Congrats on 12 years and sharing that story. More people should hear about these moments.

Well done! It’s so great you were able to quit cold turkey. You’ll live much longer, are likely to experience far fewer health issues, and have many more healthy years at the end of your life.

Sadly many (or maybe most) addicts cannot. Through some combination of compulsive temperament, impulsivity, mental health problems, or unresolved issues, they are unable to stop. Even when they know they’re addicts. My mother is one such person. She’s been seeking the answer her whole life. Religion. AA. Therapy. Exercise. Cold turkey. Multiple divorces. Medications. Moving country several times. Nothing sticks. She knows it’s killing her and can’t stop. I’m trying to convince her to take Wegovy as it’s shown to help with addiction.

I’m grateful that whatever combination of genes I inherited, I’m also able to go cold turkey. Maybe one day we have vaccines for it.

Alcohol was a net-positive in so many ways for me. I talk more about that aspect in the 6 month post here: https://www.bobbytables.io/p/six-months-sober

I have armchair thoughts but would love to see more studies on this. There's no doubt that reduced consumption, taken in isolation, would be a good thing. However, if this is correlated with an increase in social isolation, the benefits would be more complicated.

Do you have a source for your assertion that starting businesses is becoming less popular? I thought there was a huge surge since the pandemic / AI.

I think "risk-seeking behavior" is the wrong way to categorize declining trends. It seems more like "dopamine-seeking behavior" to me, and my armchair theory is that it's related to the infinite scroll. Everybody gets so much dopamine from their phones all the time that they don't feel nearly as compelled to go out and flirt with strangers or get blasted on drugs. The iPad kids now in their 20s must have a totally different relationship with dopamine, for better or worse.

I don't think there is any good historical data on dopamine sensitivity vs. "risk-seeking behavior" on a large scale. My hypothesis is that technological / cultural innovations that raise everybody's dopamine baselines (lowering sensitivity) may be able to explain historical shifts in alcohol consumption and related activities.

I’ve never drank. Half a glass of what I was told was a really good champagne at my wedding 27 years ago. That’s it. It was a conscious decision at first, based on alcohol problems of a family member, then a habit. I’m pretty sure my non-existent social life/skills are at least partly attributable to this. Without something to relax my continuously racing brain (never diagnosed, won’t bother now), I’m probably pretty tedious company and there’s a limited time in your life to build a social network. I don’t complain, as there’s a ton of time that’s freed up when you simply don’t go anywhere and I’ve made good use of it. But I do miss the long glorious conversations straddling both the intellectual and the profane between a group of smart relaxed individuals who, for the moment, have forgotten the world and it’s problems.

Yes, I was also surprised with this narrative because that's exactly how I have treated my drinking years, And I very rarely see this type of honest look back in the community. A lot of self-reflections are either self-flagellating or vilifying alcohol.

I find it very positive for myself to basically look back at any period in my life and be honest about it without re-purposing it into something that it wasn't.

Just going to throw out a follow-up here since I own a bar and work barman to fill shifts from time to time:

Athletic IPA or hazy IPA are my favorite NA beers. Athletic does a spectacular job of NA in general. Also Guiness NA - the can with the blue stripe on top - absolutely delicious. Also Bitburger 0.0% is pretty good. Really don't like Heiniken or the other mainstream beer brands that have checked the NA box.

As far as NA cocktails go I really like anything with Cayenne in it or a bit of spicy or sour. Kombuchas are also great for sipping I find. I must warn against Pathfinder NA spirit - I don't know what they put in it and if you read the ingredients I'm not even sure they know - but I've noticed a mental fuzziness the next day that I don't care for.

Also if you are bar staff and someone orders an NA they may want it in a glass even if you serve cans, so that others don't realize they're not drinking. As a non-drinker it's super nice to be able to stand in a group with a glass of beer without any questions. This works particularly well if it's a trade/industry event where the group doesn't know you and they're all using booze as a social lubricant. I'm a little sneaky in this respect because I'll go to the bar solo, grab myself a NA beer in a glass and I've been in groups where they're exchanging drinking stories and I'm just like "uh, yup, cool man."

If you're curious how one can work bar while being a non-drinker i.e. how do you know what you're serving? In Washington state it's illegal to drink while serving bar, so our team tastes and spits when needed. I do the same - so I'm basically tasting drinks for customers e.g. making sure wine isn't corked, making sure a cocktail is made well - but spitting and after 3 years just have absolutely no inclination or desire to swallow any alcohol anyway. But as I said, any barman in this state has to be a non-drinker on the job so it works out.

I've never found a NA wine I care for. Would be great if an Athletic-like brand emerges in that space. LMK if you're aware of one.

> alcohol hasn't just permeated the fabric of society, but is the fabric in many situations

First, congratulations on three years clean. I respect anyone who can cut things out that they find problematic for them. However, the framing of alcohol as a social necessity isn't really true anymore. Alcohol consumption is in a widely publicized decline and alcohol companies (similar to mobile games in this regard) are aware the majority of their revenue comes from anti-social heavy drinkers. Just about the only circles I'm aware of that still run on booze are college greek life.

Nice! I always tell people that recovery is really just about being awesome. Doing the next right thing is critical. And for an alcoholic, the next right thing is never “have a drink”. Everyone else, enjoy :)