The Unexpected Joy of Being Sober: Discovering a happy, healthy, wealthy alcohol-free life

by Catherine Gray

‘Drinking steals happiness from tomorrow’

I finally got to a headspace whereby I realized that I deserved not to drink. I deserved not to have a life of 3am nausea and unreliability and zero money and bloodshot eyes. I deserved better.

I tell them that I felt like everyone was staring at me, like I was the epicentre of anti-fun. They remind me that I’m only the centre of my own night; not everyone else’s.

when you can enjoy parties sober, when you can leap around a dancefloor without sambuca in your system, you’ll feel the most unbelievable buzz. Because it’s genuine confidence, a genuine desire to dance, a genuine belly laugh at a joke, and a genuinely good time. Without the nightmarish hangover afterwards.

I wake up safe, happy and with a full memory of what I’ve done, where I’ve been and who I’ve seen. It never, ever gets old. I burrow deep into the duvet and smile.

When you have anxiety, your brain says “alcohol is the solution to that”, because it has worked in the past. With many years of repetition, that sticks, so that the brain then automatically suggests it. Your brain is merely trying to solve your problem.’

Alcohol is the only drug where, the second you stop taking it, you’re seen as being too weak to handle it. It’s truly bizarre.