What that means is that I have pretty much given up drinking and staying out late.
It also means I don't spend one day out of a weekend nursing a killer hangover caused by one too many $48 jugs.
Drinking has never been kind to me, and hangovers guarantee that I'll be curled up on the cool, cool bathroom floor with a pillow.
While I've never been even close to borderline alcoholic, I now have time for things that don't involve my getting to know the bathroom floor better.
The downside is that in slowing down, I fear I am getting unsocial. I don't feel as close to some friends, with whom I would bumble around (drunkenly) on the weekends.
Make no mistake, those weekends were really, really fun. But they are long behind me now and I am at a loss as to how exactly to reconnect with some of those friends.
On a couple of occasions, I've also met people whom I like and feel I could forge a friendship with. But I rarely meet up with them again as they wish to socialise over - you got it - drinks.
Friends that I ask out for, say, yoga or wakeboarding - two activities I've picked up since cutting back on alcohol - are also less likely to turn up than if we were going to a club.
As my lifestyle changes, I feel as though I am leaving some people behind.
Now, no one's going to say that life is all about liquor, but I'm starting to wonder sometimes if people know what to do with themselves without it.
People use drinking as a social tool, and sometimes as a social lubricant. Bad music in a club becomes bearable, for example, with a drink or two.
For singletons out on a date, drinks are casual enough. You don't feel you have to be committed for a long period of time, unlike dinner or a movie.
And for many friends, nothing beats getting work out of their systems than an after- work drink.
What's more, it's brainless. You know where everyone's going to be on Friday nights, for example. It's almost a given as to where your clique will be going, and it's easy to meet up as you bar-hop.
Doing otherwise, I'm learning, takes a little more planning. My girlfriends and I recently tried high tea for a friend's 30th birthday.
We had to call each other to confirm and double-confirm each other's attendances. We had to settle on a time when everyone could make it.
None of it was automatic, unlike our days together in clubs where we would know where the others were and would manage to meet up at some point during the evening.
Ironically, at the tea, we ate so much that we felt drunk afterwards. But we all agreed that it was good to see each other in daylight and not waste money on alcohol, and be in an environment where we could really hear each other (as opposed to being in a noisy bar). Best of all, we felt reconnected in a way we hadn't known in a good long while.
I'm no teetotaller. I enjoy a glass of red wine or a nice beer from time to time. But the bars are no longer where you'll typically find me.
And while the alternatives are taking a little while to sort out, at least I don't have a date with my bathroom floor the day after.
