CNN: My not-drinking bothers friends.
”If people really want to know the brutal truth of why I quit, I tell them. I blacked out. I behaved badly. I couldn’t predictably control my intake. I made poor decisions. I experienced gut-twisting, head-imploding hangovers. Anxiety choked me. But these truths are a buzz kill.” Alcohol is not integral to ‘having a good time.’ That runs against the common perception these days. You’ll get more out of being sober and saying ‘yes’ to things you normally say ‘no’ to ... like, new experience. That’s transformative. Getting silly drunk in order to step out of one’s comfort range is just sad, really.
Comments:
Replace “alcohol” with “Xanax” and see if this article makes sense. Or “Ritalin” or “lithium carbonate”, ad nauseam.
“But these truths are a buzzkill.”
...says the guy that can’t hold his drink.
The demonizing of alcohol vs. any other mind altering substance is what’s silly. If people need to self-medicate just to deal with social interactions, maybe we should be looking at why social interactions are so stressful rather than classifying individuals as somehow “broken” or dysfunctional.
“Alcohol is not integral to having a good time.”
Spoken like a true Puritan. 
Slaves, fetch my coca leaves!
PURITAN!?! Them’s fightin’ woids. I’m a Dutchman by heritage, and screw them damned Puritans and Pilgrims. They’re the cause of all this evangelical nonsense. But I digress.
You say: “If people need to self-medicate just to deal with social interactions, maybe we should be looking at why social interactions are so stressful rather than classifying individuals as somehow “broken” or dysfunctional.”
We’re coming at the same concept from opposite ends. You see social interactions as being stressful; I look at the individual, and wonder what social capability is damaged and needs medication (via intoxicants of choice).
Perhaps it is both.
[I expect to be castigated as a foul appeaser now ...]
Thanks Garret for promoting the plain truth about alcohol. I too have been sober—for 19 years this month; and for all the reasons you quoted in this link. I too find it sad that society encourages and tolerates alcohol consumption. The promotion of wine as if it was harmless particularly disturbs me. About 15 years ago I attended a seminar in the East Bay (of San Francisco Bay) given by a very prominent Bay Area neurologist. He was presenting about Alzheimer’s Disease that day. I remember one of his remarks verbatim: ‘Evey drop of alcohol swallowed kills brain cells.’ ‘Nuff said!