I'm going to level with you, guys, since the beginning of the year I've been on something of a diet. Namely, I've been trying to lay off the four-pack of Fosters I usually relax with before bed in favour of drinking something a little less calorific. From now on, or at least until my beer-gut is cut down to a size, it's just Jameson's and soda water for me every night.
Turns out I'm not the only one making some big lifestyle changes. While thousands of people are three days into a 'Dry January', one man has revealed what it's like if you continue past the end of the month and keep it up for two years.
A New York designer, Tobias Van Schneider, has spoken out about what quitting drinking, along with coffee, meant for him, saying it effected his social life. Writing on his blog, he said: "If there is one thing I noticed quite early, then it's the lack of social interaction my new diet brought with it.
"When a group of people asks me to join them for drinks, I mostly default to answer with no because I just don't want to deal with gossip as a sober person."
A video showing the perils of drinking. Credit: Newsflare
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But as far as his body and his wallet were concerned, he says things couldn't be better, claiming he saved $1,000 (£814) a month, his sleep quality improved, and he felt less stressed.
"Assume that I have two or three cocktails every other day (which are $10 each without tip), including some wine bottles every month for at home I can easily spend $1000," he added.
"Removing alcohol from my diet increased my sleep quality drastically. I sleep better, and I wake up with more energy."
Tobias also said that removing coffee from his diet meant that he felt more relaxed, as drinking the drink stressed him out.
He's now 27 months into quitting and I've got to say that it sounds like his life has undergone some positive changes, much like those described in an article I wrote yesterday about what happens when you quit smoking.
That said, although I might be cutting down, I'm not sure quitting drinking is for me personally. I think Christopher Hitchens described it best with the following anecdote.
Men drinking shots made from chillis. Credit: Newsflare
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He wrote: "In my squandered youth I was a friend of Ian Hamilton, the biographer of Robert Lowell and J. D. Salinger and a justly renowned figure in London's Bohemia. His literary magazine The New Review was published from a bar-stool in a Soho pub called the Pillars of Hercules, and editorial meetings would commence promptly at opening time.
"One day, there came through the door a failed poet with an equally heroic reputation for dissipation. To Ian's undisguised surprise, he declined the offer of a hand-steadying cocktail. 'No', he announced dramatically. 'I just don't want to do it anymore. I don't like having blackouts and waking up on rubbish dumps. I don't like having no money and no friends, smelling bad and throwing up randomly. I don't like wetting myself and getting impotent'."
"His voice rising and cracking slightly, he concluded by avowing that he also didn't like being repellently fat, getting the shakes and amnesia, losing his teeth and gums, and suffering from premature baldness. A brief and significant silence followed this display of emotion. Then Ian, fixing him with a stern look, responded evenly by saying, 'Well, none of us likes it'."
Of course it's nice to quit and you'd probably feel healthier, but who would?
Featured Image Credit: Tobias Van Schneider