I ran into an old friend the other day. It was nice to run into him, and although I was in the midst of running errands we stopped for a second to catch up.
Reminiscing on what we had been up to lately, I recalled how low-key my life has been for the last year and mentioned that I haven’t been “out”(as in “out on the town”) in over a YEAR.
The last time I went out to a bar was for my big sister’s bachelorette party last summer. But prior to actually saying it out loud, it is not something I really thought of before. Is this normal for a 27 year old? I honestly don’t know – I’m not sure what everyone else is up to on the weekends these days. I can only relate to you guys my own experiences and my own personal reasons why I’ve made this decision, consciously and subconsciously.
First, I mean, obviously this is a health, wellness, and fitness blog because those are my passions in life. Don’t get me wrong, I am all about living a life of balance! But balance for me is not working my butt off and eating well six days out of the week so I can undo all that work in 1 night. I know myself, and I know if I’m up late partying all night I am not making it to the gym the next day. I’m just not! I’m gonna sit home eating pizza. And you know how I found this out? By fooling myself one too many times before! Yes, life experience has taught me a lot.
I am a truly ambitious and motivated person. I think about my goals every. single. day. Whenever I make a choice to do something, I go through an inner dialogue that helps me decide if that choice is good or bad for me down the road. And going out never really looks good. To be honest I just really want to be at the gym, eating a good meal, and in bed by 11. Yes I’m that person.
It’s strange how much shame is associated with that. I want to make it super clear that I don’t look down upon anyone for what the decide to do to enjoy their free time! But when I tell people I don’t go out, it is hard for others to understand.
There’s not a lot of room for alcohol in my life.
If you’ve been following my blog for a while, then you might be aware that my best friend is an alcoholic. This experience has completely changed my relationship with alcohol. I am damaged from it in a way, because I see what damage it can do, and it saddens me. If I thought that giving up alcohol for the rest of my life meant that she would also never drink again, I would have given it up a long time ago.
Spending quality time with my best friend used to mean a night on the town. That had to change. Now we spend time enjoying our lives and our health; we work out together, go for coffee, take walks, or just kick it and relax.
Same goes with my boyfriend; spending time together almost never involves alcohol, and has never meant going out. We have never been to a bar together. For where he is at in life, he is just completely uninterested in drinking in general. Because of this, I have a lot of respect for him. We are both ambitious and goal oriented, and we are similar in the activities we enjoy, so I guess we would just rather be lifting the bar then at the actual bar.
I guess to sum it all up, partying just isn’t conducive to my lifestyle anymore.
This doesn’t make me better or worse than anyone. But yes, I know it makes me different.
I’m just simply doing other things.
Healthy things.
That all being said, I am not against drinking. But I am against drinking for the wrong reasons, and drinking for the sole purpose of drowning my sorrows. I believe that partying has it’s time and place. I am actually going to another bachelorette party in a month and I am excited to be there for the bride to be’s big night out! I can’t wait to cheers her on the special occasion. Not to be cliche but, there really is a time and a place for everything.
I still have a drink every once in a while, but you know what?
I don’t need it 🙂
Standing Strong Wellness 
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