DRINKS KITCHEN

I was a teenager in the 80s, and had been drinking alcohol since I can remember. From a strong shandy with the family as a young teen to being the tall one of my group of friends who could get served in the ‘offy! From there on I joined the forces and then became a police officer. Both lines of work with (at the time) a strong drinking culture, which I got stuck into with relish.

I retired from the police at 50, and this is where things changed. The devil makes work for idle hands, and saw me coming. I love cooking and would have a wee dram whilst preparing the evening meal, and some nice wine to go with it. A wee dram turned into a couple of wee drams, and before I knew it I was counting down the clock to 5pm when I could think it was acceptable to open the bottle which lasted no more than 2 days before another trip to Tesco to stock-up. Then, as covid hit, I had more of an excuse to stay in and get acquainted with a fresh new bottle of whisky that I had selected, kidding myself I was a connoisseur and not, definitely not an alcoholic. By the end I was buying any old rubbish to get the alcohol hit.

People talk about hitting rock bottom before you realise a change is needed. I had a few, but the big one was how my drinking was affecting not just me but those around me. I was a mess, sometimes a sleepy mess and sometimes a grumpy, argumentative horrible creature feeling sorry for itself. My skin was blotchy, I retched in the mornings and my mental health was nosediving.

After some false starts, on 3rd January 2024 I made the change and stopped completely. The first few weeks were hard but I started to notice a difference in a few days. Encouraged, and with the support of my wife, I ploughed on. I downloaded a free app that counts your days, hours, minutes, etc and that gave me some comfort in how I was progressing. The weeks turned into months and suddenly becoming the ‘new normal’; I was creating new neurological pathways and erasing the old broken ones.

One of the difficult parts, once you are through the initial withdrawal, is having something special to drink. Thankfully, gone are the days of orange juice or coke or, heaven forbid, Barbican! Now I found amazing non-alcoholic drinks which made me feel like an adult. I met a mate at a pub and sat drinking some 0% craft beer. It even gave me a good feeling, kidding my brain that this was your actual proper beer. So, it could change my mood a little, but not like having alcohol did. That feeling that the day or week from hell can be forgotten by a large G&T or glass of scotch on a Friday. I missed that. But it is easier now, so much easier to appreciate the benefits of not drinking. As someone said, no one wakes up regretting not having drank the night before!