Why I’m Not Drinking in Quarantine Even Though I Usually Drink

Here’s the 1 reason why right now is different & the 4 things I’m doing instead — personally and as an entrepreneur.

The author holding up an alcohol-free cocktail in a custom coconut at Listen Bar. Photo by Sasha Charoensub.

While I’m the founder and face of an alcohol-free bar, I don’t talk much about my drinking. I don’t really put rules around it. I don’t identify as sober, nor do I see the choice not to drink as a one-size-fits-all movement.

In interviews, when asked about what’s driving this rising trend, I don’t point to wellness, or how we millennials are changing everything. Instead, I point to individuality — to the fact that everyone is redefining their relationship to alcohol on their own terms, and that the spectrum is wide and nuanced. For many of us, where we fall on that spectrum shifts with time.

Sometimes alcohol-free is a lifestyle choice, other times it is a choice that changes with every round.

I’m here for all of it.

In terms of my own choices, I drink whenever I feel like it. I just don’t usually feel like it.