Why I Quit Drinking, And What I’ve Learned…

I love drinking. It has defined me as a person. It has, to some extent, also defined me professionally. I even wrote a bestselling book about it.

I totaled a brand new Maserati. I got kicked out of The Four Seasons, where I had been living for six months at the time. I’ve been kicked off an airplane, more than once. I’ve woken up in the hospital, in the the wrong apartment, and even in the wrong country. I threw a fruit plate at a prominent hedge fund manager. I got in a fight with Wayne Rooney. And I’ve been detained in Singapore with a bag of cocaine in my pocket. Still, I’ve mostly skated through life — resilient and unapologetic.

I learned how to drink at boarding school

I came to Choate from a small Texas town, as an undersized, insecure, and immature kid. Drinking became an identity crutch. Getting a hungover B on a Calculus exam felt better than any earned A, and also gave me (sadly) a social status or notoriety that I couldn’t earn on an athletic field.

When the punishment for drinking was suspension or worse, learning and mastering binge-drinking and day-drinking was a prerequisite for not getting caught. Who got drunk at 9am on a Tuesday? I did. Friday night drinking was for suckers, and dumb kids who got expelled.