During isolation, recovering alcoholics have the opportunity to go unnoticed, reverting to old bad habits. Don’t let that be you. Follow the life-saving tips on this page to get through the pandemic sober, happy, and healthy. COVID-19 sure has put a spanner in the works for us alcoholics. Just when you think the recovery process is tracking well, along comes self-isolation, and along with it, the inability to connect with recovery fellowships. The hope of developing a vaccine in the short-term seems unlikely, and as the virus flares up in communities, we are likely to see continued lockdowns. Unfortunately, no one knows how long this will last. I’ve never been one for attending support groups, my preference is to create systems, focus on projects constantly, and keep very busy so that I never think about alcohol. It’s a solution that has worked well for me in recent years. But if [...]

This article looks at how to sleep without drinking alcohol. A common problem for those who've quit alcohol. Introduction Life without sleep is a miserable existence. It affects you in so many ways¹: difficulty concentrating, mood swings, memory issues, high blood pressure. In a nutshell, you feel awful and it makes daily life a chore. As a drunk, falling asleep can come easily. We fill our body with chemicals that allow our brain to shut off, causing us to crash until the morning. So when we decide to give up drinking, a common side affect is difficulty falling asleep or waking up frequently through the night. It's frustrating I know. We're trying to do the right thing for our body and it rewards us with insomnia! Watch a video to help you sleep 5 tips to help you sleep like a baby The good news is you can sleep a [...]

During my teen years I developed social anxiety. Being around people never came easy whether it was at a party with friends or at a family get-together. Throughout these awkward events, my goal was to simply get through the day without saying or doing anything stupid. One day alcohol entered my life and everything changed. All it took was one or two beers and all social anxiety disappeared. I became a more engaging, exciting, fun, confident guy. People genuinely seemed to like the intoxicated version of me more than the sober one. That didn't bother me. For the first time in years I felt free to be myself and actually enjoy being around people. The downhill slump Slowly over the years that all changed. The alcohol didn't work as well in social settings. Actually, it would sometimes make me paranoid and restless. Worse still, the next day after drinking was [...]

When an alcoholic makes the decision to quit drinking it's a big step. I'd argue it's the biggest and best move you'll ever make. Let's face it, an alcoholic has many reasons to quit drinking. For many, the withdrawals are a challenge and the initial months require huge amounts of courage and determination. Your body is craving a hit and it will introduce all kinds of distractions and ideas to make you take that drink. You slog it out and when it feels like you can't take it any more, the clouds part and life starts to improve. You may not have achieved the perfect life, but a lot of the bad stuff attached to drinking WILL go away. Getting to that stage is a hard trudge, like scaling a mountain with oversized concrete boots on. But once you're there it feels great. At this point, many find the temptation [...]

Dear Drinker, I hope this letter finds you well. It’s been almost two years since my last drink and we don’t spend as much time together as we used to. When we do meet, I could be wrong, but there seems to be a distance between us. Am I just imagining it? We were always such great friends in my drinking days. Perhaps one day we can learn to co-exist and maintain a friendship based on common interests rather than what we drink. I’m writing you this letter to try and clear a few things up. Maybe it will help answer a few of your questions? 1. I don’t judge you I drank for many years and, at one point, used to really enjoy it. It’s easy to see why people drink – it’s fun. So please understand that I’m not watching with contempt as you drink. I don’t judge [...]

When you're a problem drinker, you don't realise how many negatives there are to drinking. It's not until you actually stop that the penny drops. The truth is, every day I'm thankful that I was able to quit drinking. I could list over a hundred things I don't miss about drinking but here are some of my favourites. What I don't miss Never having any money Hangovers Embarrassing myself at family events Losing jackets out on the town Beer belly Anxiety Kidney pain Lack of motivation Never having any spare time Dodgy breath at work Sweating out beer at work Losing my wallet at bars Getting kicked out of bars Waking up and checking phone in fear Not being an active parent Making stupid drunk online purchases Sending dumb texts to the wrong people Really bad dancing at clubs Walking off on friends when out Nausea Sleeping all day on [...]