would start again at some point with liquor although probably in much much lesser quantity and frequency than before.

Caffeine I probably have left for good as I have heard that the longer one goes without it the more pronounced jitteriness gets. And I am not sure I care enough to wait through the period before it normalizes again.

I'm having the same experience, trying Sober October. Hangovers suck, but I've stopped drinking to that point years ago so now I feel like not joining in socially is a net negative, limiting my ability to participate in the same experience as my friends (I'm 33).

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