The Power of Not Drinking

Anonymous
The Power of Not Drinking

Non-drinker. Teetotaler. Abstainer. That's me. When I was eleven years old, my best friend was run over in broad daylight by a drunk driver. He broke nearly every bone in her body, ripped half her skin off, and fractured her spine. It sounds rather dramatic, but in the hospital room, I stood over her broken body absolutely devastated and weeping because she was so close to being killed, and I vowed never to drink, and I've stayed true to this.

As I grew up and became an adult, I came to know that there were plenty of people who drank responsibly and would never do what was done to my friend, but it didn't change my own personal reasons for not wanting to drink. For a lot of people, for a lot of different reasons like growing up in a home with an alcoholic parent, or maybe you were a former alcoholic, or for religious reasons, or you don't like the taste, or you're dieting and it's too many calories, or you just want to keep a clear head, etc., people don't drink and there is power in doing so. In case you didn't know, our own current United States president does not drink because his brother died at 42 due to alcoholism and he chose not to partake in drinking for that reason.

The Power of Not Drinking

There is social pressure that says, we should drink. When you have a nice dinner, when you're with friends, when you're at any type of party, a drink or a couple is touted as the norm. This is never more true than in one's college aged years. Alcohol was or is everywhere and always being offered at this or that party. I got pressured to drink all the time, even from friends that knew I didn't partake, but it's your life, and just as one may drink if they choose, one may choose to completely abstain. I've never woken up not aware of how I got somewhere, or with a hangover, or had to pay a huge bar tab, or had alcohol bloat, or had to get a cab home because I was too drunk. Yes, these things don't happen for every single person that drinks, but they do for a lot of people, but abstaining means, you never experience these things.

You also don't need a drink to have a good time. People still find that baffling that any person can say go to a wedding or to a bar or club and not drink and have a good time, but as someone who has never had a drink, I've never known what it's like NOT to have a good time without drinking. You just cannot have a good time for someone else, so if someone else is drinking and that is their good time, good for them, but that's not for me. It's never bothered me. I clearly don't have to drink to enjoy myself, and so that is life and I'm glad for me, that I can enjoy things alcohol free.


I'm explaining things here for the purpose of the take, but you don't need to make not drinking a big deal. It's just something that is a part of your life, and in my life, it has never been a big deal, especially after my college years when the emphasis was less on the party scene. People like to assume that if you don't drink, you must be some kind of way, but if I don't mention it or you don't see me abstaining from drinking, you wouldn't even know because I don't broadcast it out because it's not a big deal. If someone else wants to drink responsibly, than do it in the same way, I say no thanks to alcohol, and if you want to quit, don't feel bad for wanting to do so. No one can live the life you want for yourself, but you.

The Power of Not Drinking
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