This is not a drill, girlies - it’s beer garden season! But just before you dig out your bucket hat and go searching for ‘How To Roll A Cigarette Tutorial’, maybe you should consider the sober-curious lifestyle? Basically, being sober curious means you’re thinking about drinking less, or not drinking at all, whether your reasons are to do with your mental and physical health, or the decision is more based on your lifestyle, wellbeing or financial situation. There’s also tonnes of alcohol-free choices readily available, ranging from ciders to spirits so you can still enjoy a (fake) Dark Fruits in the sunshine without the looming cloud of Hangxiety.

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Still not convinced? Yeah I was worried that would be the case. Bella Hadid is doing it. You’re on board now? Yep. Cool.

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Just to clear things up, sober-curiosity is different from just going cold turkey sober - it’s not never ever drinking ever again, because we all made that promise to ourselves at least twice in Fresher’s and look how that one turned out; it’s more about looking at your relationship with alcohol and the role it plays in your life.

Let’s see if sobriety could be the key ingredient to your hot girl summer...

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Q: How can you tell LJ wrote a blog?

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A: When there’s a needless definition section ofc!

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I kind of covered it in the intro, but for the sake of continuity - WTF does it mean to be Sober Curious?

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Sober Curiosity

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def.

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a term encompassing people who are ready to dry out entirely, and those who are more interested in cutting back on the booze

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We overdid it on Saturday, swore off booze on Sunday, and here we are a week later filming our ‘What I Eat In A Day - Hungover Edition’, captioned ‘omg I’m never drinking again’. It’s the world’s best joke with the shittiest punchline - no matter how gross drinking makes us feel, we keep on doing it. I mean, what other option is there?
Here's the plot twist: things have been changing lately. The punchline, along with the spirits, has been taking an unexpected turn. It's not just you and your girlies anymore. It seems like a shift is happening on a larger scale. Many of your friends, and even you, have been reevaluating your relationship with the liquor store. According to a study conducted by Nielsen, nearly 50% of all U.S. adults are actively trying to dial back their alcohol consumption. And guess what? Among millennials, that number jumps up to a whopping 66%.

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There has been a remarkable shift in UK drinking culture over the years too. The younger generation, in particular, has been raising their glasses less and less since 2005, with a significant rise in teetotalism among those aged 16-44. According to Laura Willoughby, the visionary behind Club Soda, the world's largest mindful drinking movement, this decline in alcohol consumption among young people can be attributed to two factors: our increased understanding of the impact alcohol can have on our mental well-being and the wide array of alcohol-free options now available in the market. It seems like the era of conscious drinking and exploring booze-free alternatives is in full swing!  Let's drink to that!...or not...

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The unstoppable rise of the sober curious lifestyle makes perfect sense when you take a step back and look at the bigger picture: the mighty wellness revolution. We're living in a time where people are obsessed with what they put in and on their bodies. They want their fruits and veggies to be organic, their meat to be hormone-free non-GMO (and that’s if they even eat meat in the first place), their milk to be non-dairy, their beauty products to be squeaky clean, and their clothes to be ethically sourced. So, naturally, they're questioning the whole booze business. Who needs the mental gymnastics of justifying the toxic, hangover-inducing, and health-risk-packed nature of drinking when you've put so much effort into being a wellness warrior?

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Ruby Warrington, the genius behind the term and the author of the book 'Sober Curious: The Blissful Sleep, Greater Focus, Limitless Presence, and Deep Connection Awaiting Us All on the Other Side of Alcohol,' totally gets it. She sums it up brilliantly: "The more time, money, and energy people invest in their overall well-being, the harder it becomes to overlook the downright toxicity and health hazards (especially for our mental well-being) associated with booze."

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For those who've been sipping on the elixir of adulthood somewhere in a field since their wild mid- to late-teens, the idea of cutting back or quitting altogether may seem like nothing more than a passing fad. Maybe they join the Dry January bandwagon with their pals just to see what the buzz is all about. But lo and behold, the benefits of bidding farewell to alcohol can quickly make a compelling case to stay on the wagon, according to the wise words of Joseph R. Volpicelli, M.D., Ph.D.

In a matter of days or weeks, the wonders unfold. Your sleep becomes a divine sanctuary, embracing you in its restful arms. You'll wake up every day with newfound energy, ready to conquer the day and focus like a laser beam. Happiness may bubble up inside you, anxiety taking a backseat. While the effects may be most noticeable for our friends who partook in a few too many shots, even those who indulged moderately have reported significant perks.

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Cutting down on alcohol isn't just about being a health-conscious superhero. It's like upgrading your social life to VIP status, finding better connections with others, and achieving a state of zen that rivals a chilled-out sloth. Forget the negative side-effects of booze because now we have options like yoga, meditation, and even CBD and cannabis to help us unwind without the wicked aftermath.

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Now, while the hardcore sobriety crew might roll their eyes at all the "exploring sobriety" trendsetters, let's be real—playing around with the idea of cutting back or ditching alcohol isn't exactly gonna make the world implode.

That being said, we don't want to water down the seriousness of things like alcohol use disorder and true sobriety. According to the DSM-5, alcohol use disorder is like a persistent brain disease that makes you do the compulsive alcohol dance, lose control, and feel emotionally dog shit when you're not drunk or drinking. Recovery, on the other hand, involves tackling the deep-rooted causes behind addiction, while sobriety simply means abstaining from the sauce, whether it's for a short stint or a full-on lifestyle choice. So, you can be sober without being in recovery, but you can't be in recovery without being sober.

These distinctions are super important, especially as we see more folks hopping on the sober train. Some worry that tossing around terms like "sober curious" might downplay the gravity of alcohol abuse and addiction. Let's face it, for many people in recovery, even one sip can send them spiralling down a dangerous path. But Sanam Hafeez PsyD, a wise neuropsychologist and Columbia University faculty member, believes that this movement could actually help de-stigmatise sobriety and spark important conversations about the realities of alcoholism. She wants us to remember that staying sober is no joke—it's a matter of life and death. So let's keep it real and support those on the sober journey, because their lives truly hang in the balance.

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If you’re wanting to cut alcohol out of your life completely, or whether you’ll keep her around like that one home town friend who you maybe talk to once a month, cutting back on drinking is always to be applauded, because it’s a tough thing to do.

Luckily there’s plenty of resources out there - like the Sober Girl Society - to provide support and advice as well as a sense of community. So, let's clink our glasses of kombucha to Ruby Warrington, Millie Gooch, and all the rebellious souls who are rewriting the rules of imbibing. Here's to flipping the bird to societal norms, embracing a sober curious mindset, and finding a deeper connection with ourselves. Sober Summer 2023?
You’ve got this.

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