What Else Do We Lose When People Give Up Booze?

I stopped drinking alcohol for the new year. I wasn’t an alcoholic, but I’m sure I’ve driven home after consuming enough alcohol to blow above the legal limit. It’s not something I’m proud of. But one day I decided I was done taking risks like that, done feeling crappy the next day, done having to wreck myself just to socialize.

I don’t really miss it. Honestly the worst part is constantly having to defend my drink choice (mocktail or N/A beer) to the people I’m with who are ordering alcohol.

Is the optimal % of drinkers in society 0? Probably not. Can it stand to be a lot less than it currently is? Absolutely. People are not lonlier because they don't drink as much, there are just so many confounding variables there that every time I see one of these articles I feel like it's just a thinly veiled ad for the alcohol industry. Giving up alcohol, for probably 90%+ of the population, is unabashedly a good and healthy choice. I know its anecdotal, but I've seen so many poor decisions made while under the influence, life altering decisions sometimes, that I know I'm not gonna drink another drop.

Buying drinks in a bar is just too expensive to justify.