Last year on my 49th birthday, aside from deciding on challenges such as the C2C, I decided that I would also try to stop drinking alcohol for the year.
There were lots of firsts in giving up alcohol; the first Friday night, the first time going to the races, after a bad day at work, a summer holiday, and Christmas. I would have alcohol-free bubbles in a flute glass, soda water in balloon gin glasses, and be the driver for everything and everyone. In the early days, it was that I wasn’t going to drink, after about 200 days I didn’t want to.
Surprisingly, (but now not surprisingly), it turns out that there is A LOT of peer pressure when you stop drinking. Some people aren’t keen on you giving up. I actually don’t mind being around people who have had a drink – it’s quite funny, and when it stops being funny, I go home.
As of today, 366 days after giving up, I don’t want a drink. I’m not going to say never again – I like the taste of Harvey’s Bristol Cream too much to say that (but if they did bring out an alcohol-free version I would be their chief tester!) but today, I’m not having a drink.
