Moderation Is a Super Power

What if the reason moderate drinkers seem to live longer than both heavy drinkers and teetotalers has nothing to do with alcohol itself, and is actually because the ability to moderate yourself in anything correlates with all sorts of positive behaviours?

It doesn’t seem far-fetched that someone who is capable of drinking moderately might be more likely to eat healthily, exercise regularly, handle their stress, maintain relationships and so on. It’s a cluster of positive habits that all relate to core skills of self moderation, being thoughtful and being able to apply a bit of directed effort.

Presumably it would be quite difficult to control for such wide-reaching positive habits in order to isolate the apparent effect of alcohol itself. I haven’t actually checked up on relevant studies in any detail, so this is just a spurious hypothesis.

If this is not actually borne out by research data, it is at least an interesting metaphor to think about. There’s probably a distribution that’s weighted to the lower end of ability to self moderate. In other words, most people are not particularly capable of moderating their behaviour. In an environment like, being good at moderation is a bit of a low-key super power.

This has implications for personal finance. Achieving financial independence is not just about saving up enough funds to no longer need to find paid employment. That’s not even the main part of it. The more important theme in financial independence is building a set of positive habits and a perspective on life that lets you experience independence.