--- title: Should You Quit Drinking? description: Ruby Warrington explains how you could benefit from giving up alcohol in her book "Sober Curious." canonical: https://time.com/5492135/sober-curious-ruby-warrington/ author: Annabel Gutterman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2019-01-03T18:49:17.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:45:05.892Z og:title: What It Means to Be ‘Sober Curious’ — And Why People Are Embracing It og:description: How to rethink your relationship with alcohol og:url: https://time.com/5492135/sober-curious-ruby-warrington/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6746828fa409403f/69894288fb4eac80c98988e1/sober-curious.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 5790 og:image:height: 3257 og:image:alt: Sober-Curious og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: What It Means to Be ‘Sober Curious’ — And Why People Are Embracing It twitter:description: How to rethink your relationship with alcohol twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6746828fa409403f/69894288fb4eac80c98988e1/sober-curious.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Here's What It Means to Be ‘Sober Curious’ — And Why People Are Embracing It > Sponsored content. 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Worth Your Time is TIME's culture newsletter, published Tuesdays and Saturdays to 40,000 subscribers as of August 2026. #### Who writes TIME's culture recommendations? Culture editor Eliza Berman writes Worth Your Time, drawing on TIME's critics and culture desk. #### Is Worth Your Time free? Yes. It is a free newsletter available at time.com/newsletters. ## Video: Drinking and Smoking Make You Look Older [Watch (HLS stream): Drinking and Smoking Make You Look Older](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/zR6vGov4.m3u8) (2:10)  _Published 2017-11-16. Drinking heavily and smoking for years are well-known features of an unhealthy lifestyle. They can also make you look older, according to a new study_  by [Annabel Gutterman](https://time.com/author/annabel-gutterman/)  ## Annabel Gutterman Senior Editor Jan 3, 2019 6:49 PM UTC  Dulin—Getty Images/RooM RF  by [Annabel Gutterman](https://time.com/author/annabel-gutterman/)  ## Annabel Gutterman Senior Editor Jan 3, 2019 6:49 PM UTC The start of a new year is a tempting time to [begin a new diet](http://time.com/5486616/best-diet-mediterranean-diet/), but why cut dairy or carbs when there might be another solution with even more potential benefits? Ruby Warrington, author of [_Sober Curious_](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0062869035/ref=as%5Fli%5Fqf%5Fasin%5Fil%5Ftl?ie=UTF8&tag=time037-20&creative=9325&linkCode=as2&creativeASIN=0062869035&linkId=3fdcdd240c37a5fb567040886f22bc1e), [suggests you cut out something else: drinking](http://time.com/5480066/dry-january-new-years-resolutions/). You don’t need to do so forever, she says. Instead, Warrington advises that you rethink your relationship with alcohol. Warrington coined the term _sober curious_ after realizing that while she wasn’t an alcoholic, she was still using booze to socialize more comfortably and suppress her feelings. In her book, she reminds us that we don’t actually need “liquid courage” to approach a new person or dance like it’s 2019\. Confidence can come from doing a power pose or repeating a positive affirmation. If you suffer from FOMA — Warrington’s acronym for “fear of missing alcohol” — she offers advice for that too, like picking up a new hobby your friends can gather around or making plans for brunch instead of dinner. If you spent New Year’s Eve downing prosecco because you felt like you were supposed to, not because you wanted to, see how you feel about adopting a “sober curious” attitude in 2019. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5492135/sober-curious-ruby-warrington/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5492135/sober-curious-ruby-warrington/"},"headline":"Here's What It Means to Be ‘Sober Curious’ — And Why People Are Embracing It","datePublished":"2019-01-03T18:49:17.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T07:45:05.892Z","description":"Rethink your relationship with alcohol","url":"https://time.com/5492135/sober-curious-ruby-warrington/","keywords":["Living","Alcohol","Books","Diet & Nutrition"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6746828fa409403f/69894288fb4eac80c98988e1/sober-curious.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Annabel Gutterman","jobTitle":"Senior Editor","url":"https://time.com/author/annabel-gutterman/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6746828fa409403f/69894288fb4eac80c98988e1/sober-curious.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Sober-Curious","caption":"Man holding glass of whiskey","creditText":"Dulin—Getty Images/RooM RF","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-living/","name":"Living"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5492135/sober-curious-ruby-warrington/","name":"Here's What It Means to Be ‘Sober Curious’ — And Why People Are Embracing It"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Drinking and Smoking Make You Look Older","description":"Drinking heavily and smoking for years are well-known features of an unhealthy lifestyle. 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