I totally agree, also liquor hits different, when you are younger 4 hours of sleep and you are good, now if I have 3 drinks I'm out for the whole day the next day.
I was just thinking all the time and energy I spend chasing tail, if I woulda used that energy starting a business I would be a millionaire already, you live and you learn
I personally never drank at all as a teen and in my twenties. Hell, I had never even been to a club until I was like 25, which I didn't really like at all. In my late 20s I had a mini stretch where I was hitting up bars and clubs just to talk to women, a lot of times I did this on my own but I also had a couple guys I had gone with. I would never drink alcohol when I was there, it was mostly just to interact with women. I found the experiences interesting, but I ultimately got nothing from it, in fact I found a lot of the women were just flat out unenjoyable to talk to. I also remember seeing many women there that would have all of their attention on their phone lol. I always found this incredibly odd, like why are they even there if all they are going to do is just be texting someone all night lol. This was all before the pandemic, so it's been a very long time.
I think your life should have a variety of experiences but it's also important to recognize what brings value or what detracts it. Many things that people engage in are full blown pointless distractions or even downright detrimental. Clubs and bars are one of these things, some other examples would be excessive video game playing, spending hours watching sports, gambling, etc. I like to play poker and had a stretch in 2022 where I was playing way too much to where it was taking away from other things in my life. I still play a little here and there, but it's significantly less than back then. I might play once a week for a few hours for a couple weeks but then not go back for another couple months. I'm finding I'm playing less and less often and slowly losing interest, and that's even when I make money lol.
Healthy or beneficial pursuits involve things like going to the gym, going hiking or any other type of physical activity that keeps you in shape. Reading and learning new skills or about new topics or ideas are very beneficial. While I personally overlook this, I think it's important to develop healthy friendships and associate with good people. I have a lot of people that I talk to that I'm friendly with but I don't really spend time with them outside of the environments they are from (gym, work, etc.).
Going back to clubs and bars, I just don't really see much benefit of it other than distracting yourself from your life troubles and living in the moment. There's nothing wrong with this, but it doesn't bring value to your life, it's this type of mindset that I think what leads to issues with drugs, alcohol, gambling, etc. I'd also add that many of the people you are going to meet in these places are not those you want around, basically just more bad influences.