The title is wrong imo because drinking is an intensely personal thing. I don't drink for one year every four years and have been through this cycle multiple t

The title is wrong imo because drinking is an intensely personal thing. I don't drink for one year every four years and have been through this cycle multiple times. I have one year where I drink quite a bit and my current year is the weekends only drinking cycle. Some observations: I don't miss alcohol at all when I don't drink, but in dry years I can get quite depressed. As soon as I do have one drink my mind immediately goes to having more, plans change - I grew up in a binge drinking culture (UK) and that never seems to go away. I body check myself socially to see if I've drunk too much even when I'm not drinking. I think a lot of social drinking is actually psychological. Hangovers suck but are a great safeguard. If you don't have them be alarmed. The year when I drink a lot I get overtired, generally puffy skinned feeling and lacklustre. Most important tip: don't drink pints of mineral water instead of beer: I got terrible kidney stones