Confessions of a College Student...Who Doesn't Drink

Drinking is a societal norm for most cultures—especially university culture. Clubs, bars, frat parties, or just small cocktail parties, there’s booze to go around. It is not hard to find and college provides an ample testing ground for young people to try out their likes and dislikes for future orders.

It is also a rite of passage of sorts. Drinking is a social norm, introduced to us at various times in life, but especially when we hit college. This is where I myself have hit a snag.

I don’t drink. I’ve sniffed and tasted but haven’t liked. I’ve watched others drink and felt deep down this was not something I wanted to do. Is there something wrong with that? Of course not. However, I do have to deal with the consequences of my actions just as much as if I had chosen to start drinking.

Choosing not to drink, while of course not making you a social pariah, makes you different from those who do choose to. You are, in every sense, refusing to take part in a social norm (especially one so condoned by sitcoms, dramas, and movies), and that has its barbs. People have thought me prudish, stuck up, babyish, naïve, and yes, a snob. People wonder why I just don’t buck up and “have a little fun.”

I have many personal reasons for not wanting to drink. Most people who don’t drink do. And it doesn’t make things better when we’re on the outside looking in. Quite honestly safe drinking and partying looks like a lot of fun most of the time. But I know who I am and what I do and don’t want to do.

I truly feel there is no shame in not wanting to drink. Maybe I will be “ready” in a few years, maybe I never will. But you should never feel pressured to do so just because it is a social norm. There are many benefits to abstaining and to going ahead and having a little fun. We must all be aware, though, of the consequences that come with both.