A Lengthy-Time Drinker on Attending A number of Concert events Sober

The night time of my twenty ninth birthday, I went with pals to see New Discovered Glory in live performance at Irving Plaza in New York Metropolis. After having already consumed a cocktail every (possibly two) at dinner, my pals and I took a shot of bourbon on the venue’s bar earlier than continuing to drunkenly dance to the band’s pop-punk hits.

I wasn’t actually positive why I used to be consuming, on condition that I had not too long ago sought to reexamine my relationship with alcohol. Earlier that 12 months, 2017, I had accomplished my first “dry January” and abstained from alcohol for the month largely to show a buddy fallacious who guess that I could not do it. However to be truthful, he had all the rationale to suspect that he’d be proper. On the time, I used to be a crimson carpet reporter by night time (suppose: occasions, events, and after-parties with open bars) and a meals and beverage reporter by day, which included masking wine, beer, spirits, and blended drinks. To not point out, I used to be a twentysomething single, going out on dates that nearly all the time concerned alcohol and attending booze-fueled networking occasions, birthday events, and social gatherings on the common.

To say {that a} dry January felt like a troublesome enterprise on the time can be an understatement. It appeared unattainable and completely no enjoyable. I additionally did not actually suppose that 30 days sans alcohol would change me in any vital manner, particularly if I deliberate to drink on February 1. Spoiler alert: I used to be fallacious and would come to be taught that my near-daily consuming was affecting me greater than I believed, and my pores and skin, sleep, and power ranges all stood to learn from only a 30-day break (extra on that beneath).

However, on the New Discovered Glory live performance that spring, I discovered myself ringing in my recent 12 months of life with a buzz. Nonetheless wincing from the burn of the bourbon shot slipping down my throat, I welcomed extra of my pals to the venue. And never lengthy after, I discovered myself convincing my buddy Jaimi to crowd-surf with me.

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Maybe my inclination to drink particularly at this present and on my birthday was rooted in nostalgia. New Discovered Glory is from my hometown in Florida, and theirs was the primary present I noticed again in highschool with simply pals and no grownup supervision. The expertise ignited my love for dwell reveals, which, quickly after, grew to become synonymous with a motive to drink.

All through the following 15 years, concert events together with Warped Tour, One thing Company, Taking Again Sunday, Woman Gaga, Paul McCartney, and even a Backstreet Boys reunion grew to become mainstays in my social plans. And much as a rule, I discovered myself imbibing at these occasions, including yet one more boozy social outing to my already alcohol-heavy agenda.

Even after I had skilled the advantages of going dry, the mixture of dwell music and alcohol felt so pure that I did not suppose twice about grabbing a drink (or, slightly, a number of) on the New Discovered Glory live performance. However it was the aftermath of that night time and my unfolding sober-curious journey that might change my perspective for good, main me to attend 4 concert events fully sober this previous summer season.

The pregame: How attending concert events and consuming grew to become intertwined for me

Ingesting at reveals was so simple as this: A buddy would ask if I needed a drink, and I’d say, “positive,” with out pondering an excessive amount of about it. Or, after a very difficult week, I’d be prepared to chop unfastened with my pals at a present, and alcohol was simply the factor to launch our inhibitions. Typically we’d drink earlier than reveals. Typically we’d exit after, too.

If I drank earlier than, throughout, or after a live performance, my next-morning routine was predictable: I’d get up dehydrated (learn: hungover), having slept terribly (learn: 4 hours, max), with a ton of tension (aka “hangxiety”) and the impulse to textual content whomever I’d been with on the live performance, “Did you might have enjoyable?” or “Haha. I’m lifeless from yesterday.” I did this for 2 causes: to substantiate that the night time was, in actual fact, enjoyable for all and that I didn’t by chance embarrass myself or anybody else; and to acknowledge that I wasn’t the one one overdoing it (ahem, feeling like roadkill the following day). Because it seems, none of us felt our greatest after a live performance night time.

Ingesting at reveals was so simple as this: A buddy would ask if I needed a drink, and I’d say, “positive.” Or, after a very difficult week, I’d be prepared to chop unfastened, and alcohol was simply the factor to launch my inhibitions.

Throughout the New Discovered Glory live performance, after I took the burning bourbon shot and crowd-surfed twice—in my not-so-clear way of thinking—I despatched a video of me being lifted up and handed hand-to-hand above the gang to my mother and father. To summarize the dialog that adopted (and continued the following day): My mom was not thrilled. However after the live performance, we hit one other bar with extra pals and extra drinks, and I awakened feeling (you guessed it) unwell.

Within the months that adopted my twenty ninth birthday, I discovered myself consuming fewer and fewer drinks regularly, nonetheless reeling from the notably dangerous hangover that plagued me after that live performance. And when January rolled round once more, I made a decision to do a dry January as soon as extra, desirous to reap the advantages I would just briefly tasted the earlier 12 months. Random sober months adopted, and in wanting again, I notice I haven’t ordered a drink at a live performance since.

The get together: How I made a decision to spend the previous summer season attending concert events sober

After a number of dry Januarys, and consuming fewer than 10 alcoholic drinks complete in 2020, I printed my e-book The Dry Problem: Learn how to Lose the Booze for Dry January, Sober October, and Any Different Alcohol-Free Month that December. Upon realizing what a single month of no booze did for me, I simply could not shut up about it. And because it got here up in dialog, a number of my pals and even strangers had questions for me—so I put all the things I knew and all the things I discovered right into a e-book. The result’s a non-judgmental information to abstaining from alcohol for 29 to 31 days and the advantages of doing so, like higher sleep, monetary financial savings, clearer pores and skin, being current within the second, and, naturally, no hangovers.

This previous summer season, after years of pandemic-canceled occasions, I went to 4 concert events with pals: Tiesto, The Used, Andrew McMahon with Dashboard Confessional, and Counting Crows. And having, by then, largely abstained from alcohol for a number of months, I used to be set on attending these concert events sober, too. I used to be excited to see dwell music and ecstatic to have the ability to expertise certainly one of my favourite pastimes once more, however I used to be additionally nervous about how I might really feel going to reveals for the primary time with out alcohol. I made a decision to provide the primary one a (figurative) shot and go from there.

In fact, there are a plethora of well-known advantages of not consuming, whether or not you go alcohol-free for a month, every week, or only a day. However even on the Tiesto live performance, the place consuming would’ve lengthy been an integral a part of the expertise for me, I used to be happy by a couple of specific upsides: I didn’t need to run to the restroom to alleviate myself after each set, or miss songs, or lose my spot normally admission, or overspend because of imbibing.

I nonetheless danced, I nonetheless sang, I nonetheless dramatically lip-synched with my pals and took enjoyable photographs of the present (much less blurry ones, I would add).

As an alternative, I nonetheless danced, I nonetheless sang, I nonetheless dramatically lip-synched with my pals (some have been consuming, others weren’t) and took enjoyable photographs of the present (much less blurry ones, I would add). Relatively than alcohol, I purchased an power drink earlier than the present, ending it earlier than arriving at safety, and I sipped water all through.

With out alcohol, I used to be absolutely current, with sharper consciousness of the individuals inside my neighborhood—which got here in useful. Someday previous 1 a.m., I unexpectedly caught a girl in my arms and saved her from hitting her head on the concrete ground as she was falling backward. I’m undecided I might have reacted as quick had I been beneath the affect.

The afterparty: How my dry live performance expertise panned out

Evidently, in any case 4 reveals, I didn’t get up with a pounding headache and the urge to vomit. I slept seven to eight hours with out interruption, remembered all the things from the night time earlier than, and didn’t nervously textual content my pals the following morning to ensure issues have been copacetic. (Reader: We had a lot enjoyable, my sobriety however.)

It might sound apparent, however all through this stint of attending concert events sober, there additionally weren’t any tipsy texts to my mother and father geared up with movies that might preserve them up at night time, worrying about my security. (Sorry, and also you’re welcome, Mother!)

Admittedly, I didn’t crowd-surf at any of those latest sober reveals, however for what it’s value, the primary time I crowd-surfed was in highschool (at age 16—yeesh). Sure, I used to be younger(er) and fearless, however the level is, I wasn’t consuming, and I used to be clearly having the perfect time. Whether or not I’m floating above a crowd or singing alongside to music lyrics, no matter age: I a lot favor attending concert events in a sober way of thinking.