SIX TIPS FOR THE SOBER- CURIOUS

LUCY Rocca, founder of online community soberistas.com and author of The Sober Revolution and The A-Z Of Binning The Booze, gives her tips for avoiding alcohol…

1 GET A HOBBY

Boredom is a major reason people drink. Get yourself a hobby: for me, it’s running, going to the gym, watching films/box sets, walking my dogs, travelling, surfing, meditation and writing. When I drank, I wasted about 30 hours a week sipping wine and doing little else – that’s a lot of time to fill!

2 READ SOME ‘ QUIT- LIT ’

In fact, read as much as you can. It helps. We live in a very alcogenic society, and we are brainwashed into thinking alcohol is essential for having fun, being happy, sophisticated and sexy. I would recommend How To Kick The Drink… Easily! by Jason Vale.

3 FIND SOBER FRIENDS

Sign up to a community of people who are also kicking the booze. There’s nothing helpful about trying to do this by yourself: enlist support from those who know exactly how you feel and will offer you brilliant advice that really works.

4 KEEP A JOURNAL

This not only serves as a way of recording how you felt in the early stages of sober living, it also acts in a cathartic way, helping you to organise your thoughts and discover what you want for you and your loved ones in the future. I wrote a blog when I first quit drinking: it helped enormously.

5 MEDITATE EVERY DAY

When you meditate, you learn to let unwanted thoughts pass through your mind, so it’s very helpful for coping with the triggers we all experience when trying to break a long-standing habit. Headspace is an excellent app.

6 BE NICE TO YOURSELF

We spend too much time berating ourselves for being fat or not pretty enough or not fun enough, and when you live with that negative chatter inside your head it’s not surprising you’ll want to drink to shut it up. I had to put a lot of effort into being nice to myself initially, but as my selfesteem has increased over the years I’ve spent alcohol-free, I’ve noticed I just don’t want to drink.