Exhausted and bloated, I finally gave up alcohol before my 40th birthday. Only then did I realise what years of drinking had done to me...
Exhausted and bloated, I finally gave up alcohol before my 40th birthday. Only then did I realise what years of drinking had done to me...
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With a glass of champagne in hand and my favourite cocktail dress, I felt like the perfect hostess as I greeted guests arriving for the glitzy PR event I had organised. The air buzzed with conversation, punctuated by the chime of glasses and bursts of laughter. It was everything I thrived on - until it wasn't.
![[Red carpets, PR launches, endless soirées - my social life was a whirlwind, and I was always its life force: the fun, loud one. Six nights a week I was out, flitting from event to event, writes Lisa]](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2025/01/28/14/94576109-14315921-Red_carpets_PR_launches_endless_soir_es_my_social_life_was_a_whi-a-14_1738075769793.jpg)
Beneath the polished façade, I was quietly unravelling. The same glamorous lifestyle I adored had become the backdrop to my toxic romance with alcohol. Champagne flutes masked unhealed trauma; the endless swirl of parties numbed my restless mind. Red carpets, PR launches, endless soirées - my social life was a whirlwind, and I was always its life force: the fun, loud one. Six nights a week I was out, flitting from event to event. Home became just a pit stop to sleep.
![[Three months into sobriety, my son, now eight, said something that shattered me. 'Mum, I'm so much happier now you don't drink anymore because you're not as mean. Before, you didn't have any patience with me. Now, you have all the time in the world']](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2025/01/28/03/94576111-14315921-Three_months_into_sobriety_my_son_now_eight_said_something_that_-a-3_1738035080425.jpg)
I didn't need alcohol to get through the day - I wasn't an alcoholic - but I needed it to shine. Drinking felt woven into the fabric of who I was. Would I still be me if I stopped? Would I lose the spark that drew people in? Those thoughts kept me up at night.
By 2014, my drinking hit its peak: 50 drinks a week, sometimes more. Some nights, I would dart between two parties, knocking back four glasses of wine at each. Weekends? A blur of cocktails and catch-ups. I had no off switch. It wasn't until Christmas 2023, after a seven-week European getaway, that reality hit hard. I came home tired, bloated and 10kg (22lbs or 1.5st) heavier. I barely recognised myself. That's when I decided: no more booze. I couldn't live like this anymore.
