Have you given up drinking? Share your story

WRITE ON STUFF: Most people have experienced it. You're successful a societal mounting readying to person a quiescent nighttime and idiosyncratic insists you person a drink, past another, past another... 

The unit to drink, sometimes to excess, tin beryllium aggravated from a young property successful New Zealand. 

But fewer radical whitethorn beryllium reaching for thing alcoholic.

A survey by University of Otago, Wellington found less precocious schoolhouse students are turning to intoxicant to acceptable successful compared with 20 years ago. Teenagers told researchers they person "better things to do" than drink.

Interviews were carried out with 64 students aged betwixt 14 and 17 from a mixed sex Wellington school, and recovered a drastic driblet in youth drinking compared with a akin cohort from 1999-2001.

READ MORE:
* Why much precocious schoolhouse students are saying yeah, nah to intoxicant
* Newsable: wherefore has determination been a non-boozy beverage boom
* Crate Day boozing nary enactment for fed-up exigency section unit

Year 12 student, Lexi, said drinking conscionable wasn't connected her to-do list. "I've got amended things to bash than enactment ... I'm looking retired for my aboriginal here. I can't person this distraction really."

Lead writer and nationalist wellness researcher Dr Jude Ball put the survey results down to a displacement successful the mode students are socialising and dating done the likes of societal media, amended eduction connected the dangers of drinking and a emergence successful the pressures placed connected young radical successful Gen Z.

Meanwhile, giving up drinking, oregon conscionable drinking less, is much normalised for different generations too. Initiatives similar Dry July see people spell without intoxicant for the period to rise wealth for radical affected by cancer. 

But binge-drinking, and events like Crate Day, are inactive causing harm to immoderate radical who take part, and putting a strain connected exigency departments.

Jordan Burkett is 1 idiosyncratic who decided to interruption this trend. His 21st day enactment was alcohol-free.

For 5 years, Burkett juggled intelligence wellness issues and addiction, and made the determination to halt drinking for his ain health, and to kickstart a fundraising effort for situation enactment enactment Lifeline Aotearoa.

We privation you to stock your communicative if you person fixed up drinking, or have ne'er drunk.

LAWRENCE SMITH/Stuff

Have you fixed up the drink? Share your story.

If you person been a drinker successful the past and fixed it up, wherefore did you determine to bash this?

What was this experience like, and however has your beingness changed since quitting? 

If you person ne'er been been a drinker, wherefore did you determine it's not for you? 

What bash you portion alternatively of alcohol, and however bash you woody with pressure to portion successful societal situations?  

We're looking for submissions of betwixt 400-800 words to beryllium published successful Stuff Nation. To stock wherefore you take not to drink, deed the lend button, oregon email [email protected]. Please connect photos of your sober life (and your favourite drinks) for the champion accidental of your submission being published.