August 26th, 2023 Mrs D's Blog
Can you believe that I don’t touch any alcohol ever? None! Not one single drop, ever.
Someone said to me recently that they used to shudder whenever they saw anything I’d written online because they couldn’t relate to the fact I never drank. It was just too foreign and freaky for them. And I get it. I used to think that as well, at the end of my drinking days when I was facing a life with no alcohol in it.
I’d look around and it seemed like the whole world drank. So to consider giving up was astoundingly frightening. “Who does that?” I’d ask myself. “Who doesn’t drink alcohol in this day and age? How can I live a full, fun life and never touch alcohol ever again?”
I’d look into my imaginary alcohol-free future life and shudder. No champagne to celebrate. No wine to wind down. No beer to cool off. No whiskey to warm up. How would I live if I can’t do all these things? What would my life be with no celebrating, relaxing, cooling off?
Because, of course, this is what I’d been conditioned to believe alcohol does. It enables us to live fully. I had this message drummed into me from a very young age. All of the messaging around me – from friends, family, advertisments, the general state of our alcohol-soaked environment – was very firmly in the camp of ‘alcohol is necessary to live a full, fun life’.
But hey, guess what? It’s not.
I now know, because I had to quit my nasty & destructive drinking habit, that all of these messages and beliefs are complete and utter bullshit. The truth is fully the opposite of what I used to believe. It IS possible to live a full, fun life and never touch alcohol ever. It is!
Dear person who is shuddering right now reading what I’m saying.. please believe it. I celebrate, commiserate, relax, cool down, bond with friends, grieve, treat myself, host others, do a million different things each and every day.. and I never touch a drop of alcohol. I don’t miss it, I don’t hanker for it, I don’t feel like I’m missing out, I don’t fear the future.
I just live and don’t drink. Simple. Yes it’s hard work at first making the transition but it is so, so worth it.
It’s possible, it’s doable, it’s rewarding, it’s fantastic. Trust me.
And if you don’t trust me, try it for yourself and see how it works out. You never know what you might discover.
Love, Mrs D xxx
This guest post comes from journalist Guyon Espiner who recently released a brilliant documentary about his relationship with alcohol, the drinking culture in New Zealand and the power of the liquor industry.
December 3, 2021
"I was sick and tired of being sick and tired, so something just clicked in me that I had a whole bunch of work to get on with and I had to do it for myself."
October 13, 2021
A restauranteur friend just emailed Mr D and said “I can get my hands on a stunning Central Otago pinot noir from a liquidation sale.
February 4, 2015