Short-term pleasure vs. long-term happiness..

And why I rarely drink now..

It took me a long time to segment between pleasure and happiness. For many years, it seems to have come down to a conscious choice between short-term pleasure and long-term happiness.

There have been periods in my life where I have stopped drinking completely. And I’ve definitely had periods in my life where drinking frequently was quite the rage, won’t lie. A lot of the immediate pleasure around socialising involved drinks.

The hangovers got longer, recoveries terrible, training subpar, and most of all — it wrecked my already sensitive sleep. Even days after drinking, my vibe was low and borderline depressive.

I’m generally hyper-driven, and I need to be doing work and tasks. This has really only evolved in my 30s. For years now, drinking inhibits my productivity. My productivity is a metric of my values that make me happy. My values lean on being productive. If I don’t fulfil my values, I become unhappy, as they’re what drive me on a daily basis.

When I drink, I inhibit my ability to be productive. If I can’t be productive, I can’t fulfil my values. If I can’t fulfil my values, I can’t feel happy about myself. Not drinking regularly allows me a more focused, consistent mood and mindset, without the brain fog. Training performance, recoveries & sleep are all better.

So, the alcohol that brings me immediate gratification, now makes me less happy. It affects my workday, my evening training and my night’s sleep. Giving up instant pleasure, brings me more happiness overall.

It’s become a simple choice — short term pleasure or long-term happiness. And it definitely wasn’t like this when I was younger for sure, quite the opposite in fact. It’s been a slow, organic progression — turns out I don’t miss it that much anyways.