Getting drunk is to experience a high and be around people who are doing the same thing. You feel invincible and like anything is possible. You forget to think about the decisions you are about to make, and everybody is your best friend.

So why can’t we live this way and do all these things without alcohol? This is the question I have been pondering. It’s hit me several times in the last year, and I have literally experienced the drunken feeling without the alcohol.

By manufacturing a high through drinking rather than doing it through your passion, you’re forcing yourself to experience struggle during the in-between moments of your escapades.

The three things you need to be drunk on life are:

1. Phenomenal people

Positive feelings can be amplified when you mix the right bunch of people together. The type of people who don’t winge about what’s on the local news and just get on with life.

The type of people who dream big and don’t care if their idea get’s shot down. We’ve all had glimpses of being around the right people but what if you made it your mission to be around them constantly? For me, I’ve found that those chills you get down your spine happen more often.

It’s because of the people (and those chills) that I have been sober for nineteen months. Being around the right people doesn’t always happen by accident, though. You need to focus on being in proximity to them.

It’s for this reason why I’m going to start hanging out at the beach more often and going to places like Sydney on the weekends. Finding the right crowd can help you bring on the drunken feeling of life much quicker.

“It’s an absolute nirvana to have game changers around you”

2. A passion for something

Living through our passion is another key component of being drunk on life. Being around situations where you’re close to things you are passionate about helps raise the drunkenness levels. Passion becomes like a magnet to us once we have a vague idea what it is.

For me, I can’t always pinpoint my passion, but I know when I’m close to it. States of flow come much easier when you’re close to your passion, and this is very close to being drunk on life. Seeing a DJ on a stage in front of thousands of people is one of those moments.

Someone like Steve Aoki is not on that stage because he’s escaping his problems he’s on that stage because music is his passion and it oozes out of his body. He’s so drunk on life that you’d think for a minute that he might need drugs to feel like that. The good news is he is just like me: a sober, green juice drinking, life junkie.

3. The right atmosphere

Certain places will help us get drunk on life. Pick locations that inspire you and spend as much time in these places as you can. Atmosphere can do wonders for bringing out that drunken feeling. Maybe it’s at the beach or on stage performing.

You’ll know when you’re at the right spot because you will find that you do your best thinking there. Making decisions in these locations will be far easier. I like to do my best decision-making at seminars or in foreign countries like the USA.

In these spots, I’m out of my comfort zone and away from the typical people that might influence me. I have far less certainty, and chances are I’m doing things that I didn’t think were possible. It’s in this atmosphere that I do my best work and am able to get drunk on life.

Water drinking club night

You become a Jedi Master though when you don’t even need these three things. I’m not there yet, but that’s my goal.

The other night I went to a high-end club for entrepreneurs. It’s not normally not my thing, but I thought it was worth experiencing. The whole night I didn’t drink a drop and had a bottle of water in my hand. I had some amazing conversations and was on autopilot in the sense that I just forgot alcohol was even present.

At the very end of the night, someone asked me why I wasn’t drinking, and I had to remind myself because I honestly didn’t realise it. I was so high on life and quality conversations that the need to numb any pain in my life just wasn’t there.

I then explained my usual near miss with cancer story as the reason for my non-drinking. While that forms part of it, I think the reason I gave up drinking to be high on life is a little bit more than that.

“The reason I gave up drinking I think was more about following my dream than anything else”

It’s about being different and not living up to societies expectation of what fun is or how to have a good time. Not drinking makes me stand out and I’ve noticed lots of influential people do the same (not saying I’m one of them).

Drinking water helps me feel hydrated, and it gives me the energy I need to let out raw emotion. It helps me to deliver stories that emphasise my passion and create a connection that social media can never do.

We have so much potential, yet we leave so much on the table because we haven’t learned to get high on life. By changing our focus towards acknowledging positive feelings, and putting aside the negative ones for that moment when we need motivation, we allow ourselves to get drunk on life.

Everything starts to feel surreal and our success compounds. People that are normally out of reach suddenly become so much more accessible without even realising it. The key to having more money and being more successful is being drunk on life.

People that get drunk on life play the game differently, and that’s something that everyone wants to be a part of. We’re starving to feel more emotion and our addictions come about because of our boredom.

I’ve realised that when I get bored, I do all the stupid things like drinking. A sense of direction and purpose is what stops us from getting stuck in the lifestyle that makes our existence be wasted. There is only one opportunity for us to be fantastic at life and that’s right now.

Growth

Being drunk on life requires us to get addicted to growth. Growth is where we try at least one new thing each day rather than only have a set routine of habits that cause us to get caught in a whirlwind of predictable circumstances.

The art of growth doesn’t only occur in new situations; it also occurs when we try to do the same thing we once failed at again, using a different strategy. An example for me is business. I tried once before and failed, but that was because I lacked the mindset to succeed.

Now I’m having another go and trying to put people first. I now understand that it’s teams of great people that build businesses and not some get rich quick scheme. It takes a significant amount of growth to change from the old mindset you’ve had to a new one that allows you to get drunk on life.

It’s not an easy journey but it’s one that will give you all the feelings that you’ve felt you have missed out on up until now. What you’re missing out on is life if you’re not drunk on it. Consume and enjoy life the way you would have ten Coroners in a row at a concert.

The concept of getting drunk is the same; you just need to apply the same toolkit to a different vehicle called life.

Imagine

Think about for a minute what it would be like to have that drunk feel every day without the abuse to your body. To have those bursts of energy that make you do crazy things and maybe even ask out the man or woman of your dreams (I should probably take action on this one).

When you’re drunk on life, you’re not scared. You imagine something and then you do it and think about the consequences later. Imagine how influential you could be to a new generation of people if you only mastered the art of being drunk on life.

Do you think you could get drunk on life? Let me know on my website timdenning.net or my Facebook.