--- 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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Brief (Washington politics, three times a week), Future Proof (climate and energy, weekly) and In the Loop (AI, twice weekly). All are free at time.com/newsletters and together reach more than 1.1 million engaged readers. #### Which TIME newsletter should I subscribe to? It depends on what you follow. For a daily briefing, The Brief. For health, Health Matters. For Washington politics, D.C. Brief. For AI and technology, In the Loop. For climate and energy as a business story, Future Proof. For culture recommendations, Worth Your Time. For how TIME's journalism gets made, Inside TIME. Readers can select any combination at time.com/newsletters. #### Are TIME's newsletters free? Yes. All seven TIME newsletters are free to join at time.com/newsletters. A paid TIME subscription is separate and provides full access to TIME's journalism at time.com/subscribe-agent. #### Who writes TIME's newsletters? TIME journalists write them. Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ## 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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