The Real Cost of Your Drinking Isn’t Revealed Until Long After You Quit

My only regret about getting sober is that I didn’t do it twenty years sooner

In my first year sober I wasn't convinced my drinking was that bad. Five years later I have a very different perspective.

I never intended to quit drinking forever. Back in 2016, I just wanted a break. A year off alcohol seemed impossible, and so I knew it was a meaningful challenge. I used everything I could think of to make it stick.

AA, podcasts, sobriety memoirs, SMART, learning about addiction… I threw everything I could at my goal because it was the only way to achieve it. That was how hard staying sober was back then.

In that first year, I wasn’t convinced that my problem was that bad. After all, I hadn’t lost anything significant I told myself, so how could it be?

Five years on, I have a completely different perspective.

The fact is, after more than twenty years of drinking the way I did - an awful lot, and yet at the same time, not enough for anyone to tell me they were worried - I had already lost many, …