9 things I've learnt since stopping drinking

Just over 3 months ago I stopped drinking.

I woke up on June 3 and I suddenly realised that if I wanted to be happy and healthy moving forwards I had to stop drinking.

Alcohol wasn’t bringing me real happiness. In fact, the impact it was having across various areas of my life was making me very sad.

I’d been drinking a couple of glasses of wine most nights for a few years, drinking more if I was at a social gathering or at a work event. Like many people, the amount I drank had gradually increased in the past decade, and had increased more during COVID and various lock downs.

I believed I needed a glass of wine in the evening to switch off and de-stress. It was the one thing that I thought would help me relax at the end of a busy day. ?

Here are 9 things I’ve discovered since I stopped. . .

1.??????JOY

Stopping drinking brought an immediate sensation of freedom and joy. That’s stayed with me since the first morning I stopped, as I listened to audiobook of Annie Grace's This Naked Mind and it suddenly dawned on me how we’ve all been conditioned across our lives to believe that we need alcohol to be happy. We don’t.

2.??????BOOKS

There are so many extraordinary books and resources out there to help and inspire from the excellent William Porter’s Alcohol Explained and Alan Carr’s Easy Way to Control Alcohol to powerful memoirs such as Holly Whitaker's Quit Like a Woman or Augusten Burrough's Dry.

Reading and listening to audio books about other people's experiences made it relatively easy to totally stop. It’s been much easier than I could ever have imagined.

I just needed to understand and overcome the powerful way in which our sub-conscious minds drive our behaviour and appreciate how we've all grown up associating alcohol with positive feelings and happy occasions.

3.??????WEIGHT

I’ve lost almost 3 stone (40lbs / 20kg). Not drinking has transformed my appetite throughout the day without the blood sugar highs and lows that caused craving for sugars and starches. Any middle-aged women knows, this gets worse during menopause. It’s not just about bodyweight though, my skin feels better, my eyes are brighter, my wine belly is finally disappearing and I’ve dropped 3 dress sizes. ?

4.??????MENTAL HEALTH

Stopping drinking won’t mean that crap doesn’t happen in life – after all, that’s just life. But I’m much calmer and feel more able to deal with things now that my body is not reacting to the alcohol from the day before. I feel less stress, I’m more confident in myself, much happier and more hopeful.

5.??????PRODUCTIVITY

I’m more productive, especially in the evenings. ‘Relaxing’ with a glass or two of wine left me lazy and bored. Alcohol is a numbing depressant after all.

6.??????SLEEP

Sleep’s never really been a big issue for me, but I’m definitely sleeping better that I have for years. I no longer wake at 3am and feel fresh and alert when the alarm goes off.

It's been fascinating to learn about how alcohol (even one drink) impacts the quality of sleep and how that then in turn affects everything the following day from how we deal with stress, and process food to the impact of physical training and our ability to recall facts.

7.??????OTHER PEOPLE

I thought that people would be more negative about my decision than they have been. After all, alcohol is the only drug where people think there’s something wrong with you when you don’t take it. Most friends and family have been really supportive and encouraging.

8.??????IT’S EVERYWHERE

It’s only now I’ve stopped drinking I see that it truly is EVERYWHERE in our society. It’s somehow the norm that for every social occasion – be it happy or sad – you need alcohol to make it complete. It turns out you don’t.

(The UK government makes ￡12.1 Billion in alcohol taxes each year so you can understand why it’s important that we keep believing that we do need it in our lives.)

9.??????NOT EVANGELISING

This has been the hardest part. Not shouting from the rooftops how good it feels not be drinking for fear of offending others or causing resentment.

It's taken me a long time to pluck up the courage to even post this and share my experience.

I know that when I was drinking each night I definitely didn't want to hear about the health risks associated with alcohol consumption - from cancer and heart disease to dementia and depression, or the impact alcohol has across society from drunk driving and violent crime through to domestic violence and child abuse.

I do feel that alcohol is the ‘elephant in the room’ of society right now, and that like tobacco, we’ll look back in a few decades and wonder how it was acceptable – in fact obligatory – that we consume it throughout our lives.

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If you’re happy with your relationship with alcohol that’s all good and I wish you well, but I do hope that sharing what I’ve experienced in the past few months might help anyone who's contemplating stopping drinking.

You won't regret it.

And I'm always happy to chat and share what's worked for me.