Why I Don't Drink As An Almost 21-year-old in College

What I find funny about being a sober college student is the reactions I get when I tell people. They have this look of shock mixed with disbelief that can only be recreated when someone mentions that they don’t like ice cream (which is also me but that's for another day.) The most common funny reactions happen when I’m working at my waitressing job. The amount of people who have asked me for drink recommendations is actually humorous. I usually say that I’m only 20 and don’t drink and then I’ll suggest our most popular drink of whatever they are interested in (beer, mixed cocktail, wine, etc.) To that they will respond with

“Riiiiiiiiight, you don’t drink *wink wink*. No but seriously, what's your favorite cocktail?”

When I reiterate that I have not had a single cocktail on our menu (partially because I don’t want to and partially because my mother is the bartender), they STILL don’t believe me. I often get comments about it for the rest of my service with them and some have even offered to buy me a drink to try (to which I always politely decline because I’m literally working and underage.) Other people will be annoyed that I don’t drink and roll their eyes or laugh at me. This I just ignore because it's my body, my choice and again, I’m working and need to be professional.

And God forbid I tell anyone at college who’s not my close friend that I don’t drink. It’s like I’m committing some sort of crime. I have actually had one girl look me dead in the eyes and say “Girl, that's embarrassing. You need to change that issue real quick.” Excuse me? I hardly think that choosing to not drink is an “issue” or something that I should be ashamed of. If I wasn’t terrified of conflict I probably would’ve said something snippy to her but I bit my tongue and just moved on.

It’s also important to know that if someone is your real friend, they won’t try to pressure you to drink or make you feel lame or weird for choosing not to drink. I’m lucky enough where I have several amazing friends here at school who do not care that I don’t drink and will still find a way to include me in everything. Friends, if you're reading this, I’m so grateful for you all.

However, I will say people actually judging me to my face is rare. Usually the interaction with people my own age goes like this:

“No, I don't drink.”

“What? Are you serious?”

“Yes.”

“Do you smoke?”

“No.”

“Wow that’s so impressive. Good for you, I could never.”

It’s almost like I’m some sort of college anomaly. And let me be clear, I genuinely do not care if other people drink or smoke. Like I said before, it’s not my body so it’s not my choice and it’s not like them choosing to drink is going to affect me in any way. So if you enjoy doing those things, I am not judging you for it whatsoever (as long as you are doing it safely, of course.)

But the one question I always get asked is “Why don’t you drink?” And honestly there is no one big answer because for as long as I remember, I simply just didn’t want to. But after thinking about it for a while I did come up with some reasons and I figured it would make for a good blog post so here we are.

I think one of the main reasons that I don’t drink is honestly because it scares me. I’m the type of person who hates being out of control of her own body. When I had to get my wisdom teeth out I literally had a panic attack and was nasty to my mom for a week because she was making me go under anesthesia and I had no control over whether I went to sleep or not. I know myself and I know my mind and if I even felt a *little* tipsy, I would not be able to function mentally until it went away. And that’s nothing to be ashamed about either.

Another reason I think I don’t drink is because I kind of always grew up around alcohol. Now let me make it perfectly clear that this wasn't a bad thing at all. What I mean is that my mom is a bartender so ever since I was little I would go to visit her at the restaurant and sit at the bar and eat dinner with my dad and brother. My dad actually built my mom a huge pub shed in our backyard for when we have cookouts. The idea was so adults could drink and watch the football/hockey/baseball game while still all being outside by the fire. Both of my parents drink extremely responsibly but I think that growing up around alcohol made me really not see the need for it. You know the saying strict parents raise sneaky kids? Since my parents never really went out of their way to hide alcohol from me or my brother or make it a huge deal, we both just don’t see the point in drinking. I know that I can have a good time sober so to me, there’s really no point to it.

Leading me on to the third reason. THE TASTE IS ABSOLUTELY NASTY. Even though I say I don’t drink, I’ve tried sips of my mom’s wine or the mixed drinks she would make and I truly have never tasted anything more rancid in my life. If I liked the taste of straight nail polish remover then maybe I would casually drink but even the smell of vodka makes me gag. And I can even taste the alcohol in things like hard seltzers. When I did try to drink one it was more of me choking it down then me actually enjoying my drink. So if I’m not drinking to get drunk, and I hate the taste of alcohol, I would rather just drink a shirley temple or a diet coke and vibe in a frat basement with my friends. And honestly nobody even cares once you’re there anyway so if you're worrying about people judging you, I can promise that they won’t.

Anyways, the reason I wanted to write this post is because I feel like this topic isn’t talked about enough. College has this stigma to it where everyone drinks on the weekends and if you don’t, you won't have fun. I am here to tell you that that is not true in the slightest. Me, along with other people, are living proof that college can be equally as fun sober. This was kind of a short post because like I said, there is no real big reason that I don’t drink, I just one day decided it wasn’t for me.

On a completely different note, Spit It Out also has a Twitter account! If you click the little bird in the top right hand corner of the toolbar it should take you directly to my page where I post whenever I have a new blog post out as well as just fun little daily thoughts and questions! Feel free to follow if you would like and if not, that's totally okay too!

Hope you all have a lovely week!

- Meg