Reasons to Quit Drinking #10: All the Little Things.....

We've already covered the biggies here. If you quit drinking you'll be healthier, skinnier, happier, a better parent with better friendships. You'll find your mojo, expand your horizons, and join the vanguard of hip youth and celebrities discovering a new way of life.

Is that it?

Well, no actually.

The great thing about going sober is the huge number of little changes that make it all worthwhile. And all the little things add up to one big transformation.

Here are just a few, and there are many more described in the pages of this blog, by me and my readers....

1. You'll get to see the end of movies. And remember them.
2. No more fear of sent texts
3. You'll enjoy driving past police cars. You may even start willing them to pull you over and breathalyse you.
4. You won't have to run away from cameras, or lie to doctors.
5. No more worrying about people smelling your breath. Minty fresh.
6. Goodbye unexplained bruises and wardrobe malfunctions.
7. You'll stop imagining that cashiers are judging you.
8. Mornings! I have to say that one again: MORNINGS!
9. You'll be richer.
10. You'll sleep like a baby. No more 3am tossing and turning.

Even ten months down the line, I still keep finding new things that give me a buzz.

One of my least favourite chores used to be collecting additional recycling bags. Every few months the local council deliver two large rolls of recycling bags. It used to make me really mad. Two rolls? For a family of five (plus dog)? Who were they kidding?

Inevitably I would run out of recycling bags after a few weeks, and have to trek to the local library to collect more. The stern librarian was under strict instructions to only dole out one roll of bags at a time. For f***s sake! What did they think we were going to do with them? Start flogging them on the black market?

A fortnight later I'd be back again, pushing old ladies with their Mills and Boon's aside to get to my next measly roll of bin bags.

Well, I realised yesterday that I have a stockpile of recycling bags! And I haven't been to the library for ten months!

God knows how many bags I filled up with empty bottles of vino over the years!

One more annoying little chore crossed off the list. One more reason to never go back there.

Keep going, my friends.

Love SM x