The “Sober Curious Movement” ~ Let’s Have A Mocktail Before We Dance!

“Care for a mocktail?” “A what?” I asked. “A cocktail with no alcohol. The one I like is made of Jamaican allspice, grapefruit juice, lemon peel, cardamom (from the ginger family), a bit of cascarilla (used for cleansing, protection and banishing of negative energies) and a splash of seltzer.”

There is a rapidly growing, national trend in people who prefer to meet, drink, dance and have fun in places that do not serve alcohol. These people are not necessarily alcoholics. They are people who want more than an evening that begins with a designated driver and ends with a hangover. They are curious about the positive effects and benefits of reducing or eliminating alcohol from their diet and social life. They want drug-free sleep; more energy for a morning meeting or caring for early-riser children. They seek better judgement; lower blood pressure and weight; better organ function; more conscious, mindful living; more genuine social interactions; and clearer and stronger connections to their creativity and potential.

They want more than listening to someone at the bar or club who keeps repeating themselves and slurring their words. They are tired of waiting with beer drinkers for a vacancy in the bathroom. They are very cautious about alcohol and other drugs since we are in a national opioid epidemic. They don’t want to be netted by police at sobriety checkpoints or to witness public altercations between intoxicants.

It is time for clubs and bars to become Sober Curious for, say, one night a month. People are willing to pay good money for interesting, non-alcoholic drinks in an atmosphere that is more about mindfulness than bottomlessness. If the thought of this makes you angry or cynical; or if you believe your ability to create, procreate, dine, whine, dance, communicate or sleep soundly would be hampered by being alcohol-free for a night or more… well, that is something to be mindful about also. Another great thing about the sober curious movement is that the people, the practitioners, are not trying to convert other people into also being sober curious. The most aggressive pitch I have heard is, “give it a try.”

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