beer

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8 Benefits of Not Drinking Alcohol After a Year of Being a Sober Curious Teetotaler

 

Today makes exactly one year of me not drinking any alcohol. To be clear, my decision on January 14th, 2024 had nothing to do with me abusing alcohol or being addicted to it.

If it’s possible to naturally be the opposite of an alcoholic, I was surely it. I could never bring myself to the point of drinking so much alcohol that it would lead to me having a hangover.

Not even realizing it was a trend, I just happened to join the “Sober Curious” movement a year ago. So now I want to look back and assess what benefits I have personally discovered by making this change in my life.

I am consuming less empty calories. There’s no way around it- even the lowest calorie alcohol options are going to be close to 100 calories, assuming I only had one.

I can spend that money on other things. Just like with “spending” calories on alcohol, it’s interesting how much money I am not spending, over the course of a month, as I simply am now longer participating.

I am always the designated driver. For me, it’s one less thing to worry about; knowing that I am always “above the law” in a sense.

I am now feel more in control of any situation. Instead of letting my guard down, my guard is up; but in a proactive and healthy way.

I have evolved into a more masculine version of myself. The absence of any alcohol in my system means that any sense of bravery, ambition, and motivation is all my own. Instead of handing over control, I am taking control.

I no longer have anxiety. I now understand that each time I consumed alcohol, it actually took my body weeks to compensate and correct my hormone levels; including testosterone.

I feel happier now. My feeling of wellbeing is never attached to an upcoming event in which I can finally chill out, based on consuming alcohol. Instead, I simply feel good most of the time anyway.

I like myself better. As petty as it may sound, there is a sense of pride I have now in knowing that even though it’s the social norm to drink alcohol, I am an even more likeable person by not drinking any.

Now that I have easily survived on no alcohol for the past year, will I decide to go back to it? I think the best way to answer this question is to stay open-minded to the idea. I don’t want to paint myself in a corner by saying I will never drink alcohol again.

However, it is difficult for me to logically go back to alcohol again after I know firsthand my life is better without it, as opposed to with it.

And when given the choice between making a decision between logic and emotion, I have this habit of choosing logic.

Can you relate?

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New Infographic: Drunk Driving In America- Who Is Most At Risk?

Growing up in a “dry county” in a small town in Alabama, one that was basically unofficially Baptist, the implied concept was that if you consumed any alcohol whatsoever you were a sinner; or at least a Methodist. (But if you didn’t drink at all, you were considered by those who did drink as a goody two-shoes.)

Quite an impossible double standard…

It wasn’t until I moved to the culturally diverse city of Nashville back in 2005, at age 24, that I began to understand the complicated polarization of alcohol consumption that I grew up in.

I still feel that when I’m back in my hometown in Alabama, the mindset is that there is no such thing as having just one beer: that you either establish yourself as the guy who carries around a cooler of light beer… or you just drink water.

The reason I’m bringing all this up is because I think it helps illustrate the fact that alcohol consumption is a complex issue, on many levels.

(Personally, I think drunkenness looks immature and sad on anyone- no matter what age. I don’t think being drunk is funny. That’s something that has bothered me my whole life- when people think it’s funny to see someone else drunk. But that’s just my opinion.)

Even aside from the social, religious, and legal baggage associated with alcohol, there is the very serious issue of drunk driving.

I think the information in this infographic, “Drunk Driving In America,” is worth being shared. It’s interesting to see all these facts here together in the same place.

Something I wonder about from time to time is what I will teach my son about alcohol consumption. After all, we keep a bottle of red wine in the pantry (mainly used for cooking) and a six pack of craft beer in the fridge to be consumed in moderation; never all at once.

I want my son to see my own example of moderation. And being that I’m his dad, I honestly don’t think anyone can teach him than lesson better I can.

drunk-driving-stats1

*Drunk driving continues to be one of the leading causes of death in the U.S.

*Each day 27 people are killed from alcohol-related car crashes.

*It has been estimated that there are 300,000 incidents of drunk driving each day in the U.S.

*Teenagers who drink are even more susceptible to being in an car accident after consuming alcohol. They are 7 times more likely to be in an alcohol-related crash.

*The most at-risk age group for drinking & driving is between 21 and 25.

*Since 21 is the legal drinking age, this group is often out at bars and then decide that they’re okay to drive home. Often, their inexperience with alcohol leaves them unable accurately to gauge their own level of inebriation.

 Infographic Source: Instant Check Mate, Ashley Welter.

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Readers’ Expectations 8: The Biological Chicken, Sweaty Dexter, and Tyler Perry with a Hickey

Sometimes I feel like Dear Abby, except that the questions and comments people type into search engines to get to Scenic Route Snapshots are a bit on the incoherent side.  Here’s the newest batch:

“I haven’t failed; I’ve had 10,000 ideas”- Right.  You’ve had 10,000 bad ideas.  Or another way of looking at it is this: The glass is half full.  Yeah, full of bad ideas!  Zing!  Next…

“biological chicken”- We live in a time where most chickens are no longer biological.  Ever since the Droid Empire took over our planet, most of our food is simply projected figments of our imagination, linked in to the Droid scanners.  Even still, tastes like chicken.

“They’re always sweaty in Dexter”- That’s because the show takes place in Miami.  Similarly, they’re also always sweaty in most reality dating shows on VH1, but that’s for a different reason.

“bacon egg sandwich, grapes, chocolate”- What are you, a ten year-old boy?  Does your mommy know you’re playing on the Internet?  Admittedly, I could see how that could make for mouth-watering breakfast on the right kind of morning.

“beer scripture fellowship”- Jesus and His disciples drank wine.  But that was so like 2,000 years ago.  It’s time for Christian men in Bible studies to switch to beer.  Nothing like reading through Habakkuk with a Heineken in hand, I always say.  Fat Tire and Phillipians, anyone?

“what to do to bad people”- Sarcastic remarks and physical injury only fuel the fire, so I’ve learned from the past.  My new thing is to sincerely pray that they enter into an authentic relationship with Jesus as their Savior.  Then they may end up on my side and fight Satan with their negative vibes.  It’s a win-win.

“how to compliment a classic song”- Man, that’s a tough one.  Just a shot in the dark, but you could try this: “Hey it’s ‘More Than a Feeling’ by Boston…  I love this song!  This song rocks!”  Change the title of the song and the name of the band as needed.

“Can black people get hickeys?”- Good question, but I’ve got a better one: Can black people “get” camping or Monty Python movies?  Even better question: Can white people “get” stomping or Tyler Perry movies?

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Good Men Still Exist; They Just Don’t Make the Headlines as Easily

“The handy thing about being a father is that the historic standard has been set so pitifully low.” -Michael Chabon, Manhood for Amateurs

Yes, everyone is well aware that despite all the good men in history who have left a good name for themselves (along with plenty of quotable quotes, with many of them being strong military leaders or respected writers), there are enough deadbeats, scoundrels, and cads to cast a negative connotation on the word “man”.  Women are expected to be saints and givers; sadly, men are expected to be… well, not a lot is expected of men anymore.  But not all good men are long gone.

In the aftermath of Father’s Day last week, the Internet was full of freshly published articles about the modern man, father, and husband.  Two in particular really got my attention.  The first one reviewed the history of TV dads from Leave It to Beaver, to Married with Children, to Parenthood.  It brought out the fact that in the 1950’s, dads were too perfect, in the 1990’s they were often portrayed as bumbling idiots, and now in the 2010’s, TV dads have finally began to look more like real dads.  See http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/37758834/ns/today-entertainment/.  (Though I would argue that the 1980’s were good to TV dads…)

The other article that really got me thinking was one I found on Stuff Christians Like, http://stuffchristianslike.net/2010/06/the-wild-difference-between-a-mothers-day-sermon-and-a-fathers-day-sermon/, which explained how many fathers in Christian churches feel miserable on Father’s Day Sunday because the sermon is about how men need to step up to the plate and be better fathers, while the Mother’s Day sermon provides nothing but praise for women.

I definitely see how good men often don’t get the praise they deserve.  Like Zack Morris once said on Saved by the Bell when Jessie declared that all men are jerks, “Hey, don’t judge us by our worst specimens.”  What can we do to enhance the minority of men who are truly good fathers, husbands, and hard-working citizens?

My guess is to call them out on their goodness when you see it.  It seems that if we as a culture began to celebrate the men who are doing right, it would be more of an incentive for those who are just half-way doing it, seeing there is praise and appreciation for being a “good man”.  But when the goal is simply to be better than Charlie Sheen (both the actual person and his fictionalized character on the totally lame yet successful sitcom Three and Half Men), there’s a certain lack of motivation to become a better man.

In an age where stereotypes of men who are drug to church by their wives end up jumping in a 15 passenger van for a weekend trip to their nearest major sports arena to learn from a former NFL player at a Promise Keepers conference that they should spend more time with their kids instead of watching sports games and that they should share the household responsibilities with their wives and stop looking at pornography on their home computers, then they go back home a changed man for a month, then repeat the process each following year, there are still plenty of men in America who actually already are indulging themselves in being the husbands and fathers they need to be.  There are actually good men in America who don’t have to be reminded to be good.  Because they are already aware of the reward in being a respected man who lives for his family, not himself.

Celebrate the good men in your life.  They may instantly brush aside your compliments or seem embarrassed when you do, but inside it means the world to them.  Of course with good men being the coveted gem in a parking lot full of gravels, my guess is, you already do.

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dad from day one: Proud Papa

Twenty weeks.

*Did you hear about this blog from American Baby magazine?  If so, click here to get to the main page (table of contents) for “dad from day one”.  There’s a whole lot more where this come from…

During the closing credits of my favorite movie of all time, I Love You, Man, Barry (Jon Favreau) finds out his wife Denise (Jamie Pressly) is pregnant after she vomits on him at the wedding reception.  With puke on his shirt, he says to her, “Please, try to make it a boy.”  Barry is a Type A jerk, inhabiting every memory and idea of a typical beer-guzzling frat boy.  So of course, having a boy (instead of a girl) would be very important to him.

Being that I’m nothing like that character in the movie, instead being much more like the main character, Peter Klaven (Paul Rudd), I had just always assumed I would have all daughters.  Here’s the picture I had in my head of my future family: Me, wifey, three daughters, and two Cockapoos (or Labradoodles).

It just makes more sense that a guy who has no interest (or talent whatsoever) in sports or hunting (or anything proving I’m man enough by showing my “game face”), but instead has always been enthralled in everything artistic (drawing, entertaining, acting, singing, songwriting, writing) would somehow automatically make a better father to daughters instead of sons.  So that’s part of the reason I was so authentically surprised to learn that our baby is a boy.  Like somehow I deserved a son less because I’m not a certain macho stereotype I’ve memorized from three decades of watching sitcoms and movies.

And now, I have to admit, there’s a part of me that can’t help but laugh that without any preconceived hopes or crossed fingers, I get what every man secretly hopes for- a son.  There’s an unspoken concept (at least in my mind) that raising a son is a rite of passage for a man.  A coveted elective course, a special honorary badge, an engraved trophy so easily received- to be a father to a son.  A chance not so much to relive my own life, but to enhance another future man with all the life experience and knowledge I’ve learned the hard way.

The movie I Love You, Man is built around the fact that male friendships and bonds don’t often come so easily.  By a man having a son, he is automatically given that opportunity- to nurture a male the way every boy and man craves to be taught and directed.  What I lack in knowledge of fixing cars and football statistics and home repairs, I can make up for in teaching healthy communication skills and anything that falls under that categories of “literary”, “artistic”, “psychological”, and “entertainment”.

In other words, I have a feeling I will be raising  the likeness of a future Jewish comedic actor, maybe the next Joseph Gordon-Levitt, the next Shia LaBeouf, the next James Franco…

A well-rounded people-person who is confident in who he is, that’s who I predict he will become.  Who knows?  Maybe he’ll be a quiet, mild-mannered, studious, future accountant.  But with a dad as quirky and Hawaiian-shirt-wearing as me, I just don’t think he has a chance of being anything like Clark Kent.

Here’s what The Bump says about Week 20:

Baby’s digestive system is busy creating meconium (a tarry black substance made of swallowed amniotic fluid, digestive secretion and dead cells), which will fill the first diaper after birth. And, speaking of the diaper situation… baby’s genitals are now fully formed!

To return to the “dad from day one” main page, click here.

All pictures with the “JHP” logo were taken by Joe Hendricks Photography:

Blog- www.photojoeblog.com

Website- www.joehendricks.com