Reasons to Quit Drinking #2: Because it's Fashionable

Yes, really.

One of the reasons we're so terrified about quitting drinking is because we have this picture in our heads of the 'sober person.'

'Sober person,' we think, is a sad case loser with no friends and no sense of adventure.

We do not want to be 'sober person', and we're scared that our friends will not want to hang out with 'sober person' either.

Our life is DOOMED.

For as long as we can remember we have equated booze with FUN, with being the life and soul of the party, with being reckless, daring adventurers. Without it we will be less.

It is very hard to quit drinking when you still have that image of 'sober person' in your head, because you will always feel like you are missing out. You need to replace that image with the truth.

And the truth is that 'sober person' is seriously fashionable. Hot, even.

Amongst the middle aged it's still relatively rare to find teetotallers - hence our concern. And, being drinkers ourselves, we have spent years surrounding ourselves with like minded people. We assume that everyone drinks.

But 20% of the UK adult population are teetotal. And the number of under 25's opting to not drink has risen by 40% in the last eight years.

Now, one in four adults under 25 do not drink. Ever. (In London it's one in three).

We, my friends, are down with the yoof. We are surfing that super cool zeitgeist. We are so far ahead of the curve that we can barely see it in the rear view mirror.

The young have a huge number of sober icons blazing the trail for them: Blake Lively, Bradley Cooper, Jessie J, Tyra Banks, Daniel Radcliffe, Russell Brand and Leona Lewis, to name just a few.

Robert Downey Junior doesn't drink. Do you think anyone tells Iron Man that he's uncool because he doesn't get drunk? Hell no!

And of my generation, two of the Sex in the City lasses are sober: Kristin Davis and Kim Cattrall, as well as one of the Friends - Matthew Perry.

Amongst the seriously ambitious style leaders, staying sober is seen as necessary if you want to get ahead. Katie Perry says "You have to bust your ass off at (what I do), which is why you don't find me getting shitfaced in bars."

For the young, teetotal is becoming seen as a totally valid, seriously cool, lifestyle choice - not something to be ashamed and embarrassed of.

If you're still not convinced that sober is fashionable, then how about asking the most fashionable person on the planet? The lady who dictates fashion: Anna Wintour. Who doesn't drink. At all. Not even champagne.

Do you think people accuse Anna Wintour of being uncool because she's teetotal? They wouldn't dare! Does she get left off party invitations? No, she goes to three parties a night. Totally sober. She is far too cool to lose her cool with alcohol.

You know what's not cool? That's a middle aged lady with a wine belly and broken veins all over her nose, slurring her words and staggering at a drinks party.

(Actually, the word 'cool' is not cool either. But I can't bring myself to describe things that are not ill as 'sick').

We, my friends, are blazing the trail.

I'm leaving the final words to one of my favourite sober celebs: Ewan McGregor:

"The difference between living life when you're drinking all the time and when you're not is profound."

Love to you all,

SM x