r/AlcoholFree

In exactly one week, it will be exactly one year.

At this point, I'm not interested in alcohol anymore. It has no appeal. I might do sips at parties later on, maybe, or maybe not. It's not a big deal anymore.

What did I learn?

• Nobody in my social group ever bugged me about it. I'm very thankful for that - not exactly surprised though. I know my folks! Most expressed some admiration, maybe the odd "I could never do that". All of that, even though most of them still drink way too much themselves.
• I regularly visit my old favourite pub. It's not a problem. I just drink non-alcoholic beer. They are used to it, they ask me if I want "the usual?", and that's non-alcoholic now. No biggie.
• Being with drunk people is odd. I had strong emotions about it for a while, but now it's just weird to think that I was once like that. I worry for some of my friends, but there is nothing I can do, and I'm not the preacher type, so I never bring it up.
• I think that there is a huuuuuge difference between alcohol abuse, like I did, like most grown-ups in my country do - and on the other hand, physical dependence. We shouldn't downplay the first of course, but we should appreciate the difference. Dying from cold-turkey can't be fun!
• I know that I won't fall back. I've been through some pretty tough times recently, and I managed without alcohol. Much better than I would have fared if I was still drinking. In fact, when I gave up alcohol completely, I was out of a job, and I still managed. So there is no reason, ever.
• One still has to be careful of course. I don't believe in the "every sip makes you relapse" theory, but better be too careful than go back to old habits.
• There were some very big emotions at the start of it, whenever I thought about how I regularly lost at least one day per week to hangovers. All of that is gone. It's over. I'm thankful. No need to dwell on it.
• I'm always on the lookout for alcohol-free options, but since I have diabetes too, the scope is quite limited. All recommendations welcome!

The english language in this posting is terrible, sorry, I'm sorta tired.