Aka 7 reasons why you want it in your life.

Listen Bar is everything you’d expect in a bar — open late, loud & rowdy, dimly lit, sassy bartenders you wanna be friends with. Except, of course, for the alcohol. The entire menu is alcohol-free, save for the barely-there alcohol in a kombucha or the drops of bitters in a mocktail.

It’s a bar for when you don’t feel like drinking.

Or, it will be. When it’s open.

It doesn’t matter if you’re not drinking for a night, a month, all-day-every-day or until last night’s hangover wears off. We don’t judge.

That’s in part because I’m not always a not-drinker either. But for the past five years, I’ve made taking a month off alcohol into a yearly tradition. It started as a dare. Surprising myself, I loved it. It inspired me to become what TIME recently dubbed a “mindful drinker.” I often don’t drink and enjoy it, I also drink when I feel like it, or I switch it up with every round.

So why do I think the world needs a booze-free bar? These seven reasons.

Drinking is default.

Whenever you choose to go out and skip drinking, even for one night, it’s kind of you-against-the-world. The bars want you to drink. The bartenders want you to drink. The other people there want you to drink.

You spend an unnecessary amount of time trying to make other people feel comfortable, guilt-tipping, and generally feeling like this place wasn’t meant for you. Because it wasn’t. With some great but rare exceptions, alcohol is the social and business base of nightlife, especially in New York, and everything around you is trying to push you into drinking by default.

It’s hard to even realize when you’re drinking by choice and when by habit if you never have a chance to step outside of the typical bar scene.

2. Build decision-muscles.

ME: “Just having two drinks tonight”

ME THE NEXT DAY: “What HAPPENED?”

Ok, less so lately, but I know that feeling. So think of it like working out. Working out with other people in a gym helps you get started and build a routine that you can practice at home, in a park, wherever. Similarly, being in a bar that isn’t trying to get you drunk helps you feel more confident at other bars, parties, etc., whether you’re choosing to drink or not.

It helps you build the muscle of making that choice confidently. Feeling comfortable either way — especially when you’re making a different choice than other people. It sounds weird but in my experience, not drinking makes you better at drinking! And at decision-making in general.

3. Do more of what you love.

Another friend was telling me that his crew of ambitious, start-up friends has been drinking less. He explained, “When I drink, I’m paying for it three times over — 1 the time I’m out drinking becomes a blur, 2 there’s the opportunity cost of not spending it doing something better, 3 the next day I waste half a day hungover or groggy instead of doing what I really want.”

Whatever it is you love to do besides drinking, chances are you’ll do more of it if you take breaks from drinking. Whether it’s a morning workout, cuddling your dog or working on your business, you’ll have more time, more energy and probably more cash to put into it.

4. Your body loves it.

You know that feeling when you wake up hungover, and you feel like your body hates you. Well, when you go out without drinking, your body loves you.

No hangover. Better balance for your mental health — especially if you deal with anxiety or depression. No empty calories. More endorphins from laughing and connecting with people. More energy the next day.

What’s not to love?

5. Boost your confidence.

I’ll let you in on a secret. One of my life mottos is, “If you’re not having a good enough time, dance harder.” Don’t like the music? Dance harder. Don’t know anybody? Dance harder. Worried you’re dancing too hard? Dance harder. And yes — feel like you need a drink? Dance. Harder.

Without fail, I realize that the ‘OMG I need a drink’ feeling is just my mind trying to escape the first moment of awkwardness.

But the awkwardness fades, faster than you’d think. Especially with practice. And for me, pushing through it gives me an actual buzz. I realize, hey, I can be this playful version of myself, drink or no drink.

It’s not automatic. But it’s there. And whatever your own “Dance Harder” is — it can be a bigger confidence boost than the drink you just skipped.

6. Find your people.

There’s a crazy high at Daybreaker parties, where everyone is flying their freak flag together at 7 in the morning, no alcohol, no anything in sight. It’s one of the first places in New York where I realized how many people are down to party differently. And that it can be seriously fun when those people find each other.

When we’re comfortable just being ourselves with people — or, even better, when we allow ourselves to be uncomfortable with them, we connect on a different level. Different sides of us come out. And we experience what it’s like to be as comfortable in these spaces, as we’ve gotten used to being everywhere else.

7. Plans, made.

FRIEND: “Let’s grab drinks.”

YOU: “I don’t really feel like drinking.”

FRIEND: “Uh… what can we possibly DO?”

Technically, there’s lots of things you can do (movies, dinner, concerts, shows, etc.) But it also kinda feels like this crazy, vibrant city has NOTHING for you.

A lot of your options require advanced planning or a longer time commitment (Dinner as a first date? You brave.) Or, they don’t really lend themselves to the shooting-the-sh*t vibes that make bars so great. Or, they’re just not open late.

You can go to any bar and order seltzer, or look for a bar with good alcohol-free drinks (they exist & that’s rad — more please!).

But why shouldn’t you have places where the not-drinkers’ experience is the star, not the side-dish?

That’s why I’m so excited to create a place where everyone is into the idea of not drinking, or at least down to try it. Where everything from the menu to the business model is on the same page. And where you can pop in without a plan, by yourself, with a friend, or a date.

Because personally, as far as good vibes go, I’ve found not drinking to be surprisingly underrated.

Once, I thought of it as restrictive, as denying myself something, and I instinctively bristled at that. Now that I’m comfortable with it, when I choose not to drink, it’s anything but a restriction: it’s giving myself permission to do something that feels really great.

How would that feel for you?

Let’s find out.

Want to be one of the first to go?

Find out when at www.listen.bar, Facebook or on Insta @listenbar.

PS. Where? When? HOW? Hopefully this post has got you excited and you have a bunch of questions. We’re still in the kitchen, tinkering and hatching and will announce more as it’s ready. If you’d like to contribute, join the team, invest, or simply offer suggestions, get at us.