Wellness culture has become more popular in recent years. From Chloe Ting workouts to #guthealthtok all areas of wellness and physical health have been in center focus. In these conversations, you might be hearing the term sober curious. But what does that mean? Sober curious means choosing to change your drinking habits to include either a reduced amount or completely cut out alcohol from your life. There are a lot of reasons for a person to be sober curious, and it’s far from a minority. In fact, 50% of adults are trying to limit their consumption of alcohol.
“Even though I don’t drink, I still like to go out—mainly to house parties and such. I haven’t been pressured to either. Any time I tell someone that I’m sober, they’re always understanding about it.”
– Sober UT student
Sober Trends
Sobriety among Gen-Z has become more practiced in recent years, here are some of the trends you’ve probably seen and how you can incorporate them into your life!
- Mocktails
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Who doesn’t love a fun little drink? Mocktails have been blowing up this past year and there’s something for everybody! From mockmosas to mockjitos, these sober positive creators got you covered.
- Sober bars
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Sometimes making a mocktail at home isn’t enough and frat-party bottled water just isn’t cutting it. A big part of drinking culture is just the social aspect! Being sober shouldn’t mean missing out on the college experience. Here are some sober bars (or bars with non-alcoholic options that are actually good) here in Austin!
Sans Bar
Austin’s first sober bar! Its slogan is “Come for the zero-proof cocktails, stay for the community” and it truly lives up to it!
6th Street
I know, 6th street is probably not the place that comes to mind when thinking of “sobriety”, but hear me out! Linked below are non-alcoholic drinks any bar can make for you and how to order them!
- Dry January
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If you’ve been on TikTok at all this past month, you may have seen some videos about #dryjanuary. Starting in the UK, Dry January has been around for 10 years this past month!
I would rather try to find the joy out of social life with my friends and experiences, not from the effects of alcohol.
– Sober UT student
Resources
You don’t have to be an alcoholic to try out a sober lifestyle! However, if you’ve been questioning your relationship with alcohol here are some resources that are definitely worth checking out!
Al-Anon and Alateen – 1-800-356-9996
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) – 1-800-662-4357
Find an AA meeting near you – https://sober.com/
Sources
https://alcohol.org/treatment/hotline/
https://al-anon.org/newcomers/teen-corner-alateen/
https://alcoholchange.org.uk/help-and-support/managing-your-drinking/dry-january