Walking Away From Booze

Sometimes the simplest things are the best.

I find that walking is an invaluable sober tool. For a whole host of reasons. Here are five of them:

1. It has no booze associations

However much of a hardened drinker you are/were it is unlikely that you used to go for a walk with a glass of Chardonnay in hand.

(In my case, walking was one of the few occasions when I wouldn't have a glass of wine nearby).

That's why it's a perfect activity around wine o'clock, when you really, really want a drink. Just go. Walk out the door. (I'm channelling my inner Gloria Gaynor here).

Get away from the fridge, the wine rack, the irritations of home and walk. Walk until you feel better.

(N.B. Remember to plan a route that does not go past your favourite pub or bottle shop).

2.  It's a natural drug.

We enthusiastic imbibers rather like our drugs, our highs. And walking is a natural high. It releases serotonin which boosts your mood.

Numerous studies have shown that walking helps reduce depression, anxiety and can even ward off Alzheimer's.

3. It can be social

I avoided parties for a while. But I'm a sociable person. I wouldn't want an alcohol free life that turned me into a hermit.

So, even in the days when I avoided going out too much in the evenings, I would arrange to meet friends during the day for a dog walk.

I'd spend an hour of the day drinking coffee, catching up with an old friend and getting myself, and the dog, fit. That's multitasking ;-)

4. It blitzes the belly

One of the best consolation prizes for ditching the booze is losing weight, especially the dreaded wine belly (see my post: Wine Bellies Can Kill).

Walking not only burns calories and builds muscle, but it can improve your body's response to insulin which leads to reduced belly fat.

5. It reduces your risk of chronic disease

Again, there are a huge number of studies showing that walking can be a wonder drug.

It lowers your blood sugar and, therefore, your risk of diabetes, it lowers blood pressure and your risk of heart disease and stroke, and it reduces your risk of cancer - especially breast and colon cancer.

When I first had the cancer diagnosis (eight months after I quit drinking. To read my story, click here), and I knew that easiest and quickest way to blot it all out, to silence all the thoughts of death and motherless children, would be to pour a large glass of wine (and then drink the whole bottle), walking saved me.

I would take the dog out to the nearest park and then howl. Literally.

(I once bumped into a school gate Mum while doing this. It was what the children would describe as #awks).

Walking calmed my thoughts. It made me feel happier - or at least less desperate. And, crucially, it got me away from the vino.

But tonight I may just be overdoing it on the walking front.

#1 and I are doing the Moonwalk (she's only just old enough, so will be one of the youngest there).

It's a twenty six mile walk through the centre of London with thousands of other women (and some men) all decked out in decorated bras (even the men), in aid of breast cancer charities.

We've raised nearly £2,500 between us, so we've got to make it through to the end!

We set off at 10pm, and should finish at around 7am. I haven't been up all night for a very long time, and certainly not because I was walking. Wish us luck!

I'm not going to post my Moonwalk fundraising page because I'm still a little twitchy about my own anonymity, and a lot twitchy about my daughter's

However if you would like to support us, and help other women dealing with breast cancer, then please please visit my Justgiving page in support of the Haven Breast Cancer Support Centre.

Here's the link: www.justgiving.com/sober-mummy

THANK YOU!

Love SM x

Karmic Circle of Love

Thank you, thank you to all of you who so kindly donated your hard earned cash to The Haven and joined my karmic circle of love. As of this morning, the total stands at just over £1000.

That's awesome.

I was reminded again that ex drinkers are some of the best, kindest and most extraordinary human beings.

(See my post: Why ex-drinkers rock and Why ex-drinkers rock, part 2)

The Haven are a small charity, so that sort of cash makes a real difference. £1000 will fund two years supply of acupuncture needles, or twenty hours of counselling sessions for women who have just been diagnosed with breast cancer.

If you haven't donated yet, or if you're coming across this page months into the future, then do not worry: I am going to leave the page open, so anyone who feels the need to give back, or pay it forward, or whatever, can do so at any time.

(Just Giving pass your donations directly onto The Haven, they don't just sit in a holding account).

They, and I, and The Universe will be phenomenally grateful. Here's the link again: www.justgiving.com/sober-mummy

So, yesterday evening, I was feeling all hyped and fuzzy from seeing the total on my JustGiving page going up and up, and I checked my e-mail.

There was an e-mail from someone called Jeremy. He told me that he's been battling addiction since he was thirteen, (not sure how old he is now!), and had written a song which he thought I might like to hear, and possibly share.

To be honest, I was going to ignore it, but will all the karmic love circle stuff going on that felt a bit mean, so I clicked on his link - more with a sense of duty than anticipation. More fool me, because it's just lovely.

The song is just Jeremy and his guitar.

I was immediately transported back to my backpacking days. Remember when you'd end up in some far flung corner of the world, with a bunch of fellow travellers you'd never met before, but with whom you shared a sense of adventure and a yearning for a hot bath and a washing machine?

You'd all sit around a camp fire, exchanging tales of bus journeys from hell, and spiritual awakenings. Then someone would pull out a battered guitar, start to strum, and you'd think why oh why did I waste all those years learning the bloody oboe?

But Jeremy's isn't the voice of the young, naïve gap year student - it's the voice of someone who's been over that Obstacle course a number of times, and lived to tell the tale (see my post: The Obstacle Course).

Have a listen here to his song called Help Someone, and see what you think.

Happy sober Sunday to you all!

SM x