Alcohol is a major part of a twenty something's culture. And as young people naturally we enjoy the nightlife and we want to go out and have fun. While for some, that's normal and they can control themselves, for others (like myself) once we start, we cannot stop.

The past few years, I used alcohol as a crutch. My go to was always a bottle of wine. Usually Prosecco or any type of sweet white wine. The bottle would be for me and would usually be gone quickly. On the weekends I'd go out and I'd drink liquor and would pretty much blackout on the weekends. While I thought that's normal due to the fact that I am 21. But it wasn't. I would hide my drinking. Which was worse than my actual problem, mainly because everyone including my family thought I was just drinking a normal amount.

In the past 30 days of not drinking, I 've seen a different side of not just myself, but my life.

Here are 8 things I'm now seeing differently.

1. You realize who your true friends are

I remember telling one of my best friends that I was quitting alcohol, and immediately both her and her boyfriend supported me in this "journey". Didn't judge or leave my life, unlike some of my "friends". It's amazing how you can tell who's truly there for you and who isn't. True friends will always support you no matter what.

2. You learn to love yourself

Another huge wake up call, I stopped hating who I was, and started embracing who I'm becoming. I was so down on myself for the last 2-3 years, that I didn't want to see the light. Here I am 30 days later learning to love who I am, and it's incredible.

3. You save so much money

I never really realized how much money I was spending on alcohol, until I stopped spending money on it. I remember racking up $40-$50 bar tabs (maybe even more) on the weekends and then $12-$24 on bottles of wine during the week. While I still have barely any money, I've saved quite a bit more than I was, because I'm not drinking anymore.

4. Your energy levels are higher

When you drink, you tend to get tired quicker, because the next day you're feeling run down and sick (at least that's how I'd feel). 30 days of no alcohol and no getting drunk has really helped my body and I have found that my energy level's are increasing.

5. Your skin becomes clearer

Believe it or not this is actually true. Alcohol tends to bloat us and make our faces look puffy, My face has cleared since I've chosen to stop drinking and looks better, because I'm not dehydrating my face.

6. Your judgement is better

As we all are aware, alcohol really impairs our judgement. By not drinking, I've noticed my mind is a lot clearer and I'm making better decisions in my life. It's nice to be at ease.

7. You can't avoid problems in life anymore

When I had to deal with all of life's issues, I pretty much drank myself into oblivion, so that I didn't have to deal with that specific problem right at this moment. Now looking back, I probably shouldn't have done that, it usually just made me overthink it and that made me more annoyed, which made me want to drink more. Now I'm forced to deal with life's issues with a sober mind, and at first it sucked, however dealing with the issues sober, are a lot better (even though the same conclusion is that people are really stupid) than trying to solve life's issues drunk.

8. Doing it for you is the best ever

When I gave up drinking, I didn't do it for anyone but for me. Which honestly gave me a huge boost in confidence. I realized that I can't do it for my friends or for my family, I can only do it for me and I honestly love the confidence boost.