Michael Karnjanaprakorn

I used to drink Vitamin Water when I was hungover.  Not anymore!
Now I drink the purple stuff after working out.
What a change..

So, the first weekend of sobriety went down as a success.  I didn’t have one drink which I’m really proud of.
I’ve been getting tons of emails asking me tons of questions so I thought I would share my findings through my blog.

(*)  I’ve noticed a huge spike in energy levels.  I woke up every morning ready to tackle the day.  I knocked out all my house (apartment ) chores, worked on alldaybuffet projects, read a book, hung out with friends, passed out on the rooftop, etc.  It was great to get so much done!
(*)  Cutting out alcohol has increased my appetite.  I think it has something to do with not having constant influx of sugar in body (which is also the root cause of killer hangovers).  Cutting out alcohol has made me want to eat anything and everything in sight.  I’m going to spend this week controlling my appetite by feeding my sugar cravings with natural sugard from fruits.
(*)  Going out sober is not as bad as you think.  So, yes, being sober on July 4th sucked.  Especially since it rained in NYC.  But, going out to bars, clubs, lounges, etc sober wasn’t that bad.  I actually had MORE energy.  It was really weird.  I was more social, talked to more people, and importantly had a lot more fun.  My night didn’t revolve around drinking and getting drunk (no I’m not an alcoholic) which was very refreshing.
(*)  You don’t need a drink in your hand.  If you think it’s weird to not have a drink in your hand, take a look around the bar next time you’re out.  There’s a good amount of people that don’t carry drinks with them 24/7.  It’s usually the really drunk people that are double-fisting, falling all over the place, etc.  And I hope you don’t want to be that person.
(*)  Re-prioritizing my life.  It might be too early to make a bold statement like this but it’s really been eye-opening for me.  I really have a different outlook on my priorities and life without alcohol.  By nature, alcohol is a depressant.  There’s absolutely no way it can have a POSITIVE impact on anyone’s life.  Alcohol leads to laziness, apathy, bad decisions, hangovers, etc.  I realized that alcohol hinders everything I wanted to accomplish in 2008.  And the only obvious solution was to cut it out to take control of what I want to do.

If you’re thinking about cutting alcohol out your life, you should realize that there’s ALWAYS a reason to drink.  I had July 4th, San Francisco trip, my birthday coming up, etc.  Now is a better time than never.

As an exercise, list out all the people that you admire.  I’m sure the majority of them do not drink as much as you think.
Lastly, join me if you want.  Leave a comment and commit.
Or you can make a dinner bet with me if you don’t think I’ll follow through.
And follow all my day-to-day challenges on twitter.
Cheers!