I don’t drink alcohol. I used to, but I gave it up just before the UK COVID lockdowns in the Spring of 2020. It sounds like terrible timing but the way my mental health spiralled at that time it probably saved me a lot of trouble, if not my life.
I gave up because I started to react to it. I’d get almost instant headaches and feel tired and odd after even just one drink. Drinking often triggered migraines which was not a lot of fun on top of hangovers. Losing a whole day of a weekend visit with friends due to one of these alcohol-triggered migraines made me realise it was time to take action. I didn’t give up completely at this point, but it was the start.
Looking at my drinking habits I began to realise that I would happily weather the negative reactions to alcohol if I used it to blot out a sh*tty day. When I did this I drank alone in my room with dimmed lights and some form of comfort TV. This was not a good thing. This revelation made me realise it was time to stop completely before it got worse and out of control. So I stopped.
Since then I’ve been seeking alternatives as there’s nothing nicer, on the rare sunny days we get, than sitting in the garden with a cold lager. I discovered that I couldn’t drink anything that wasn’t 0.0% alcohol content. There are lots of beers claiming to be non-alcoholic that are above that and they cause the same problem as proper beers.
So far I have discovered that I enjoy the Smashed Drynks range, Guiness 0.0 and Peroni 0.0, and that I don’t like Becks Blue or Heineken 0.0. I am now in search of nice AF cocktails.
The hardest part of this is getting some people to understand my choices. My close friends and immediate family are great. I can socialise with my best friends without drinking and I have a brilliant time. Other people of my acquaintance almost seem to take my tea totalism as a personal attack on their drinking habits, I honestly have no opinion on them. Even more difficult to take was the individual who actually stated to my face that I was better/nicer when I was drinking. I still can’t get over the audacity of that nasty comment. (They aren’t a nice person anyway, definitely not someone I would describe as an acquaintance let alone a friend)
That aside, I’m much, much happier now and know I made the right decision four years ago.
