Published on: 4 March 2025
To many of my adult friends, the fact I didn’t start drinking until I was 25 comes as somewhat of a surprise. The most common reaction is, yeah right… followed by shocked laughter.
Because I’m the one who is always happy to crack open a bottle of chilled white (it’s five o’clock somewhere, right?), celebrate even the most minor achievement with a glass of fizz (you got through another day of parenting – hooray!) and can nearly always be persuaded to move onto a second bottle.
But it is, in fact, true that I didn’t really drink until I was 25. I went through three years at university pretty much sober. I drank one pint of cider and black (classy) at a Student Union promotion night and it took me a good couple of hours.
Working as a trainee reporter in the 90s, the pub culture was still very strong and once the paper was finished, or ‘put to bed’, on a Tuesday lunchtime, the rest of the day was spent in the local where colleagues would buy me two glasses of white wine and lemonade just to watch me fall over on the way to the loo.
Oh, how times have changed. And I knew deep down that I was drinking way over the recommended 14 units a week, however much I tried to fool myself otherwise.
I’ve done Dry January a couple of times, the last time being around 10 years ago, and raised quite a bit of money for charity in doing it. Certainly, knowing that people were giving their hard-earned cash to a good cause helped to spur me on and keep the willpower going.
But times are hard and I don’t want to ask people to give money right now. That, added to the knowledge that I had a couple of social events in January where I knew I would like a couple of glasses of wine, meant it wasn’t going to work for me this time.
So when I heard about the 30 Days Dry challenge run by Derby Drinkwise, an NHS-led service, it piqued my interest.
Unlike Dry January, you can start 30 Days Dry at any time, fitting it around your life. You want to start on a random Wednesday? Go for it. Wake up Saturday morning feeling a bit worse for wear and make the decision to stop there and then? This is for you.
I signed up via email and my first contact was with specialist nurse Tracey, who chatted me through why I want to give the challenge a go (I know I drink too much) and how the team could support me. A motivational email will be sent to me every day, I’ll have another check-in about halfway through, and a final check-in at the end of the month.
Week 1
Here we go then. I’ve got a meeting in a pub this week and I’m apprehensive. Normally as a group, we would buy a bottle of wine between us and share it while we talk through issues on the agenda. But this time I’m going to stay away from the wine and choose something else. The bartender recommends a non-alcoholic fruit cider, which is pleasant to drink but doesn’t quite hit the mark. Still, I manage to stay away from the wine.
My emails from Tracey this week include one that lists some of the symptoms I may have as my body gets used to living without alcohol. They include a headache, anxiety or irritability, insomnia, excessive sweating and an upset stomach. That makes me think; if that’s what stopping will do to me, what is the alcohol doing to me in the first place?
When it comes to Friday night, I know this is going to be a danger zone because it’s the end of the working week and I’m used to kicking back with a glass of wine. I buy a bottle of non-alcoholic sauvignon blanc instead but, as soon as I raise the glass to my lips, it smells horrible and doesn’t taste much better. I tip it down the sink. My partner tells me that non-alcoholic lager is almost indistinguishable from the real thing these days – it’s a shame wine seems to be so far behind! However, I resolve to keep shopping around.
Week 2
I’d read that giving up wine can result in massive sugar cravings because you don’t realise how much sugar you consume in every glass, but I’ve never experienced it before. Until now. I become an absolute cupboard monster, literally hoovering up biscuits and chocolate, to the surprise of my 12-year-old son who is unused to fighting me for the sweet stuff. I’m usually a cheese and crisps girl – this week I’m all about the biscuits.
One of the other bonuses of giving up the booze – a bit of weight loss – isn’t going to happen if I’ve got my face in the biscuit tin, is it?!
One of my emails points out some of the more positive aspects of giving up alcohol, from a stronger immune system to more energy and a better memory, which helps me to refocus on why I’m doing the challenge in the first place.
At the end of the week, I speak to Tracey again and we discuss my sugar cravings. She doesn’t patronise me and tell me to go for a piece of fruit rather than a biscuit; instead, she empathises and reassures me it will pass.
Week 3
The sugar cravings are gone! I’m back to my usual food choices and the biscuit tin is safe again. I’ve also managed to find a non-alcoholic wine that is quite palatable, and when I do my online shop, I pop a bottle of that in the basket rather than my usual Pinot. Served in a wine glass with a raspberry, it still feels like a weekend treat yet without the alcohol.
Reading my emails this week, one covers the topic of binge drinking. Binge drinking can be defined as drinking lots of alcohol in a short space of time and is classed as six units in a single session for a woman.
Six units. That’s two large glasses of wine.
I park my stereotypical view of drunken women staggering out of bars and falling over the kerb on the way out and try not to think about how often I’d have had two large glasses of wine in the evening – it’s a scary thought. There I was, thinking I was just an ordinary “mum drinker”, having a glass or two of an evening, but instead I discover I’m a binge drinker. Or I was…
I’m now drinking more water and I’m also sleeping much better. I’ve always struggled with insomnia, and hate to admit to Tracey that yes, she’s right – again! Alcohol can disrupt sleep cycles, particularly REM sleep, and I’m definitely seeing a difference.
Week 4
I’ve made it. 30 Days Dry – but I very nearly didn’t.
After a really tough day this week, I call my partner on his way home to ask him to pick up a bottle of non-alcoholic plonk. He visits two supermarkets but there’s not a drop to be found, despite there being rows and rows of alcoholic choices. If this were still January, you wouldn’t be able to move for non-alcoholic choices but it’s not, and I very nearly succumb when he offers to bring back a bottle of Viognier instead.
I can see my skin is clearer, I’m sleeping better and my jeans are looser. All the things Tracey promised have come true. We have a final catch up where we bemoan the lack of choice for non-drinkers. As she says, it doesn’t help people trying to cut back if the alternatives are hard to find.
And if you still have to pay upwards of six quid for a bottle of non-alcoholic wine or £15 for 0% gin, where’s the incentive?
So where do I go from here? In the last month I’ve identified that my drinking was very much a habit – I like having something while I’m relaxing in the evenings, so I’ve had to find alternatives. But I do like a glass of wine and it’s not something I want to give up entirely.
Going “dry” for a month has definitely given me a bit of a restart so that I’ll only drink at weekends from here on, and keep an eye on how many glasses I’m getting through.
But the best bit? I set a personal best at Parkrun on Saturday. That’s got to be worth cutting back for!
30 Days Dry is a free initiative run by Drinkwise Derby, part of Derby Drug and Alcohol Recovery Service, which is commissioned by Derby City Council and run by Derbyshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, Phoenix Futures and Intuitive Thinking Skills. You can find out more about it at https://drinkwisederby.org.uk/30-days-dry
