From March 2019 to July 2019, I experimentally stopped drinking alcohol alone. A key question was: "Do I become more productive and healthy?"
The answer is actually "NO" in terms of both; I didn't observe any significant differences, but it was an interesting opportunity to make a small change in my life.
Rule
The rule is simple: Do not drink alcohol alone anywhere, and anytime.
I was not trying to stay away from any drinking activities. Drinking with somebody else like friends and colleagues is fine, but I just shouldn't be alone.
I regularly ‐ a couple of days per week ‐ enjoy drinking alone at a bar or home. It makes me more comfortable and relaxed, and sometimes the bars become a good place for reading books, writing articles or code, and even for working in some special cases.
Stopping the habit was not easy. I needed to completely change my mind and way of spending my time over the weekends.
First Week: Weird Dining Experiences
Sadly, I have been traveling alone quite often lately. It means that I missed a lot of chances to enjoy local drinks at the following destinations:
Drawing my flights in 2019, but it's just confusing... (flew multiple times on some routes) pic.twitter.com/IFccr6n8mB
— Takuya Kitazawa (@takuti) September 1, 2019
I was in Seattle, WA, USA during the first week of this experiment, and I went to a local seafood restaurant. Their menu had a good selection of local craft beers and wines, but I just ordered sparkling water instead of them. As a result, while the food was surprisingly good, I felt something weird, which might be relevant to the feeling of dissatisfaction.
At first, I was confused by the feeling. However, I gradually adapted to the new habit day by day, and I became completely fine after a couple of weeks. Notice that, if it's continued, we might need to consider the possibility of alcoholic.
What Happened?
As I mentioned above, the "not drinking alone" habit has introduced no significant differences in my productivity and health. I'd say I was equally productive by looking back on the past year, and I continuously worked out regularly and kept healthy eating habits anyway.
Meanwhile, there are two things changed:
- Became a foodie.
- Had more coffee.
First, when I eat out, I started spending more time to search for a good restaurant nearby so that I can fully enjoy their food itself.
- Before: Any restaurants were fine for me, as long as they have good beers.
- After: Because I eat the dishes without drinking, it should be exceptionally tasty and/or healthy to make me satisfied.
Moreover, "bar & beer" has completely been replaced with "cafe & coffee" in my daily life.
- Before: Spend a weekend morning at a cafe with a cup of coffee, and start bar hopping afterward.
- After: Cafe hopping on a whole day; on a weekend day, I went to three cafes on average and spent about three hours at each.
I still didn't know if these are good changes or not, but, since I believe nothing will be changed anymore, I finally decided to terminate the experiment at the end of July.
Bottom Line
My conclusion is that, in order to effectively take a break or refresh my focus, I see more value for drinking alone than strictly staying away from that.
The 4-month experimental habit told me the fact, and hence I realized how the balance between cafe & bar is important for my personal life. It should be noted that I found many good restaurants and cafes I didn't know thanks to the days without drinking :)