Managing your relationship with alcohol is a tricky one. Like anything, it’s about finding something that works for you, and realistically depends how problematic your drinking is to start with in terms of whether it’s worth going cold turkey.
My experience was that due to an extremely difficult and unrelenting period at work, I got into a bad habit of drinking at home, both regularly and heavily. It started over the festive period, enjoying a few extra drinks, and just never really stopped. For about 6 months after, I was getting through a couple of bottles of wine a night, every day of the week like clockwork.
I’ve always been a big drinker socially, but drinking at home had never been something I’d done. Clearly though, it’s an easy habit to fall into. It never really stood out as an issue at the time, given things were tough anyway. At the time, it was something to look forward to after each long day, and helped me to get to sleep by a decent time. I had bigger worries.
It was the effect on my health that ended up being the red flag to sort things out and break the habit. I’d gained just short of 4 stone in weight, and there were a few alarming warning signs that my body was struggling with the strain I was putting it under.
I was fortunate enough that at the point of deciding to change things, my work situation had resolved itself with a new role restoring a healthier work-life balance. There was nothing left to ‘cope with’, so dropping the habit almost entirely was surprisingly easy once I had a couple weeks in the bag. Personally, I still do have the odd drink socially still, which obviously isn’t right for everyone.
To me it sounds like you’ve got clear motivation for why you want to make a change. Deciding to be proactive and actually sort it out in a way that works for you can only be a positive move.
