This has impacted my life so negatively I don’t even know where to start.
My friends and I started drinking at 17 and went out almost every weekend. Every year we had huge events like festivals (Germany has many) and well those were like 3 days being drunk in a row.
If i could turn back time I’d probably just tell myself to not do it and probably do it again anyways.
I’m getting invested in the gym and it’s so good. I wonder how I’d look like today if I would have just been at the gym in my 20s.
Not only that. I wonder how my friend circle would look like cause currently I have no friends I’d consider “friends”. Those were all drinking buddies. They still drink every weekend and more and more I realised they are just functioning alcoholics.
And since I don’t drink anymore (2 years) I’m basically out.
So I’d say alcohol didn’t only have a negative impact on my brain while I was still young (and after) it also hit my wallet, my time for better things (sports)… etc.
Man. Sucks. Sucks to be me.
Now I am happy I have a wife, a house and going in the right direction but it is soooo hard to find friends or atleast people if you aren’t in school anymore and coworkers busy with own life.
If I could give anyone younger advice I’d just stay screw it and go to the gym and find a hobby like climbing, swimming, golfing, tennis or something and get people there.
Does it matter? If you could quantify your lost potential, would such knowledge benefit you in any way? I understand the drive to understand your major life mistakes as deeply as possible, but you’ve already made great strides to learn from and correct said mistakes. You seem to be on a pretty strong upward trajectory, but if you obsess over what’s lost, it just might drag you back down.