why i stopped drinking alcohol

What's up, Graham? It's guys here. So I've recently noticed a growing trend among entrepreneurs, business owners, and even people here on YouTube who've started becoming more and more vocal about why they've stopped drinking alcohol. At first, I kind of just thought it was this thing that people would slowly wean off of as they began getting older. But over time, I began to realize that, wait a second, there really is something to this, and it's not an accident that some of the richest people in the world have vowed to never drink alcohol ever again.

Not to mention, I'd like to share my story as well, because besides the occasional drink on a special occasion, I've completely stopped drinking alcohol a few years ago. There are quite a few reasons for that, which you might not expect. Although before we begin, I do want to say that I'm definitely pushing myself out of my comfort zone, being a bit more vulnerable here to make a video like this. So if you appreciate that, maybe you want to see more videos like this. Hit the like button or subscribe; it really helps out tremendously. And also, a big thank you to Policy Genius for sponsoring this video, but more on that later.

Alright, so I want to start by walking you through my own experiences, and I’ll share some of the actual data behind it that I found really surprising. Because, like most of you watching, I never really paid alcohol that much attention. Even though it's always in the back of my mind that alcoholism is something that runs in the family, I've never been the type of person to have more than, you know, a few drinks at a time or going out with friends every now and then. Overall, it just became this thing where everyone in their early 20s was doing it, and if you didn't want to be the weird one going out to a bar and not having a drink, you'd have a drink.

I never really saw it as much of a problem because I enjoyed it. In a weird way, mundane situations just became really fun. Socializing became very intuitive. There were some great friends that I made over a few drinks. But over time, I began to notice that the next day, it was just a bit slow. It's hard to explain, but you know the feeling when you just get a terrible night of sleep, have to wake up early, and everything else that day just takes a little more effort.

Well, after a few years of going out and having a few drinks every now and then, it just became more and more of a common occurrence. At first, I kind of thought to myself, "Well, maybe I'm just not drinking enough water, maybe I'm not getting enough sleep, and I should try going to bed earlier." But the common denominator throughout all of it was always alcohol. So, of course, I started cutting back. Instead of having four drinks on a Saturday night, I'd have three. I would go to bed earlier, I'd drink more water, but I still, no matter what, just felt sluggish.

It was kind of like all of my charisma, wit, and energy just got zapped away the next day. I was never really as strong at the gym, and I knew it was an issue once it started affecting my work. See, back then, I was a real estate agent, and every single Sunday, I'd hold an open house. The problem, though, was that Saturday nights were often for going out with friends. I would have a few drinks and then wake up the next morning feeling exhausted, even though I'm not out there binge drinking or anything like that. Just a small amount the night before began to reduce my edge.

It was harder for me to think on my feet, be talkative, and show clients around, and be at the top of my game. After a while, it just clicked where I thought to myself, "If I ever want to get really good at what I do and compete on a high level, I can't afford to drink the night before." So I stopped. All of a sudden, I woke up earlier in the morning, I felt more motivated, I had more energy, I was better at what I did, and as a result, I made more money.

To me, this is really confirmation enough that if I wanted to get really good in business in my line of work, I had to make these changes because otherwise, I could lose a deal to somebody else who is just functioning on a higher level than I was. Obviously, as somebody who at the time was like in their mid-20s, I didn't want to stop going out entirely. So instead, I would keep the same routine, but instead of ordering alcohol, I just got water.

At first, it was really weird, and I hated it. It was very uncomfortable. Like, I'm not sure if you've ever been the only sober one in a bar that's really loud, crammed full of people. It's just not that enjoyable. Not only that, but conversations took a lot more effort. When you're inebriated, you could say pretty much whatever you want to because you have zero inhibitions, but without that, I found myself overthinking everything, being anxious, having to talk over the noise. Without alcohol, socializing was like this brand new muscle that I had to relearn how to do.

But thankfully, it eventually got a lot more comfortable to go out with friends, not have a drink, and be completely myself. But for me, it didn't exactly come naturally, and it was a lot of work on my end to get it to that point. Now keep in mind, at this point, I didn't stop drinking alcohol entirely. I'd still have the occasional drink or two on nights where I didn't have anything important going on the next day.

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And now, with that said, let's get back to the video. Alright, now, in terms of my own story, like I mentioned earlier, what really made the biggest difference for me was YouTube. At the time, I was working 40 to 50 hours a week as a real estate agent, and then I would come home and work another 40 to 50 hours a week making YouTube videos while trying to maintain somewhat of a social life.

In the first year of doing that, for the most part, I had it down to a science. But I noticed on the days where I would go out and have a drink at night, the next day my edge was completely gone. For some reason, after one drink, I was less energetic and less motivated. I just felt slow and dull, and I would just push through it, but I was never truly proud of the next day's results because I had drank the night before. It just wasn't as good.

It even eventually got to the point where the day after the next day, I still felt some lingering results. I wasn't back to 100 percent, even if I've only had like two drinks. And that, for me, was the tipping point where I began to ask myself, "What am I really getting out of alcohol?" Sure, it was fun. It was a social activity I could do with other people; it allowed me to let loose a little bit. But none of those were things that I couldn't learn to do on my own, so why continue?

This was also around the same time that my business began to do really, really well, and why would I want to risk anything that sacrifices quality? The opportunity cost had just become so high that having one drink could cost me thousands of dollars, or even tens of thousands of dollars, if one of my clients decides to list a home with somebody else because I wasn't as good as I needed to be to show them everything that I have to offer.

At that point, I was done. Alcohol was not worth the price to pay the next day. And even though on the surface it seems like not that big of a deal, in my mind, I viewed it as this edge that was going to compound over time. In fact, I heard somewhere that alcohol is like borrowing from tomorrow to enjoy today, and in my opinion, that's true.

I know I have a tendency to put everything into money terms, but for me, not drinking is like having an extra dollar a day. It might not initially sound like a lot, but if you keep doing that over 30 years, that dollar a day is going to compound to almost $50,000 in value. Well, I think of alcohol as having the exact opposite effect of getting a dollar a day. In fact, you're giving, you're spending a dollar a day. And over those 30 years, that results in a loss of $10,950 compared to the $50,000 of edge that you could have had.

Look, Andrew Huberman really says it best, and I didn't fully understand exactly what was going on until I listened to his two-hour-long podcast, which I'll link down below in the description. But for those who are curious, this is what stood out to me the most. One, contrary to the popular thinking that drinking in moderation is fine, one study shows that even mild alcohol consumption of one drink a day led to reduced gray matter in the brain, meaning your brain is literally melting away, thinning, and functioning at a lower capacity than someone else who's having nothing.

Second, I also found it surprising that when you drink, your brain suppresses cortisol levels, which is the hormone that causes stress. This is why people often have a drink to relax themselves. However, that backlog of cortisol has to go somewhere, so when you stop drinking, all of it comes rushing back at once, resulting in you feeling even more stressed with a diminished mood and the desire to drink even more to then return back to your baseline.

The third, regarding the brain fog that I'd often feel the next day, that wasn't just in my mind. Moderate alcohol intake is found to reduce your sleep quality by 25 percent, and even one drink is shown to reduce REM and sleep quality, negatively impacting the next day. Fourth, if you go to the gym on a regular basis, as I'm sure you've seen, alcohol just completely destroys your progress. In fact, alcohol inhibits the muscle's ability to recover and adapt to exercise for up to 48 hours.

Fifth, even with occasional social drinkers and even with zero alcohol in their bloodstream, the next day responses are found to be delayed. Motor functions are reduced, and the ability to think is diminished in almost every single way. Alcohol dumbs and slows you down, and if you want to function on a high level and improve your life, I just didn't see the benefit of continuing.

So, besides the very rare occasional drink, I quit. Now, of course, I would be lying if I said that there weren't any drawbacks. For instance, it's a lot more work for me to go out and socialize at events. I have to practice having conversations with people; otherwise, I just become a hermit who does nothing but stay at home and work. And it's really hard for me to dumb myself down to have meaningless conversations.

But I wake up every morning feeling more energetic. I'm way more motivated, I have great workouts every day at the gym, and I feel like I'm a way more productive person because of it. And evidently, I'm not the only one who thinks this either. Gen Z apparently is taking quite the stance against not drinking at all, which is attributed to better-known health risks of regular consumption. This is also what's partially driving a lot of the sudden interest in the mocktail industry, with non-alcoholic drinks becoming more and more popular.

At this point for me, I just no longer get any enjoyment from drinking alcohol. One drink puts me to sleep, and I no longer see the advantage of indulging myself in something that I don't see the benefit of. But I also acknowledge that I'm coming at this from someone who's not predisposed to take it to an extreme, and alcohol affects everyone differently. So this is just my viewpoint.

I'm sure if most people just stopped after the second drink, went to bed early, ate a full meal, exercised regularly, and drank lots of water, they'd probably be fine. But for me, I really just want to be the best I can. There's not enough room for both, and I'm really just an all-or-nothing kind of person, so nothing is probably better for me. However, I do have to admit that coffee, on the other hand, and caffeine is probably a different story for maybe another video.

So with that said, you guys, thank you so much for watching. As always, feel free to add me on Snapchat and Instagram. Don't forget to hit the like button, subscribe, and don't forget we also have a paid affiliate link down below in the description. You can get some free stocks with all the way up to a few thousand dollars when you make a deposit. Enjoy! Let me know what stocks you get. Thank you so much for watching, and until next time.