How the Reckless Party Lifestyle Might Hurt You as You Get Older

What is “the party lifestyle?” It doesn’t mean any one particular thing. For instance, it might mean you love going out dancing and clubbing. It could mean you like attending house parties in frat houses and on college campuses.

It may also mean you like doing drugs and drinking. Perhaps it means driving your car fast. Maybe it involves having multiple sexual partners and never becoming monogamous.

You might like this lifestyle for a while or even several years. At some point, though, it can hurt you more than you enjoy it. We’ll talk about how that happens right now.

Changing Your Driving Behaviors

If you enjoy the party lifestyle, you might buy a fast car if you can afford one. Maybe you like drag racing. You may make some after-market vehicle changes that make your car even faster.

If you don’t change your ways, you might hit another vehicle. You may strike a pedestrian in a crosswalk or up on the sidewalk if you lose control. You might hit a dog or a cyclist.

Misdemeanor hit-and-run can get you six months in jail. If you stay on the scene, that’s better, but the cops can still arrest you if they know you exceeded the speed limit. That’s reckless driving, and you can get huge fines, jail time, or a license suspension. A judge might take away your license permanently.

Driving recklessly sometimes matches the party lifestyle, but it can harm you very quickly. The more you do it, the more likely the cops will catch you.

Your Body Doesn’t Handle Drugs Well as You Get Older

If you start doing drugs, peer pressure might influence you. If everyone around you does them, it may seem normal before long. If you try them, you might like them, and you’ll continue for years.

Some people do drugs because they like the party lifestyle, while others might do them because they feel emotional pain. If someone’s parents split up or they endure emotional or physical abuse, they can use drugs for self-medication purposes.

Whatever the reason, you can wind up in jail if the police catch you with drugs. Even if the cops never catch you, if you do them as you get older, your body can’t handle that so well anymore.

You’ll feel the wear and tear they put on your body, and you must stop to no longer feel that way. Your body may tell you at some point that you’ve reached your limit.

You Can’t Handle Alcohol as Well Either

You may also drink excessively. If you start drinking in high school or college, that might seem normal and desirable. You may drink several beers, cocktails, or shots every night.

This behavior constitutes alcoholism, but you may never acknowledge that. Like drug use, you might drink because you have the “partying” excuse, but you may also have emotional or psychological issues you’re burying.

As you age, your body usually tells you that you must cut back, just like with drugs. You might also hit someone or another vehicle while driving drunk and have a wake-up call. These incidents can land you in serious trouble, but they can help you turn your life around sometimes.

Having Multiple Sexual Partners Can Get Tiresome

Maybe you have multiple sexual partners during your party days. You might like this lifestyle. You have no emotional commitments this way. 

If you don’t have a deep emotional connection with someone, and you just have a physical relationship, that shields your emotions. That’s why many people do it.

You might do this for years, but eventually, it might tire you. You may feel that you want a deeper and more meaningful relationship. You may also want children, and you can’t or shouldn’t have them without taking responsibility and acting the way a parent should.

You can also contract STDs if you have multiple partners. Maybe you practice safe sex, but the more partners you have, the more you risk disease.

All these factors go into the party lifestyle, and you may embrace it for quite some time. Your mentality might change eventually, though, and you’ll have different priorities. You might cut back or eliminate certain activities, and you may look at life differently.

Not partying as much often means you’re maturing. If you party forever, that sometimes means you’re emotionally stunted. These behaviors may have an appropriate time, but you likely can’t continue them forever.