Sober October
With Sober Millennial, I only write about myself, my experiences and how that’s shaped me. It’s not a place for me to provide any advice or guidance. It’s a ‘this worked for me and this didn’t’. If my insight about me helps you, then great 💪🏽 If It makes you feel less alone then that’s beautiful and I’m glad 🫶🏽
It would be interesting to know whether Sober October has helped anyone reduce how much they drink long-term or made them reevaluate their relationship with alcohol. I couldn’t do it.
Once upon a four years ago (2019), I decided with all my well-intentioned might that I was indeed going to complete the quest of dry will that is Sober October. In the hazy morning darkness I thought, “I can do this. I can join the sober brigade”, and brag about drinking different tantalising, tongue-tingling teas in the evening instead of liquor. I even packed my gym gear for a post-work session. After enduring the Hammersmith and City line to Liverpool Street, power walking through people as miserable as I was that we didn’t live that upper echelon chauffeured life and squeezing my hot-flushed body onto the heavy loaded national rail, I walked straight past the gym, into Tesco’s and bought a bottle of rum.
Fuck this. I didn’t want to give up my source of relaxation after waking up for a day of tedious, mind-numbing work and pointless office politics. So alcohol stayed but cheese had to go. I tried being a vegan. It lasted three months. I was able to give up cheese, eggs, meat and a bunch of other things. But not alcohol. No ma’am.
Maybe Sober October is not for people like me. I can’t speak for other people tbf, but it definitely wasn’t for me. One month of abstinence followed by what? Back to my habitual heavy drinking? That feels counterintuitive. 2019 me didn’t have the words for it but I think that played a part. I didn’t have a strong enough ‘why’ to make Sober October work.
Giving up drinking without a support system in its place did not materialize in success for me. Maybe that’s too much thought and work for what Sober October is supposed to be. The Sober October charity advert emphasised feeling fresh and hangover free after a month of not drinking. Again, this was a pretty frivolous reason for me to put down the bottle.
Not trying to hate on Sober October btw. I see the appeal. A hub of like minded people, rallying together with a shared goal and for a great cause. In theory, it sounds like the environment I should thrive in since community is the opposite of addiction and humans typically reap benefits from socialising (yay sociology). It didn’t work for me but I’m one person. If it works for others, then that’s all that matters.