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The Last Days of being Young, Urban, and Totally Sober

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Thursday night I headed to my buddy’s house to watch the Bruins vs Capitals hockey game.  I prefer social events like this one because it’s usually just good friends hanging out and having a few beers, a situation where drinking is very much secondary (or tertiary) to the game or conversation.  Normally I would have enjoyed a beer or so per period and then headed home tired and slightly buzzed.  However, Thursday night I stuck to water (and a full bag of Tostitos with salsa).  There was one other person just drinking water so I felt better about not drinking.  As with my other sober social events I still felt the need to explain myself, “I’m doing this 30 day life experiment…”

Friday night I had plans to go rock climbing and meet up with friends at the bar but then last minute I got a chance to gear up for a hike up Mt Washington on Saturday so obviously I packed up and headed north.  Sober month or not sober month, adventures take precedence.  However, adventures usually end with victory beers or a flask of whiskey to share with friends at the campsite.  The hike ended up being UNBELIEVABLE (stay tuned for photo evidence).  I have never seen such amazing conditions in the white mountains, especially on Washington which has notoriously horrible weather.

Unbelievable conditions on Mt Washington. Yes I'm in a tshirt and yes it's from Dysarts in Bangor, ME.

Just another picture to help illustrate how amazing the conditions were on Mt Washington.

I felt strong, fit, and motivated.  It was an added bonus to have such phenomenal weather.  Having finished the hike by 2pm we then drove back to Boston so as not to miss out on the night life.  I had plans to hang out with friends at the Middle East to see some live music.

In the last few days leading up to the conclusion of my 30 day life experiment of “Young, Urban, and Totally Sober” I thought about what I would do at 12:01am on Sunday April 1st.  Would I have a mug beer from Parish Cafe, would I end up having a $2 PBR with the hipsters at the Middle East, or would I enjoy a straight glass of bourbon?  It was quickly approaching midnight and I wasn’t sure I’d make it due to hiking Washington that day.  I was sore, tired, and just generally beat.  However, I made it to 12:01am and my friends cheered for me and I bought a beer.

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My first alcoholic beverage in 30 days, Harpoon IPA at the Middle East.

My first beer in 30 days was a bit anticlimactic because we left the bar about 5 minutes after I got my beer. The last band was pretty bad so it made sense to take off, I’m not sure how long I could have tolerated it to be honest (both staying awake and having to listen to more of that band).  Also, I was really too tired to properly enjoy the beer, all I really wanted to do was to go to bed and sleep for 12 hours.

This month’s 30 day life experiment was certainly a positive experience.  I learned how to enjoy hanging out with friends and celebrate adventures without alcohol.  I think it helped me recalibrate how I have fun and enjoy events. I started to recognize throughout the month that many of my friends routinely stay sober at parties.  One friend who was dancing at the bar I had assumed was drunk.  However, it turned out that she was stone cold sober, just having a really good time and getting her groove on.  Another friend hosted a party at her house but she drank nothing but OJ and water.  Alcohol can certainly lubricate conversation but being as extroverted as I am, I didn’t find it to be a problem.  I still think that my conversational french is still better a bit buzzed but aside from that I didn’t notice any difference in the amount of fun I was having.  I had plenty of fun, saved a bunch of money, and lost a few pounds but ultimately this 30 day sober life experiment it showed me that being young, urban, and totally sober is a perfectly acceptable thing to do.

Well Hydrated at the Dive Bar

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Friday night was my first sober-month experience of hanging out at a bar with my friends.  We were getting together for a birthday celebration combined with a going-away celebration for another friend and met up at a dive bar downtown called Biddy Early’s.  It got good reviews on yelp.com for having cheap beer and a good atmosphere so we decided to give it a shot.  Having two reasons to party with the same group of friends was awesome, although I did feel a little bit weird about not drinking anything.  It makes a little bit of sense that I felt out of place because the general expectation for patrons at a bar is that they drink something.  So, to be honest I didn’t quite know what to do with my hands, usually one of them is holding a beer.  I wouldn’t have drank a lot anyway because I was waking up early the next morning to drive to Maine so I wasn’t exactly interested in being hungover the next day.  Feeling the need to be drinking SOMETHING, I bought a glass of ice water just to have something to keep my hands busy.

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Enjoying a tall draught of… ice water.

I thought about ordering a cranberry juice instead like the scene from The Departed but I chickened out:

No one made fun of my sobriety so unfortunately I didn’t have the chance to beat anyone up like Leonardo Dicaprio.  However, before I knew it I had five glasses of water and it was almost  1am.  So we ran to the train (it stops running at 1am in Boston) and caught it just in time to catch a lift home.  However, instead of being drunk in public I was more worried about having to pee on the train after having a few liters of water at the bar.  I made it without having to urinate in public so the trip home from the bar was a success.

It was probably my first time in Boston being in a bar and not drinking so it was definitely a little bit weird to not be drinking beer.  Instead, I cheers-ed to the birthday girl and going-away girl with my glass of water and hung out talking with everyone.  All in all I still had a really good time with my friends and I came to terms with the fact that I don’t need to drink beer to have a crazy good time.  To the contrary I woke up well hydrated and not hungover, what a great feeling.  I would have preferred to have a few Harpoon IPAs to celebrate with my friends but the fact remained that I didn’t NEED to have them, so life is good.