- Hey, guys. I'm Corey.
I am going a month without drinking
and I'm going to document it.
(claps hands)
If I'm being straight up about this,
I'm not excited.
I like to drink.
I think it's fun.
It's something that my friends do.
We go out and we grab some beers
and it's just how we engage with each other.
I think for awhile there I was getting
really overwhelmed with the stress of life
and a relationship and school and work
and I would deal with that stress
by drinking and trying to numb that
and I'm realizing that that's
not a way for me to handle this,
and I need to just take a little break.
(sighs) Here we go!
(upbeat music)
- My boyfriend, Corey is amazing.
He's recently gone back to school for business.
He works at one of my favorite bars in Los Angeles.
And he still finds time to collaborate
with me on Buzzfeed projects.
I'm not about being for or against drinking.
This is something that makes sense for him personally to try
and I hope it's a good first 30 days.
(upbeat music)
- Okay! So today is day one.
I got off work and I definitely thought
about a routine of, do I have beer at the house?
When am I gonna get it,
but it's day one, man.
Sack up.
So I'm putting this on the fridge
so whenever I go to open this bad boy and think about it
I have this, do not drink.
Don't do it.
Ya big dumb idiot! (woman laughs)
So I'm just now getting off work.
It's midnight and normally I would go home
and have my drinks.
But tonight I'm gotta change up my routine
and I'm coming over to Becky's because nothing
helps being sober like having a hot woman in your bed,
or her bed or whosever's bed.
You get it.
(upbeat music)
Being around drunk people, some of them
are really annoying.
And other of my friends, actually some of them
are pretty funny drunks.
And I don't mind being around them.
So me and a buddy of mine came to a bar today
and I'm drinking a water,
however the bartender is a friend.
And this is a...
That's what I got.
(male laughs)
Delicious.
- I hope you're hydrated.
- Asshole.
(techno music)
I found that I crave that feeling
of just popping something open
and having something to drink.
So I've tried several non-alcoholic beers.
We are doing the non-alcoholic taste test.
So the second one is Beck's.
All right.
- All right.
- Cheers.
It tastes like a light beer.
- But like weirdly sweet.
Not a fan of this one.
- [Narrator] No, okay. - Not a fan.
Most of them are not good.
But I found one I like.
The O'Doul's Amber. - All right, cheers.
It tastes like beer.
- It tastes like beer, right? - Yeah.
- Yeah, I could do that.
This is hitting on the cravings pretty well.
Cheers to that.
(cymbals ring)
You know what's great,
when you're not drinking?
Waking up.
Waking up is great.
It doesn't suck nearly as bad as it did.
Ah-hh.
I'm actually feeling pretty good.
I feel very focused.
I feel very clear.
It's been really nice actually.
Aa-ohh.
I'm annoyed.
(techno music)
- Last night was the first night
that we went out with a large group
of people with Corey not drinking.
And I could not believe what happened.
There was a point in the night
when a couple of the regulars at the bar
are asking him again and again.
Are you really not drinking?
And once he said, "yeah, no I'm not."
They actually booed him.
- [Crowd] Boo. (group laughs)
(loud bar noise)
- So I'm out at a bar, completely expected
some of my friends to be dicks,
and you know what?
Some of them really are dicks.
- They did not let it go
throughout the entire night.
- Boo.
- I really hope that this subsides.
(techno music)
So tonight Corey had this huge test.
A lot was resting on this stupid test.
I just got a call from him
that got me really worried.
So he briefly called me and said
that he failed the test and that he may drink.
He doesn't know.
And then I tried calling him back
and his phone was off.
- So I just got out of the test.
And I failed it.
I mean I bombed it.
I worked so hard.
And the last thing I want to do right now
is do this stupid fucking video.
Think about how I failed.
I just want to get beer.
I just want to go home and relax
and just fucking forget about this test.
Fuck.
I don't know.
(gentle music)
- So I am very happy to be doing this vlog today.
So last night after Corey and I talked
on the phone, one or two hours later,
he called me back.
He told me that when he got home last night,
he was furious, and that he was so tempted
to drink, but instead he threw on some gym clothes,
left the house and went for this long, angry run.
(organ note plays)
- So I'm now just getting back from my run.
And today was easily the hardest day
that I've had so far.
Every instinct in me was like, go home
and have a beer and instead I went for a run.
Alcohol is a very short term solution
to what are very long term issues.
And today instead of having that beer
demonstrated how committed I am to my future.
And for that, I feel really good.
(organ note plays)
One thing I've noticed a lot is my anxiety
is a lot better.
And I remember thinking when I was drinking
that that would kind of calm me,
but what I noticed was that the next morning
my anxiety rebounded kind of worse.
And so I'm noticing that my levels are a lot more stable.
- I think that I've noticed that you're face is less red.
- I've noticed that too.
- Have you really?
- Okay, so I found something interesting.
I read that alcohol is dehydrating,
which causes inflammation or enlarged blood vessels
in the face.
This is what causes redness from drinking.
And I notice that you just get red a lot less.
- [Corey] Yeah.
So look at...
Holy shit.
Look at that.
Look at...
I'm glad I don't look like a stop sign.
I think I looked a little dumb.
- You didn't look like a stop sign.
- I did, I looked dumb.
- No you didn't.
- Yeah, I did.
That one photo looks real dumb.
(light music)
All right so we're three weeks in.
I've learned a few things.
One, I'm going to miss out on some things from time to time.
And that's just going to have to be okay.
Like, you know, there's gotta be a point in the night
where you just call it, like some of my friends,
it's like three beers.
Once they hit that three beer mark, you don't know
whether I'm here or not so I'm just going to go home
but I've also learned that most importantly,
I don't have to be drinking to have a good time.
I can still go out with my boys at a bar,
engage and still enjoy myself.
- [Recorder] So how you doing?
I'm killin' it. (loud bar noise)
I'm drinking a water and not giving a shit.
- [Male] Not giving a shit.
(upbeat music)
- I had taken a photo of him
before we started this.
He had mentioned that he had wanted
to get in better shape
and so I took a before photo.
So we took that exact same,
or roughly same exact position photo.
And look at the difference.
- [Corey] It's crazy.
In just four weeks of not drinking
and really the only working out.
- Okay, this is a man.
This just happened haphazardly.
- But I'm happy about it.
It's been challenging
but it's been really good in ways
that I didn't even expect.
So my relationships have gotten tremendously better.
Sex is more fun 'cause I'm not like worried
about my gut.
I've definitely noticed a confidence boost.
At school, I'm much more able to learn,
which I think is incredible.
But it was difficult to break through the loop.
But once that happened, the long term goals
became a lot more apparent.
I was able to not just think about,
okay what do I want physically,
but what do I want professionally.
What do I want five years down the road.
I could think much bigger scale.
(upbeat music)
- Yeah.
- 94, way to go.
- I'm the smartest man in the world.
- Amy, are you getting this?
- [Recorder] Yeah.
- Look at these grades, baby.
- [Recorder] Oh my.
- Steven Hawkin aint got shit.
- Okay.
- That guy can really fuck me.
95, 95 my baby's a genius.
- Across the board I just feel
a lot more like me.
- Yeah.
- You know?
I'm just me.
Unfortunately.
(upbeat music)