Are you sober curious?

It was about this time last year that I started researching giving up alcohol. Sat in my standard Sunday slumped position rotting on the sofa, the day after the night before, I sent my predictable message out to friends announcing that ‘I am never drinking again’ only for them to respond ‘Yeah, yeah, I have heard that before!’ The thing was, this time felt different, this time I felt like I meant it and that I really wanted to stop. I was bored of feeling like this, there had to be more to life.

I searched for ‘sober’ and ‘alcohol free’ on instagram and came across lots of shiny, smily profiles, people who were proclaimed party animals who had swapped alcohol for a life full of adventure and fun. They genuinely looked happy and I wanted me some of that. I was sick and tired of being sick and tired. They seemed to have super powers, being able to say no to booze, as it did not serve them any more and they were proud of who they were and where they’d come from.

Here are a few of their profiles >> Sober Story, Sober Evolution, Sobergirlsociety

Before and after photos showed complete transformations, some of the people were unrecognisable! I then seemed to be stalked across social media by a group called One Year No Beer (OYNB), clever re-marketing! The seed had been planted and all it took was a couple of drunken evenings in the run up to Christmas to get me to make that final choice to take on the challenge (I’ll write more about that in another blog). If you are thinking of taking a break, I really can not recommend OYNB enough. They have a closed Facebook group which I have turned to a couple of times for support. Every day my news feed is now filled with people at different stages of the alcohol free journey. Some people have not drunk for years and others keep falling off the wagon, resetting over and over again.

I also saw an article about famous celebrities who’d given up alcohol…some were overcoming addiction, others did it for the beauty benefits and a few just didn’t like the taste of it. Sober suited them, they looked great and were successful at their careers. It made me think, if they could give up surrounded by celebrity parties and temptation at every corner, then surely I could too? A few pics below of celebs who do not drink, full article can be read on Harpers Bazaar.

If you would like to try an evening of sober socialising, then I am hosting an event at Project 52 this Thursday. I can’t promise that any of the celebrities above will make an appearance, but there will be some great people there who have all really supported me over the last 11 months. The fantastic team at Love Wine have been working with Cris on creating the perfect alcohol free drinks list including ISH Sprit cocktails, brew dog beers and Noughty Alcohol Free Organic Sparkling Wine (news flash, it really does taste like prosecco!) Tickets are just £15 and include an ISH cocktail and food. It’s not too late to buy a ticket, the more the merrier, raising money for FOJO, so please do spread the word! Buy your ticket today >>

I look forward to seeing some of you there!