This has impacted my life so negatively I don’t even know where to start.
My friends and I started drinking at 17 and went out almost every weekend. Every year we had huge events like festivals (Germany has many) and well those were like 3 days being drunk in a row.
If i could turn back time I’d probably just tell myself to not do it and probably do it again anyways.
I’m getting invested in the gym and it’s so good. I wonder how I’d look like today if I would have just been at the gym in my 20s.
Not only that. I wonder how my friend circle would look like cause currently I have no friends I’d consider “friends”. Those were all drinking buddies. They still drink every weekend and more and more I realised they are just functioning alcoholics.
And since I don’t drink anymore (2 years) I’m basically out.
So I’d say alcohol didn’t only have a negative impact on my brain while I was still young (and after) it also hit my wallet, my time for better things (sports)… etc.
Man. Sucks. Sucks to be me.
Now I am happy I have a wife, a house and going in the right direction but it is soooo hard to find friends or atleast people if you aren’t in school anymore and coworkers busy with own life.
If I could give anyone younger advice I’d just stay screw it and go to the gym and find a hobby like climbing, swimming, golfing, tennis or something and get people there.
If it helps at all, I didn’t spend my younger years drinking, and I’m still considered friends with most of the people I made friends with in my 20’s. However, I almost never see and/or talk them anymore, just because life gets busy, and it becomes harder to maintain contact. It’s still hard for me to find new friends and people to hang out with. I believe that particular struggle is a pretty shared experience regardless of what our younger selves did. It’s entirely possible that even if you didn’t spend your younger days drinking, that “friend circle” would be just as absent as it is now.
I think you’re doing great, and the advice of going to the gym and finding a hobby is great advice for yourself too, that’s how I met the friends I have now. it’s a great way to find people who are busy with life, but have made time in their life for their hobby, and you can share that time with them, and badda bing badda boom, friendship.