Social media appears to be full of people giving up booze and Going Sober for October, or giving up fags with Stop-tober (imagine people doing both – bet they’re fun to be around!!)

Nicotine is not one of my vices, but alcohol is.

Had a good day?  Celebrate with a glass of fizz.
Had a bad day?  Commiserate with a G&T.
Bad period paid?  Self medicate with a chilled sauv blanc.
A freakishly sunny day in the UK? Pour an ice cold lager.
Etc etc!

I will sometimes decide to ‘be good’ and give up booze, but within a matter of days (usually 5 if I started on a Monday) giving up booze has become ‘giving up drinking in the week’.
Then the next week, well, we don’t have childcare until Tuesday, so that’s really when my week starts, so I can still have a glass of wine on Monday night, right?
Then – well, Thursday is allegedly the new Friday – so that makes the weekend 5 days.
So I’m managing 2 booze free days per week.

**go Libby**  #ironicfont

Now I’ve been pretty abstemious each time I’ve been pregnant and that’s been 3 years of my adult life – without also counting the time I was breast feeding and so was also reasonably reduced in my booze consumption. No spirits, and with the boy no champagne as it gave him bad wind. It also did if I drank orange juice – so guessing if I’d had a Bucks Fizz he may have exploded?!

But since then (and the baby will be 4 in a couple of weeks) – I’ve never quite found the willpower.

I had decided I couldn’t go sober for October as the husband and I were going away for 3 childfree days – and that means booze too – especially when it’s free in the lounge, on the flight and at happy hour at the hotel!  (Clearly it’s not free, it’s included within the prices of the plane tickets and hotel room, but they are sunk costs – so Libby logic says it’s free!!)  The first 2 days were a fabulous combination of sunshine, quality time with the husband, sleeping and booze!  But then the last night there I could not sleep at all.  I put it down to the espresso martini I’d guzzled (I don’t usually do caffeine – so it was somewhat foolish to drink one at 9pm!)  The next day I had a horrid headache – and it got worse as the day went on.  I tried to push through with wine in the afternoon – but wasn’t feeling it.  Then I tried again with a G&T at happy hour – but still I didn’t really feel like drinking.  By the time we got to the airport I was sweating ridiculously and white as a sheet – not quite how I expected to be after a chilled few days in the sun!  The husband knew it was serious when I turned down champagne when we got on the plane and asked for orange juice instead.

Once we got home I pretty much took to my bed for 3 days – which, like refusing free fizz, is unheard of!  So – I’ve not had any booze since Friday 16th October.

I was planning ‘No Vino November’ – but seeing as I’ve had a kickstart, then it’s starting now!  This does mean next week’s dreaded combo of ‘no childcare and half term’ will have to be survived ‘sans gin’ – but I want to prove to myself that I can do a month without any alcohol.

Now I can imagine this causing much mirth and amusement amongst my friends (and potentially a profits warning for both the New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc and Italian prossecco producers, as well as gin and tonic suppliers nationwide) so I thought I should put my money where my mouth is and do this for a good cause.  Hopefully that way my ‘friends’ won’t try and tempt me from my path of tee total-ness!

So – I will accept this mission on behalf of my liver, waist line, occasionally fuzzy headedness in the morning – and one of our lovely friend Finlay’s charities – Brain Tumour Research.  In fact – if I donated what I would spend on booze in the 30 days, we could come close to matching the Angels Without Wings Ball fundraising total (it was £55k – so maybe not quite!)

If you would like to make a donation then Fin’s Just Giving page is here – it would mean a lot to me, Fin and the Church family – and hopefully inspire me to stay on the straight and narrow (until mid November at least!)

Cheers!  (With a raised mug of hot water, honey, lemon and ginger)

xx