This is the question that haunted me when I first quit drinking. In fact, I posted with this same title back on day 13. (To read that post click here).
And the truth is that I didn't lose any friends, in that no-one called me up to say Good God, you are SO BORING that I never want to see you again. (I really had expected that to happen).
What has happened, though, is that there are some friends who contact me a lot less. Needless to say, generally the ones who can't contemplate the idea of a night out without getting totally hammered, and don't want a sober person there pouring rain on their parade.
I'm not angry about this. I get it. I would have done the same, back in the day. I would have justified this to myself as being 'because they're no fun any more', when actually I was just worried that it would shine a light on my own out of control drinking.
This slight negative is, however, totally drowned out by the positive, which is that I have made lots of new friends.
I hadn't made many new friends for years. It felt like too much effort. I was also somewhat aware that my old muckers would be more forgiving of any wayward antics than brand new, shiny friends.
But now I have a much wider social circle, including several women who hardly ever (or never) drink, the ones I would have written off in the past as being 'not my type.'
Then yesterday the lovely people at Go Sober for October sent me these fascinating statistics from a survey by Macmillan Cancer Support.
7 MILLION BRITS DITCH THEIR FRIENDS FOR DRINKING TOO MUCH
Apparently, 13% of adults (6.7 million people) have stopped going for a drink with at least one friend because they believe they drink too much.
And a Go Sober survey found that one quarter of UK adults avoid drinking with certain friends because of the way they behave after a tipple. 54% say their friend gets too aggressive, and 47% say they get too loud.
This is all driving a trend towards 'soberlising' - socialising without the booze - which is particularly popular amongst the young.
So, don't fret about losing your friends when you STOP drinking, worry about losing them if you CARRY ON!
And if you need some fabulous help and encouragement, then join my friends over at Go Sober for October.
(You'll also be raising money for Macmillan Cancer Support who were a huge help to me through the whole breast cancer thingy).
In other news, are any of you called Nigel? Apparently NOT ONE baby was named Nigel last year in the UK. This makes me sad, as my first ever snog was a Nigel. On a school trip, aged eleven. Just saying.
Love to you all,
SM (Clare)
