5 UNEXPECTED Benefits from Quitting Drinking

When you think of quitting booze there are some obvious positives that spring to mind - you'll save money, your health could improve and there'll be no more hangovers.

But this really is a gift that keeps giving.

Here are 5 of the best unexpected benefits from quitting alcohol.

I decided to stop drinking for the year of 2023 as a bit of a personal experiment - I wanted to see if my ADHD and mental health would become less problematic - and I also figured it would be good for my health overall regardless.

However, far more benefits revealed themselves beyond the obvious and expected. So much so, I've not drank since.

These are the things I've chosen over alcohol. Yet, before I stopped drinking, I didn't even know these things existed.

1. A Deep Sense of Trust in Myself

I knew one decent bonus to not drinking would be no more blackouts. No more horrors or hangxiety.

But I didn't expect that I'd also discover a deep feeling of trust in myself. Trust that I would be safe. That I'd make decent decisions. That I wouldn't do anything I'd regret. That I'd be in control of my actions. It was the most awesome feeling but also kind of sad because I'd never knew it existed before.

In time, I looked forward to events more since I no longer worried what regrets I might also collect as part of the experience.

This level of security in itself is addictive. I'll never trade in this delicious sensation. Now I've discovered it, I'm keeping it.

2. More Headspace.

I had no idea how much brain power I was using to plan my boozing, until I stopped and suddenly didn't have to think about details like lifts, timings and taxis. I didn't have to do as many shop visits whether it was buying the actual booze or just munchies for the next day. I didn't have to force-feed myself so I wasn't drinking on an empty stomach. I hadn't got to forward plan to accommodate a hangover. I wasn't preoccupied by what might get said or done or things I might have said and done in the past.

Honestly, my head just felt so empty and light - which made a massive change to feeling constantly overwhelmed and overstimulated!

I felt like I'd got all this extra thinking time and space. Something I was totally unprepared for. For the first time my life I began to feel organised and prepared because I wasn't preoccupied by boozing.

3. Absolute Freedom.

Suddenly, I had the ability to take myself wherever and whenever I wanted. I'd been able to drive since my teens but had always prioritised drinking to the extent that I'd rather miss a party than drive and stay sober!

Now I can suddenly go to multiple engagements in one night. I can take myself to events further away because travel won't cost a fortune.

I thought I'd end up socialising and going out less - which in some respects is true - but I now enjoy such a large variety of things rather than the same stuff on repeat.

It's a case of swapping quantity for quality.

And sometimes I still feel I'm doing more than when I was when drinking because I'm so totally unrestricted.

But my most favourite freeing thing? Driving myself home after a night out, radio on, food on the seat beside me, knowing I've skipped out before the early morning sloppiness begins, no looking for a taxi, no sobering, sickly lift home.

Just a glorious feeling of freedom as I cruise homeward.

4. Spiritual Awakening

This was a complete shock at the time but it's something I've since heard others talk about. Whether alcohol suppresses our sixth senses or not, mine were shaken awake during sobriety and at a rapid rate.

I'd been on a spiritual journey for years, but my first year without alcohol honestly felt like five years' worth of growth and developments.

I met myself at deeper levels. I understood myself at deeper levels.

My intuition heightened and I had some really intense experiences of a paranormal and spiritual nature.

This was a development I had never considered but was too significant to miss. I literally feel in hindsight as though I was existing in a haze and this newfound clarity is something I cherish way too much to ever sacrifice.

5. Firmer boundaries

I didn't expect to turn up the dial on my self-worth because I didn't realise how low it was set. Until I stopped drinking.

The first thing I remember noticing was how only a few beers in, the way some people spoke to me became belligerent and disrespectful. Whilst I was still drinking, I'd thought nothing much of it - they'd been drinking, what did I expect? But sober me couldn't help but think, actually I expect manners and to be treated with decency. I want to be spoken to how you were speaking only twenty minutes ago before that third beer.

It was weird, but things I'd accepted before were now intolerable. I didn't know what or how things had changed, they just had. I felt different about everyone and everything. Plenty of relationships ended.

There wasn't necessarily drama - for many it just meant subtle shifts, misaligned paths, a fazing out.

Setting myself the challenge of not drinking for a year was quite easily the best decision I ever made.

Sobriety has been a choice that keeps on giving back. It even lead me to quit my nicotine habit which I'm so happy about - that's a whole other story!

Giving up booze was a catalyst for the most liberating set of circumstances - there are so many far reaching effects, improving every part of my life.

I drank from the age of fourteen and every celebration, occasion and feeling for twenty-one years since has involved alcohol. I've had almost three adult years sober now and I plan to have many more! I feel like I was conned actually, but I'm glad I've discovered a life without alcohol now.

**if drinking excessively, it can be dangerous to abruptly stop drinking, please seek medical advice**