Why I gave up alcohol

I’ve never been a big drinker but have always lived with people who like to drink on a regular basis. Alcohol was always around the house so I’d have a drink or two, usually a glass of wine or an imported beer every night. It became a habit and one I didn’t think much of because my parents drank, my boyfriend drank and everyone around me seemed to drink daily. When the weekends came I drank a little more, with anywhere between two drinks or five on my biggest nights out.

When my relationship ended I moved in with my parents briefly and the drinking stopped. I was quite sick emotionally at the time so couldn’t stomach food let alone alcohol. Shortly after I moved into my own place and made a conscious decision not to keep alcohol in the house. I was surprised at how easy it was to kick the habit, I didn’t miss my daily drink at all, not even a little bit. Moving into my new place also coincided with making a couple of new friends who by choice didn’t drink alcohol at all. I liked going to dinner and hanging out with them and not having to visit a bottle shop or check the venue was licensed. I also liked their energy and enthusiasm. By now I was only having around one drink a week when I visited my parents or went to a pub or club.

The problem with having only one drink a week is it goes straight to your head. I guess this is why I was never a really big drinker, I don’t like the feeling of being tipsy too much, I don’t feel like I’m in control. To make matters worse, the more I drink the flirtier I get which is always really embarrassing the day after. So I started getting hesitant with this one drink a week. I’d drink really slowly and wasn’t enjoying it a lot which seemed completely pointless.

I then started to consider giving up alcohol completely. Strangely, the actual thought of making it official was a scary one. Could I really give up alcohol completely? I was barely drinking at all by now and not really enjoying it so it’s interesting how the actual thought of giving it up completely was more difficult than the action.

When I stopped drinking regularly I missed it only a couple of times. And that was on a warm Friday afternoon spending time with friends who were drinking beer. Now four months down the track I don’t miss it at all, it actually doesn’t even cross my mind. I’m so surprised at how quick and easy it was to kick the habit. Much easier than sugar anyway

Not drinking at all has giving me a lot more energy, clarity and a feeling of general health. It also means my sugar and fat intake has been greatly reduced. I’m all for having a glass of red wine every day for health (I think it’s all those antioxidants in the grapes and a reducing stress thing right?) but for me I feel a lot better without it. I found one glass of wine a day led to five on the weekend which is a habit I’m glad I’ve kicked.

Frances Kerr