How to Avoid Alcohol While in College

Peer pressure in college can be a reality for many students. The pressures to drink and party can be a seductive lure for highly impressionable young adults. Drinking in moderation can be a relaxing activity and a great ice breaker, but drinking in college often gets elevated to a new and often unhealthy level. Learning how to avoid alcohol in college is possible. Follow these steps to avoid alcohol while in college.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderate

1. Make a commitment early on in your college career to stay away from alcohol. Write and sign a contract for yourself stating your decision to stay away from drinking.
2. Forge friendships with others who stay away from alcohol or who drink very rarely. Stay away from parties where large amounts of alcohol will be consumed to avoid the pressure of feeling the need to participate in order to be liked.
3. Work on your self will through exercise and keeping up on your academic obligations and commitments. Find alternative ways of entertaining yourself through membership in clubs, academic groups, sport activities and creative endeavors.
4. Join student groups that support students and alcohol awareness. Understand that one of the best ways to hold yourself accountable is to become an advocate for a cause. Participate in spreading awareness about college alcohol consumption and alcoholism.
5. Write articles or produce short films about college students and alcohol consumption to give a perspective on the epidemic and help provide a creative outlet to explore your choice to abstain. Maintain a sense of non-judgmental compassion for people who drink and understand that you cannot change other people but you can only take care of yourself.
6. Recognize that the glamor of college drinking often leads to problems with alcohol later in life. Abstaining from over-consumption or general consumption of alcohol is one of the best defenses. Get a full history of alcoholism in your family so you do not trigger a latent tendency toward excess through drinking.

Tips & Warnings

• Be proud of your alcohol avoidance. Do not to let the pressures of being "cool" in college thwart your efforts to be in charge of your own destiny and health.