PexelsThree days into Dry January, the memories of New Year’s Eve lost in the ether, and you’ll probably struggle to imagine giving up booze for two years, let alone coffee as well.
But one guy has managed to overcome those pesky withdrawal symptoms and come out the other side… Meet Tobias van Schneider, a New Yorker who hasn’t touched a drop of coffee or alcohol for 27 months.
Tobias documented his journey on his personal blog on the 26th December, and the post has since been shared on Pocket with thousands of readers desperate to know whether their efforts for Dry January are actually worth it.
Max PixelsGood news! It turns out Tobias has felt the benefits of cutting out coffee and booze threefold: On his health, happiness and his purse strings.
Tobias writes that he has saved £27,000 thanks to his little experiment, with an estimated £1,000 saved every single month.
While more money might make for fewer worries to keep you awake at night, Tobias noticed a drastic difference in his actual sleep quality when he stopped drinking.
Tobias said:
Removing alcohol from my diet increased my sleep quality drastically. And I’m not talking about “falling asleep” but the actual sleep quality.
You sure do fall asleep easier with 1–2 glasses of beer or wine, but the actual sleep quality might suffer. I sleep better, and I wake up with more energy. Before I always ruined my mornings, even if I only had two beers at night I could feel it in the morning.
Tobais added cutting coffee out of his diet eased his anxiety, reduced his stress levels and even helped his digestion. He added, ‘I now poop like a King.’
For Tobias, though, the most drastic change to his life occurred in the murky realms of social interactions.
He wrote:
When a group of people asks me to join them for drinks, I mostly default to answer with NO because I just don’t want to deal with gossip as a sober person.
If I do go for drinks, I last max. 1 hour because this is how long my attention span as a sober person lasts in a group of drunk people.
It’s amazing to see the culture of drinking slowly fading away from your life. It made me realise how many friendships are actually based mostly on your drinking habits.
Patrick TomassoTobias added that he’s also been able to see through coffee shop culture, saying ‘I found out that “Going for a coffee” turned out to be more of a social activity than the actual craving for coffee’.
While he doesn’t want to preach to people or try and persuade you that his lifestyle is superior, his anecdotal evidence is pretty compelling.
A former emo kid who talks too much about 8Chan meme culture, the Kardashian Klan, and how her smartphone is probably killing her. Francesca is a Cardiff University Journalism Masters grad who has done words for BBC, ELLE, The Debrief, DAZED, an art magazine you’ve never heard of and a feminist zine which never went to print.