Scott ~ 10 years

“I gave up drinking 10 years ago. I went Australia on a working holiday visa, leaving behind a safe and comfortable life behind.

I had the intention of not drinking, but was peer pressured into drinking when I arrived.

On my second night out, someone told me

“All this no drinking needs to stop. You won’t have a good time in Sydney if you don’t drink.”

I remember thinking ~ Hold up. I just arrived on the other side of the world. I want to go on adventures and take photos… and you’re telling me I won’t have fun unless I drink?

That moment made me commit to a one-year, no alcohol challenge.

I didn’t have the confidence to say I’d never drink again, but I knew I could do a year.

I’d already cut down on alcohol, but still struggled with the pressure to drink.
In 2015, socialising was centred around that MTV drinking culture ~ drink to excess, but don’t question it.

Instagram was in its infancy, wellness wasn’t mainstream, sober curious wasn’t a term.

Add to that there was no low & no alcohol, other than becks blue, many people didn’t understand an alcohol-free lifestyle. The expectation was that I should party.

Because I wasn’t dependent, it was hard to justify not drinking.

The only social proof I had was Jack Osbourne. His adrenaline-junkie series showed me you could have fun without alcohol, and  that the alternative to drinking wasn’t staying missing out.

Once I committed to the no alcohol challenge, things got easier.

In my experience, people don’t like grey areas. They want black or white. “You’re drink or you don’t.”

But I was quietly confident I was making the right decision. I didn’t want to party my way up the coast. I didn’t want to spend all my money drinking.

I wanted to travel on my own terms ~ feel stimulated rather than sedated, and remember the experience 

I started going to Instagram meetups, my photography improved and I made new friends.

I got a job at Patagonia ~ one of my favourite brands ~ and worked with people who spent their free time outdoors, surfing and climbing.

I lived a fitness lifestyle. And with the money I saved from not drinking I was able to travel for longer.

That trip felt like a full circle moment from watching Jack Osbourne’s Adrenaline Junkie when I was younger.

Not drinking wasn’t just saying no to alcohol. It was saying yes to everything else.”