Why I am sober

People often give me strange looks when I tell them I don't drink alcohol. It's a stare of disbelief that always leads to the question, "Why not?"\nI always reply with, "I don't know. I guess I just don't want to."\nThat's usually good enough for most people, and it should be -- it's the truth. But it's only part of the truth. I never really elaborate on why I choose to be sober.\nMost people are not going to understand my reasoning in this scenario because drinking, not baseball, is the favorite pastime of most college students. But I'll keep going anyway and hope the drinking masses are reading this without a drop in their systems.\nThe main reason I don't drink is because of an incident involving my father.\nHe drank his fair share in his younger days, but it wasn't a traumatizing thing for me growing up. I never saw my father drunk or even drinking. I was as ignorant about alcohol as the next kid.\nBut when I was 17, my dad told me a story that struck a chord in my brain.\nHe told me that when he was around 40, he went in for a medical check-up and the doctor asked him if he drank much alcohol. My dad said he didn't think he drank any more than the next guy, but the doctor told him he might want to cut back on his alcohol intake.\nThe doctor told him he might have problems with his liver if he didn't change his lifestyle.\nEvery time I think about that story, I try to imagine what thoughts passed through my dad's head. If it were me, I know I would have overreacted. But my quick panic button is inherited from my mother, so my dad's cooler head probably prevailed at the doctor's office.\nBut the end result of this situation is my father basically gave up drinking about 10 years ago. He has a drink every now and then, but he's given up his fish-like tendencies.\nIn retrospect, I probably wasn't ready for the story back then. It gave me more perspective than I was ready for, and it set up a strange visual in my head.\nWhenever I look at any type of alcohol, I don't see what my friends see.\nWhen they see a beer, they see a buzzing good time. All I see is a strangely lit, cold doctor's office.\nAnd it scares me.\nYet I'm not scared of looking like an idiot or feeling sick enough to puke my guts out. I've done both of those without the aid of alcohol.\nThe thing that scares me is being 40 years old, wondering if I'm going to see my 10-year-old son graduate from college. That's what makes me know I don't need alcohol. \nBut I don't have a problem with people drinking around me. I go to the bars with my friends, and I have a great time.\nI actually enjoy my friends more when they're drunk because the more they drink, the funnier I become. They're also funnier when they're drunk, too.\nI'm not here to look down on anyone for choosing to drink. It's not my place to pass judgment on people who are doing something that is socially and legally accepted. \nBut this lack of opinion should work both ways. It doesn't make me feel good when people look at me like I have leprosy or when they tell me it's "really cool" that I choose not to drink.\nChoosing not to drink does not mean I'm full of integrity or connected to the inner-workings of the universe. It just means I'm able to drive at the end of the night. \nI'm not an idiot; I'm not boring; and I'm not "really cool." \nI am what I have always been and what I always will be.\nSober.