An alcohol-free life gives me greater time affluence

The older I get, the more I realize that the only currency that really matters is time.  We all know this on a fundamental level, but it wasn’t until I stopped drinking alcohol that this became really obvious to me.  

I’ve also been learning more about what psychologists have defined as ‘time affluence’: the sense that one regularly has ample time available.  There have been a multitude of studies that indicate that an individual’s sense of time affluence was linked to greater happiness. 

As someone who regularly wishes they could clone themselves because they don’t have enough hours in the day, I struggle with feeling like I have enough time (and I know I’m not alone in this!  A survey done indicates that 80% of Americans feel this way).  Yet the amount of time I used to allocate to going out and drinking, or recovering from said drinking is insane to me now.  Alcohol is literally a poison, and especially as my body has aged, I would feel it on a physical level no matter the quantity.  Even a single glass of red wine would give me a slight headache the next day.  And if I binge drank, my hangovers were absolutely brutal.  Thus, I found myself wasting sooo much precious time.  And then getting stressed and anxious *about* wasting the time. 

Let me stop you before you think this is heading towards a productivity post.  I didn’t give up alcohol so I could have more time dedicated to the grind (work, school, etc.)  But rather the increased time affluence I’ve gotten from an alcohol-free life has given me the bandwidth to actually *breathe*.  And with that space to breathe I’ve gained a greater sense of what I actually want to fill my time with.  While I was drinking, most days looked the same: wake up, work, unwind with alcohol on the evenings and weekends, rinse and repeat.  Life became really monotonous and I felt trapped on that hamster wheel.  I find myself now having the space to also fill it with things I enjoy, not just the things I’m obligated to do.

I definitely still overextend myself to people, places and things, and it’s something I’m working to manage.  But at least now I’m not wasting my time on the consumption or recovery from alcohol.  I’ve given myself the ability to consciously be aware of what I spend time on, instead of just mindlessly shuffling through life.  

And to me, that is time well spent.