How To Decenter Alcohol From Your Social Life

January 7, 2025

Featuring:
Leah Young, LCPC

Sober curiosity. Dry January. The start of the calendar year often sparks a time of reflection, and for some, an opportunity to cut back or eliminate alcohol from their lives. In this Women's Health article Leah Young, LCPC, shares helpful information about how to "decenter" alcohol from your life. Young offers useful suggestions for navigating social situations, such as practicing what you'll say in advance or talking it out with a friend and notes, "It's hard to go anywhere without someone offering you a drink." Having a plan can help.

Whether you’re one of the many who identifies as sober curious, soberish, or California sober—it’s hard to deny: More and more people are looking for ways to decrease the role that alcohol plays in their lives. Between hangovers, hangxiety, and, um, the fact that alcohol is a known carcinogen, there’s plenty of reasons to limit just how much you’re consuming. But it’s easier said than done when alcohol is the focal point that many people’s social lives are centered around.

Whether you’re one of the many who identifies as sober curious, soberish, or California sober—it’s hard to deny: More and more people are looking for ways to decrease the role that alcohol plays in their lives. Between hangovers, hangxiety, and, um, the fact that alcohol is a known carcinogen, there’s plenty of reasons to limit just how much you’re consuming. But it’s easier said than done when alcohol is the focal point that many people’s social lives are centered around.

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