What to do instead of drinking alcohol?

I went from moderate (weekends, social, never alone) drinking to _zero_ drinking for about five years. This was during peak "social" life of after university and before marriage.

I did the exact same things I used to do except with no alcohol: bars, clubs, parties, whatever.

The toughest thing was realizing how...boring...some of these activities can be. There is, by default, an enormous amount of "down time" at a bar or club or young person's party; down time that people tend to fill by going to the bar for a drink, or sipping on a cocktail, or eventually by being drunk and letting the time pass.

The second toughest thing was realizing how irritating drunk people (and yes, this includes your friends) can be when you're sober.

But I stuck with it, and after a few months I learned different strategies for enjoying a night out--usually revolving around talking to other sober people, or dancing--and my life is much better for it.

Lastly, in my experience i didn't feel the full mental benefits of no alcohol until after about four or six months without a drop.

I quit drinking several months ago after 25 years relatively hard drinking. Was I an alcoholic? I guess so, but I am able to absorb alcohol quite fast, very rare had any hangovers and was a type of “high-functional alcoholic” with at least one bottle of red wine each evening. Of course, all social activities, celebrations, catch-up with friends always were combined with decent amount of alcohol. These my thoughts on challenges of sober life:

First of all, there are no crazy and adventure stories around starting with “we had a couple of cups of tea”, no. In same moment, it is extremely hard to be around drunk people more than half an hour being sober - endless loops in conversations, and jokes are not so funny as it were before. I definitely have less “party time” now, but I cannot judge my friends - this is their choice. Instead, I can offer them different type of activities - dinner at home at Friday or Saturday, outdoor trips, etc, to keep friendships going and be social. Interesting, people tend to drink less if you invite them on your activities. Just create this environment of interesting activities for your friends and comfortable for you. There is no reason to suffer in overcrowded bar at Friday night - too boring (tell me this year ago!).

Secondly, even with reframed social activities alcohol-free lifestyle releases a lot of free time. In my case I just overwhelmed with my old and new hobbies, all my spare time is already allocated and it is not an issue for me to spent Friday or Saturday alone in my cave - plenty things to do. Hard to advice something here, but maybe just learn something new?

Alcohol is a great social clue which makes you accept people you won’t accept.

For awhile I was drinking a fair amount every night. Though I haven't quit drinking I just stopped buying it. My nights are the same, I just don't drink.

It's the same way I "quit" drinking soda. I just stopped buying it. It's easy to say no at the store, it's hard to say no after a long day when your defenses are down.

I more or less quit alcohol when cannabis was legalized in Canada.

It’s a better recreational drug by pretty much every metric.

It only takes a few tens of milligrams of THC to get the desired effect vs 50+ grams of ethanol in an evening (that gets metabolized into carcinogenic acetaldehyde).

While we don’t fully know the safety profile of cannabis it’s obviously far safer than booze, especially when consumed with a dry herb vaporizer.

No hangover. I can wake up at 6am 7 days a week and work out.

A small amount allows me to instantly shed all work related stress at the end of a busy day/week and get in touch with my body, a process that without cannabis usually takes a few hours.

It makes sex better and boosts libido, unlike alcohol which can easily ruin a sexy evening if you have too much.

I can grow my own, providing a fun hobby.

It doesn’t cause any gastrointestinal issues, but in fact calms your gut. The opposite of alcohol.

It’s just better (for me) in every possible way. It enhances my life greatly.

I’ve decided to give up drinking after I caught Covid over the Christmas break… sort of a “complete recommitment” to my health. Add to that, hangovers have gotten fairly brutal north of 30.

The ultimate life hack I’ve found for when you feel like a beer is Lagunitas Hoppy Refresher. They’re super tasty, zero alcohol, zero sugar, zero carbs. It’s basically seltzer flavored with hops and man is it delicious and nicely carbonated. A little over $5 for a 4-pack. Thank me later!

Runner up is Heineken 0.0, surprisingly good.

And for another healthy way to alter consciousness - weed edibles are where it’s at.

Diet Coke, Documentaries, Weed, Hackernews, Discord, Teenage Engineering, Documentaries, Documentaries, Documentaries.

As someone who drank v.copiously all day every day for years, it's somewhat easier than you might imagine, just gotta stick it out till you're in a new routine. (BTW something very unexpected, I had zero sweet tooth when I was a heavy drinker, gave up booze and a month or so later I was craving cake every night. Not sure how common it is, but push through that too I think.)

Go to bed early and wake up early - fill your Saturday and Sunday’s with 32 hours of consciousness doing nothing special first. You’ll find that the weekend will feel twice as long and make your work week that much easier to bare. Then see what activities/hobbies you gravitate to in those hours and try to support them with more deliberate focus.

> ...My social and entertainment life has involved alcohol for the last 10 years.

Well, I understand this as that it involved people too, and doing some things together.

So, if the alcohol was rather a facilitator, then the question is rather more about you wanting to keep your social circles/interests while just personally wanting to subtract alcohol from your consumption. Is that right?

After all, the options depend more on the people and the common thing that keeps you together, than alcohol by itself. Of course, your personal interests too.

Starting a whole new social circle is a whole new question.

Either way, it's doable, and quite liberating and money saving. Those 7-dollar pints and shots not drunk add up... well, should you not find a pricier substitute, hopefully healthier.

I’ve stopped drinking alcohol and sugary drinks about 4 years ago, but I likely still do the same things as you on my fridays/saturdays. It’s just me ordering water instead of alcohol/sugar, i am still as sociable and ‘fun’ than anyone else in the room, minus the annoying tendencies most drunk people have!

The biggest thing you run into is social pressure for not being called fun etc. Ignore it and you’ll be good :) you’ll notice amazing benefits 3 to 4 weeks after you stop drinking that’ll keep you going!

In terms of how you fill your evenings, that can stay the same, just involves a different drink. :) (unless you literally sit on the couch with an alcoholic beverage and do nothing else, but I’m unfamiliar with that!) hope that helps.

Could you tell us more about why you want to stop drinking?

If your concern is seeing the posts on HN about alcoholism, and you're anxious about becoming dependent but currently are not, I can suggest an alternative formulation that I follow. I have a lot of alcoholism in my family, and I myself am quite a moderate drinker. (1-2 drinks per week most weeks; often none; maybe 3-4 in busier summer months when there's more social stuff going on.)

Here are some rules I came up with for myself when I first started drinking, several years ago. They are based on the behaviors that I observed in other people who were "moderate" drinkers.

1) Never drink alone. Alcohol is for social engagements only. (I do count hanging out on video chat/Discord as "social" to an extent, if other people are also drinking. Social engagements don't have to be parties; dinner with your spouse counts. The important thing is it is a social activity.)

2) Never drink more than three drinks in a night. After your third, you're done. Instead, drink slowly. (You could vary this from two to four depending on your health and tolerance. In practice, I almost never drink more than two. I tell people I'm a slow drinker because I'm a lightweight, which is true, but only because I have let it be true by not drinking much.)

3) If you can afford it, drink good quality beverages - craft beer, scotch or bourbon, nice wine - which taste interesting and are worth savoring. Helps with part 2.

4) Never drink solely because you feel bad in some way and "could use a drink." If you feel badly but also are in a social environment where you would have had a drink otherwise, that's okay - you just don't want to form an association where

5) Avoid drinking on an empty stomach - having something to munch on slows you down.

I am not an expert and I don't guarantee this will work for everyone - and certainly it will never work for someone who is already an alcoholic. But it has helped me define my relationship to alcohol in what I feel is a healthy way, and maintain it.

I'm a very big fan of good alcohol-free beer. There are some good ones, here in Europe at least. 7% of the beer sold in the Netherlands is alcohol-free based on recent reports last year. The cheap stuff in the states tastes silly, but if you can find a good brewery that makes it, I recommend as an alternative.

I was a pretty heavy drinker for the past 15 years and I have been employed at a micro brewery for 5 years. So when I chose to stop drinking it wasn't only hard to stop, but my livelihood was selling craft beer that was a constant changing variety which required me to help people choose what they may like. What I found crucial was finding what gave me a natural high again without the use of substances. Luckily for me that is board sports which I have thrown myself into again with exercise, stretching, and filming so I can improve my technique and aid in the speed of my progression. But being in my mid 30's the idea of riding daily doing an impact sport isn't something I can sustain. Now 10 weeks in I'm finding it harder than when I first stopped drinking since it is the "social lubricant" of choice with my group. My partner still has their casual "end of the day/cooking dinner" drink or two. Some lessons I have learned about couping with the cravings. 1. The craving for alcohol does go away but I'm finding cravings for sugar now. (Alcohol has lots of sugar and my body wants to replace it). 2. You can't just "replace" the act of drinking because you will just drink an equal amount of whatever you choose. (I saw no coffee or tea, I'm kicking coffee at the same time, and I like to drink Kombucha which I realize I need to be careful because it is fermented so technically has "some alcohol") 3. Don't try to control the actions of those around you it makes it harder not to drink and isolating yourself from the socialization will make it hard to stay sober. 4. Finding something that exercises your mind and or body. You need to engage yourself and begin to "grow" again and figure out who you are. So many years using drugs and alcohol really does skew your personality and you do need to "find yourself" again and find what gets you excited. 5. Try new things or hobbies. Look up groups in your city for new experiences and keep engaging yourself don't just sit around thinking about what you are missing out on by not drinking.

Its hard work and it will continue to be for a while. Eventually the interests that get you excited will far outweigh the want to drink and who you grow into will be stronger than needing to drink.

Best of luck.

You can train your friend-circles to be non-alcoholic tolerant pretty easily (just buy non-alchoholic beverages on nights out as casually as you would an alcoholic one). That way you can still have the social interaction.

And now for a completely left-field suggestion, online games have also become way more mainstream as a social tool lately, so you might get along with doing that (and I don't mean just traditional "Gamer games" like shooters or whatever, but things like Gartic Phone or online tabletop/improv with a few friends over a voice/video call). I know a bunch of stereotypically "party people" ("what? games? that's for nerds") who have taken the pandemic to become a bit more comfortable with virtual entertainment, and they seem to be having a blast.

> For those of you who don't drink, how do you fill your Friday and Saturday nights?

As life-long teetotaler, I always had more things to do than time: hobbies, sports, or simply talking to friends and family. I might be workaholic, since most of time I cannot find time for those things because of work, but if/when I do have free time the possibilities seem endless.

It's Saturday evening where I am right now, I'm going to work some more and then do some chores while listening to an audiobook. But if I were not working, I'd be in the gym for couple hours and then meeting someone.

My impression is that this has a lot to do with habits and acquired/unlearned tastes.

For example, I’ve grown to like extremely sour alcohol-free cocktails so much that I now prefer them over alcoholic drinks.

Since you don't have any issue being around it, just order a tonic, coke or 0% beer at the bar. Half-decent friends won't require you to drink. Most of my friends slowly switched to non-alcoholic drinks at some point in their 30's. I drink a little, but something about my body's reaction changed to alcohol as I got older and it mostly produces sleep instead of euphoria now.

And for what to do if you'd rather not spend your weekend at the bar with friends, well you can do anything else, and that's a pretty vast category. Just do a brainstorm on the things that interest you. Sit down and list 10 things. Then 20. Keep going till you have a list of 100 things that interest you. There will be that many things. The world is an interesting place for most.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_hobbies

Kids.. make kids don’t worry about how to spend free time you won’t have any

Congrats! I think there are plenty of comments with great suggestions, so my addition is simply encouragement.

You will have more time and mental clarity to be present for your life priorities. A new default of not drinking becomes automatic behavior after some time, so if it feels unnatural at first simply give it time. Enjoy!

You're in for some fun! A friend who is a winemaker recently started making professional non-alcoholic ('dry') cocktails using botanics: he drinks all day for work and decided with his wife that they would stop drinking at home but they loved having a g&t after work, so he had to come up with something new. While these aren't yet for sale I've been "helping" with the taste testing (enjoying them very much) and they can be very very satisfying.

Here is a similar company, see their "What's inside" for ideas: https://clevermocktails.com/en/mocktails/

There are a ton of dry gins you can get: https://www.sinalcoholshop.es/espiritus-sin-alcohol/alcohol-... https://www.goodhousekeeping.com/uk/wine/g32283343/non-alcoh...

Find a dry cocktail you like and make your own at home:

https://www.cocktailchemistrylab.com/home/mocktails-3-ways

https://thekitchencommunity.org/mocktail-recipes/

https://www.amazon.com/Zero-Proof-Drinks-More-Low-Alcohol/dp...

Learn how to make smoke. Learn how to mix syrups. Make syrups and flavours from teas and coffees and chocolates.. try mixing with non-alcoholic wines (pregnant women drink them mostly!)..

> I am going to stop drinking

It’s important you do what is best for you, however, in general I recommend avoiding excessive drink but enjoy one or two really nice drinks occasionally with friends who do the same. Why do so many tend towards drunkenness or prohibition? There is a third option in the middle.

I was never able to give up alcohol completely, but reduced the amount and frequency of drinking.

I drink coffee but can't drink six of them in a row without risking a heart attack, while a sixpack of beers gives me only a mild headache next day.

Tried smoking, really tried to catch the habit but they don't do nothing for me. Feel nauseated, also at some point I smoked a packet (20 cigarettes) in a row - never felt so sick in my life. At least with alcohol you throw up and feel better but when stuff's in your lungs what can you do?

Maybe if it were legal here as in Canada or California, I'd try weed. But it's not so I'm stuck with alcohol on occasion.

Go to sleep early and enjoy having the whole Saturday and Sunday for outdoor activities

I meditate and hike with friends. For Friday and Saturday nights, even though I don't drink, I enjoy having dinner with friends who are drinking. You can give up drinking and not lose friends.

Dancing (learning then using the learned skills) for social gatherings. It can be very technical and interesting, and you might find other sober, interesting people (not particulary in a romantic way, but also in a romantic way). Nowaday, i'm much less social (it became more and more tiring as i grew older), so i try to learn one skill a year. This year its climbing, last year was sailing. It can be water polo, Football... Club activities that takes you one big afternoon are often interesting.

I stopped drinking in 2017 btw.

Here in Oregon many bars now serve kombucha and cbd sodas on tap. Makes a nice beverage that isn’t alcoholic but still feels like a real drink (and looks like one too).

Switch to non-alcoholic beer. Do the same stuff you were doing when you were drinking alcohol but now with the non-alcoholic drink.

I would suggest reconsidering your decision to quit because:

1. you don't have a drinking problem

2. your decision is premised on a sort of "news-shock" experience, which, per Postman [1] and Carr [2], is a bad way to make serious decisions

In particular, drinking alcohol (moderately, socially) is Lindy [3] as hell. I would actually go so far as to say that drinking alcohol (moderately, socially) is a net good for you.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amusing_Ourselves_to_Death

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Shallows_(book)

[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lindy_effect

I've found it so much easier to make a life changes for health reasons than for other reasons.

I think you chose the right reason to quit drinking, for health reasons.

Take one look at acetaldehyde to see what you've saved yourself from. Alcohol is a systemic poison. It affects every part of the human body in very dramatic ways.

You don't need alcohol to have fun

But you shouldn't stop to do something because of half a dozen internet posts

Alcohol bad, sugar bad, salt bad, fat bad, palm oil, refined seed oils, meat, sugar soda drinks, pizza, McDonalds, drugs, processed foods, food additives... bad bad bad

Saturday and Friday I am having fun programming Go or configuring my home server. I might also be drinking alcohol occasionally, but I have fun either way...

Socially karaoke is always fun, no need to drink, although you might want to rehearse some songs to replace the "courage" alcohol gives you

On social occasions I will mostly drink alcohol because there aren't many good alternatives. Drinking sugar drinks like coca-cola will probably do you worse

I rarely drink. I have kids so Saturday and Friday nights are pretty much at home like any other night.

If I didn’t I would consider a social sport in replacement of beers. Maybe a bouldering gym or a run through the city. Followed by a lemon-lime-soda kind of drink at a pub after?

The super power of being sober if you have a car is being able to drive. You can go wherever you like within say 60 miles - plenty of experiences for most people.

The biggest problem is friends or colleagues not accepting the change and trying to get you yo have a drink. You need a strategy for that and if there is too much pressure ot drunkness becomes too annoying have a bail tactic.

You can focus less on the nights and more on making most of the following days by getting better sleep and waking up earlier. I've gotten religiously into golf during the pandemic and am in much better shape because of it.

There’s a false narrative floating around the alcohol-free culture; “it’s boring,” or “I won’t be able to socialize the same.” When in reality, the majority of nondrinkers enjoy the weekends even more sans-booze! (Think about it, no Sunday scaries, money saved, and more time to be productive!)

For the alcohol-free or sober curious the weekends are filled with everything that those who drink regularly do- just without the booze. We enjoy cozy movie nights in, fancy dinner dates and fun boozeless brunches with our gal pals. The only difference is, we’re now available for early morning hikes, spin classes and at-home projects.

The truth is, when you stop drinking, you get to know yourself better. You figure out quickly what your really enjoy; perhaps you’re more introverted than you thought, or you prefer a good book on a Friday night over a crowded bar. The possibilities for the weekend are truly endless because you aren’t tied down to activities that only involve drinking. You have extra time to not only unwind and relax, but practice self-care and explore new hobbies.

If you’re new to the booze-free crew try a few of the following suggestions to fill up your weekends while you rediscover yourself:

* Attend restaurants and bars that serve non-alcoholic options so that you feel “part of” (call ahead or check their online menu if you aren’t sure)

* Schedule early morning movement and get those endorphins flowing to start your day off on a positive and productive note

* Connect with other alcohol-free peeps through sober Instagram and find new friends near you

* Stock up on fun, non-alcoholic drinks to make mocktails or experiment with at home

* Plan fun days/nights at home with friends that revolve around things you all love to do- crafting, vision boarding, a book club, a sports team, hiking...

If you want some extra support, try out the Reframe App (https://www.joinreframe.com). For full disclosure, I’m one of the co-founders. Reframe guides the casual drinker through their cut back/sobriety journey through 10 minute daily exercises, community support, coaching, and progress tracking

I spend my Friday night streaming a movie on Discord with a friend every Friday since the beginning of covid and spend the rest of the evening talking.

Similar alternatives would be gaming with friends or tabletop game night.

I've started brewing a big pot of mix of loose leaf green and jasmine tea, drinking 4-5 cups has really quenched the 'thirst' for having a late night wine or beer, that I once had.

I used to home-brew wine and beer, and always had a cupboard full of it. Well instead of noticing that supplies were dwindling and brewing more wine/beer, I've let it run out. If I do feel the urge one evening, I'll just buy a 6pack of beer every now and then I think. It will be cheaper in the long run, to shift to this very infrequent mode of drinking

Cannabis? Or are you looking for a hobby? How about painting along with old Bob Ross episodes? That’s how I learned to paint landscapes. If you mix it with the cannabis, it’s even more fun;)

Weed is probably the closest thing, and should be far more healthy than alcohol.

Vaporizers (dry flower or otherwise) are low on smell, edibles have no smell at all but can take a while to kick in.

If you’re looking for something tasty to drink (it’s Friday and I want something special, but I don’t want to drink) I go for hot chocolate. Melt some high quality chocolate into some milk and bam, youre all set. That it some of the sparkling teas out there that are flavored with Hops. hoptea is great.

I’ve gotten back into working out, taken up new/old hobbies now that I’m not drunk and sleepy from 7pm onward.

All the best to you!

Partner Dancing (on hiatus last 2 years, sadly)

Cooking

Lifting

Reading

Building Stuff

Dabbling in various other hobbies

Can you go to the same social events or venues and drink non-alcoholic beverages? When colleagues would go to a bar I would drink a Coke.

* Cleaning

* Exercise (Mountain Climbing; Basketball; Kayaking)

* Learn things

- - to dance (Bachata/Salsa)

- - a new language

- - an instrument

* Hobby groups on Facebook

- - Meet randos to play boardgames

* Make things

* Help people

The biggest problem with me is being social. That's what people want to do around the weekends. The dance classes allow me to interact with people in a less awkward way, but it hasn't exactly provided me with as much opportunities as drinking at a brewery to meet people..

Soft drinks, sodas, juices, mineral water, cocktails ... Non-alcoholic bear sometimes has 0.5% alcohol so if you are totally ditching alcohol keep an eye on this.

Conversation is my main reasons for hanging out. I don't need alcohol to get the conversation started. My friends know that I don't like to drink and there is no pressure from their side.

Well, you have to change your live. Simple said, hard done. Now you have to ask yourself, what to do with all the time you spent consuming. That's the price of beeing free.

Now you can, and have to, decide what you want to do.

You could learn, create, or even care about others.

It's totally up to you.

And that's the hard part. Beeing conscious about yourself.

I cook! i prepare delicacies which usually takes lot of time to prepare and friday/saturday nights are ideal for it. Eating what you prepared is quite satisfying in itself. I am not dependent on alcohol but i do drink occasionaly i.e. once in 2-3 months.

Non-alcoholic beers have gotten quite good and are available in a wide variety of styles as well. I probably drink fewer than 1 drink a week and I find the NA beers hit the spot very nicely for drinks at home.

As for filling weekend nights, well, kids took care of that for the last decade.

What about an indoor sport? Maybe you’re using the excuse of alcohol to have those social interactions, so you just need to shit to a non-alcoholic activity. I’s say cannabis is your closest drug alternative, but maybe go 180° and go for a fitness social scene.

Get a high-speed blender (not necessarily Vitamix, there are many cheaper brands). The possibilities are endless. There are thousands of recipes online and you will discover many interesting flavors and textures. Many of these are very good for your health.

I haven't quit drinking, but I have cut back from an average of around 1-1.5L of strong IPA (7%) per day to a half liter 3-6 days a week. I'm also not vaccinated, which basically simulates the quitting clubs and bars thing.

I have gotten into Perrier. I buy a 24 pack of 355ml glass bottles for about $16USD. I can then stimulate the carbonation, refreshing Ness, and cold factors of Beer that I so enjoy. It also helps fill my stomach, and I will now instinctively grab and drink a Perrier after my first beer, putting off the desire for a second beer for a while.

Perrier is also great for stretching out alcohol. Noone in their right mind would recommend watering down a beer, and yet that is exactly what I am recommending here. With Perrier, you will get MORE carbonation than the beer, MORE cold if the beer has been out for a few minutes, and especially if drinking out of a can, or unchilled glass. But the dirty little secret is that tap water ruins the taste, and degrades bubbles. Perrier allows the taste to remain the same/better (it's probably better than the starting water used to make beer!) While diluting potency and reinforcing the bubbles and temperature (if adding to not fresh beer)

Sometimes I forgo the beer altogether and make a craft soda. I don't like a lot of sugar, and won't drink pop. But with a local company, https://blackgoldcola.com , I can choose the amount of syrup (sugar) I add to a glass and then fill with Perrier. It's the ultimate refresher. I typically use about 1/2 the recommended amount, or 25ml per 355ml, which is 16g of real cane sugar.

I rarely drink, it just do not think of it.

Friday and Saturday nights are spend making music with friends (jamming with synthesizers mostly) or online gaming with friends ( 7 days to die mostly)

It is creative, can be really social and can mostly be done at home.

If you marry somebody who doesn't drink alcohol then that helps immensely.

One idea would be to replace alcoholic beverages with Kombucha. It feels nice in the mouth and fulfilling.

Another would be non-alcoholic beer, which is essentially the same as beer, but just with all its alcohol boiled off.

Finding a new habit to replace the endorphins will make it easier to break the old habit. Maybe something like weight lifting, swimming, rock climbing, or martial arts would suit you?

N/A beer has gotten surprisingly good over the last couple years. The brand I’ve been getting around here is Wellbeing - I like their Amber and Pale ales

If it's the social aspect of drinking you're after, try diluting significantly. No one is going to measure the units you've consumed. Load up on (non-sugary) chasers, or alternate between non-alcoholic drinks and low-alcoholic drinks throughout the night. If you can limit your intake to a couple of units a week, I suspect (I'm not a doctor) that you will get most of the health benefits of not drinking at all. Sometimes I find kicking back with a non-alcoholic beer / mocktail and some finger food has almost the same relaxing effect as the real thing.

Same thing I do every night. Have dinner with my wife and kid, put 'em to bed, watch some netflix, take a shower, and go to bed by 10.

You have to learn that fridays and saturday nights aren't when everything fun and exciting happens. Takes some getting used to.

I go out regularly with a group of friends, they drink and become funny, and I'm sipiping orange juice while being entertained.

No advice, others have given some great advice.

I just wanted to congratulate you on your excellent decision. Your future self will thank you.

Before I had kids, lots of hobby activities and the social communities formed by those common interests.

Taking a sauna makes me so relaxed that alcohol is really unappealing for hours after the sauna.

For those of you who don't drink, how do you fill your Friday and Saturday nights?

> programming, reading

>Ask HN: What to do instead of drinking alcohol?

I prefer to put it in the gas tank of my truck.

make stuff!

I don’t think that life can be as fun without alcohol so instead of totally quitting i would try to reduce it for special occasions like night clubbing

Try marijuana edibles. You don't have to smoke marijuana. It's plenty potent in edible form.

Explore the great outdoors.

A lot of the answers here thoroughly confuse me. It seems like a completely false premise that alcohol is required to (1) have fun (2) let loose (3) remove inhibitions. Consume a minor amount of alcohol/sugar/drugs if you want to, sure they are damaging, but stress is damaging too, and even oxygen is carcinogenic if you use too much. But do not believe people that tell you that you need an externally delivered chemical to have a normal de-stressing night, whether it is night-club-filled or board-games-filled.

I would recommend marijuana or cocaine/lsd/mdma. Pretty good trips and better overall feelings.

Don't stop drinking. Live your life. You only have one. Are you going to worry about an air conditioner falling on you while you walk down the pavement?

Of all the benzodiazepines it is particularly pleasant to have a Valium or a Xanax and go to a party. It has an effect very similar to alcohol but doesn't have the physical toxicity. If you have even minor anxiety symptoms you probably won't have a hard time getting an ℞ for Xanax from your primary care doc for 30 pills or so, particularly if you intend to substitute it for alcohol.

Even though those drugs are very safe (in the short term) on their own, watch out that they are highly dangerous to mix with alcohol -- if you do that you could get over-sedated, do crazy things, black out or die.

Other drugs of that family are less good as a social lubricant, particularly the long-acting benzodiazepines such as Klonopin or Clorazepate which could still be sedating you 24 hours later.

Unfortunately if you use BZs regularly for a long period of time you can get an addiction which is particularly hard to kick.

In the realm of speculation it's been imagined that a partial agonist for the benzodiazepine receptor would have a cap on its effects even if you took a large dose and would be very safe for recreational use, kind of like the 'Synthahol' from Star Trek. One advantage is that the effects can be reversed with this stuff

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/2244412/

however there is a lot of apprehension about using that drug for BZ overdoses because a person who is badly dependent on BZs could have seizures triggered by Flumazenil.