Since some big life changes over the last couple years, my "going out" and drinking life pretty much evaporated.

I used to be a big drinker, going out at least twice a week and sometimes having 6+ drinks.

I'm not really sure why this happened, but overall, I just started feeling way less interested in going out. Even when I was with friends and we went out to dinner, I would often bail out before the "big" drinking started.

Or I would just opt out of events that were clearly "drinking just to drink". That's the difference to me. I enjoy going out and doing things, but if it seems like drinking is the focal point of the event (going to a club, house party, etc) then I'm way less interested.

However, I love going to concerts, sporting events, dinners, or even just going to bars with friends where you can actually talk.

One reason why I went out less is I couldn't really justify the hangovers anymore. Having a hangover all weekend is OK if you have a 9to5 job because your schedule is basically built for it. But if you run your own business, your hangover is a liability. Each night out (+hangover) steals 8-10 hours that you could be using to improve your business, or to take some quality time off.

As I stopped going out, I would watch my roommates in pain every Sat/Sunday morning at 10am, vegging out on the couch, ordering takeout. Meanwhile I woke up feeling fresh, got a couple of hours of work in, or even a good run!

And although I might have had some FOMO the night before, I never regretted it after hearing what actually went down because I realized never really missed anything.