We like to think we drink for all the right reasons.
“To take the edge off.”
“To celebrate.”
“To loosen up after a long day.”
“To feel more confident at a party.”
“To help me sleep.”
We offer these explanations freely, as if they’re obvious and self-evident. They sound harmless. Reasonable, even. But let’s be honest:
Most of them aren’t true.
They’re half-truths.
Comfortable stories we tell ourselves to avoid facing something lurking just below the surface — something less socially acceptable, even to ourselves.
We Drink Because We Like the Way It Feels
That’s it. That’s the code.
We drink because alcohol creates a very specific internal shift — one that happens quickly and predictably after that first sip. It’s chemical. It’s emotional. It’s sensory. It’s real.
There’s a moment, brief but powerful, when everything gets a little warmer.
You feel slightly more alive. Slightly more connected. Slightly more relaxed.
The internal volume goes down, and the world around you softens just enough.
That moment has a name in this book: The First Drink Buzz.
It’s what we’re all after — whether we realize it or not.
The First Time You Drank
Think back.
Your very first drink probably didn’t happen because you were stressed or trying to take the edge off. You were curious. You wanted to see what it felt like. You wanted to be part of something. Maybe it was at a family gathering, a party, a friend’s house.
You weren’t drinking to escape anything. You were drinking to experience something. And once you felt that shift — that internal buzz — something clicked.
Ah. So this is why people do it.
Even if you didn’t love the taste, you liked the feeling.
That feeling is what brought you back.
And Every Time After That?
You were chasing that buzz.
Maybe not consciously. Maybe you told yourself it was about relaxing, or connecting, or “just having fun.” But underneath all of that was the desire to re-create that moment — the rush, the softening, the internal click of everything falling just slightly into place.
Here’s the problem:
The First Drink Buzz is temporary.
Not just short-lived — unrepeatable.
Once your body starts metabolizing that first drink, the chemical cocktail changes. Your brain adapts. Your awareness shifts. And try as you might, no second drink ever quite brings back that first.
It’s like a match being struck.
Bright, hot, and gone in seconds.
You can’t strike the same match twice.
The Silent Chase
This is where the game gets interesting— and where so many people get stuck.
The buzz fades. You miss it. So you pour another drink. But this time, the warmth arrives with a slight dullness. You’re less sharp. Less in control. A little more in your feelings. A little less in your body.
So you try again. And again.
Before long, you’re not chasing the buzz — you’re just trying to stay ahead of the quiet crash. That initial feeling of lightness becomes fog. The drink that was meant to free you starts weighing you down.
And when you wake up the next day, it’s rarely the drinking itself that hurts the most — it’s the realization that you lost the buzz and yourself.
Why “Just One More” Doesn’t Work
You can’t calibrate your way back to The First Drink Buzz.
That buzz is a first-time-only experience.
There’s no formula. No perfect drink number, no magic timing, no balancing act of food, water, mood, or music that will re-create that exact sensation.
Every other drink is an echo — duller, heavier, less precise.
And when we don’t understand this, we fall into the same trap over and over again:
We think more alcohol will get us “back” to the feeling we already lost.
But it never does.
So we drink past it.
And then feel bad about it.
And vow to “be more careful next time.”
The Real Cost Isn’t Just the Hangover
It’s the erosion of self-trust.
Every time we drink more than we meant to — even just a little more — something in us sighs. Not loudly, but enough to notice. That inner voice that wanted to feel in control, to stop at one, to end the night proud — it fades.
And if it happens enough times, you start to wonder if maybe you can’t get this right. Maybe you’re not “good” at drinking. Maybe moderation is a myth. Maybe your only options are quitting… or continuing to disappoint yourself.
That’s where many people give up — or give in.
But there’s another way.
Let It Bloom — Then Let It Go
Here’s what changes everything:
When you start to understand that The First Drink Buzz is a one-time gift, not a multi-round reward system, you can stop trying to hold onto it.
You can let it bloom… and let it go.
Like a sunset. Like a wave. Like a song that ends exactly when it should.
This is what One & Done makes possible.
Not abstinence. Not control.
But peace.