Friendships Are Stronger Since Not Drinking

I don't recall if I've mentioned this in my pool blog or not, but I quit drinking over a year ago.  421 days as I write this to be exact.  :)  Ahhh, but who's counting?  :)

One of the cool benefits of not drinking anymore is every single conversation with a friend has my full attention and I remember everything.  I have also noticed my friendships are deeper.

I especially noticed this when I went to OKC two weekends ago for a tournament.  I can't begin to express how joyful it was to spend time with my friends giving them my full attention, instead of breaking off to go get us shots.

Sure, drinking can be fun and taking shots all day with friends can be fun, too.  But for me, being fully engaged and spending quality time with my friend who took time out of her schedule to come visit me at the tournament was much more impactful and memorable than when I used to spend my time drinking instead.

It also meant a lot that she pointed out to me, "congrats on the accomplishment of not drinking over a year," as I had shared the great milestone on Facebook back in November.

Here is a selfie of Bobbi and I on that day in OKC:

I shared many other benefits of no longer drinking on my personal blog, if you want to read them.

I find it rather cool and awesome how fully aware I was that I enjoyed so much more spending quality time engaged with my friends, laughing and having fun, instead of interrupting them to make trips to the bar for our shots.