What is the Difference Between Sober Curious, Mindful Drinking and Alcohol-Free?
You might have heard words like “sober curious”, “alcohol-free”, and “mindful drinking” being thrown around. But what do they all mean? And what is the difference between being alcohol-free and sober curious?
The rise of different alcohol-free lifestyles can be very confusing. Especially if you are only just discovering the idea of being alcohol-free. But don’t worry! We are here to explain everything you need to know about alcohol-free, sober curious and mindful drinking.
Sober Curious
The term Sober Curious was coined by Ruby Warrington in 2019. It comes from her book, Sober Curious.
In this book, Warrington says that sober curious “means, literally, to choose to question, or get curious about, every impulse, invitation, and expectation to drink, versus mindlessly going along with the dominant drinking culture.”
In other words, it means taking a step back from your drinking habits and examining when and why you choose to drink. It encourages you to get curious about the different things you could do if you decide not to drink.
While the sober curious lifestyle does not require complete sobriety, many people find that when they take a step back from alcohol and really examine their drinking habits, they intentionally choose to drink a lot less. Often people feel healthier, happier and less stressed when they consume less alcohol. By embracing the sober curious lifestyle, they open up the option to experiment with drinking less.
Mindful Drinking
Mindful drinking was popularised by Club Soda. It has become a hugely popular term as the idea of mindful living has grown.
Essentially mindfulness is all about paying attention to your actions and acting with intention. Often, due to the hustle and bustle of daily life, we go through life on autopilot. We end up paying little attention to what we think, do and say. Mindfulness is about paying more attention to these things in a non-judgmental way. As we notice more about the ways we think and the things we do, we can start to live with more intention and live more deliberately.
Mindful drinking is all about applying this philosophy to our relationship with alcohol. It is about becoming aware of when we drink, why we drink, and how it makes us feel. Non-judgementally observing your drinking habits can allow you to interact more intentionally with alcohol.
Mindful drinking does not require complete sobriety. It just requires that you choose when and how much to drink with intention. You can decide whether you want to drink on any given day. Realistically, for many people, mindful drinking does result in consuming less alcohol, but it is not always the case.
Alcohol-Free
Alcohol-free means a variety of things. Following an alcohol-free lifestyle means that you do not drink alcohol. This can be due to personal, health or religious reasons or it can just be a lifestyle choice because you do not enjoy the effects of alcohol.
Alcohol-Free vs Non-Alcoholic
Another use of the word alcohol is with alcohol-free drinks. In the UK, there are three different categories of low-alcohol beverages. These are:
Alcohol-free: no more than 0.05%ABV
De-alcoholised: no more than 0.5% ABV
Low alcohol: no more than 1.2% ABV
To give you an idea of how much alcohol that is, de-alcoholised and alcohol-free drinks have the same alcohol content as a very ripe banana. So, in other words, not much alcohol!
The Bottom Line
The reality is, sober curious, mindful drinking and alcohol-free are very similar terms. It doesn’t matter which category you fall into. If one of these terms resonates with you more, then you could explore that term more.
But to break it down these movements share three main components:
Observing and evaluating your relationship with alcohol in a curious and non-judgemental manner
Using these observations to drink with intention instead of out of habit or pressure.
None of them (only complete sobriety) requires you to quit alcohol if you don’t want to. Many people end up significantly cutting down on alcohol, but the choice is yours!
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