It’s Christmas tomorrow. The only day of the year when it’s socially acceptable to start necking alcohol at 9am. For many, it’s a unique day when it’s tradition to drink a few glasses of champagne before you’ve brushed their teeth. But for the millions fighting alcohol addiction, it can be a day of battling the devil on your shoulder. A day where the aggressive disease of alcoholism has an extra spring in its deadly step. Come to think of it, the entire Christmas and New Year period is a minefield for those on the wagon. The alcohol advertisements are on steroids, parties are in full swing and ..read more

Today marks 2,500 days sober for me. Each and every day is a gift because, really, I should be dead. I posted on social media recently about the condition of my liver and soon after received a lot of questions about the health side of recovery. So, I think now is a good time to share an update on the progress I’ve made with my health. Hopefully, this will answer some of those questions. Me with alcoholic liver disease outside hospital in 2015 A BIT OF BACKGROUND In 2015 I spent a month in hospital having been diagnosed with alcoholic liver disease. I was bloated and as yellow as a Simpson’s ch ..read more

I can’t put into words how important setting goals has been to me over the last 7 years. Even though alcohol nearly killed me, and I despise it more than words can express – it left a huge hole in my life when I quit. Alcohol was the centre of my world for years. I became addicted because I preferred life when I was drunk. That mentality almost destroyed EVERYTHING. But when I stopped drinking, it left a huge hole. That thing that made me whole was gone. That thing that satisfied my addictive nature was now missing. I realised I couldn’t change who I was, so I needed to find a way to feed the ..read more

Admitting that you are an alcoholic is an incredibly hard thing to do. It’s about as personal as it gets. It’s also one of the bravest things a person can do. And the only way you can avoid an early grave if you have a drinking problem. The best decision I ever made in recovery was to be completely open with everyone, and I mean everyone, about the fact that I was an alcoholic in recovery. A lot of people keep it private and only tell a trusted circle. That was my initial approach, and for me, it didn’t work. Image on the left: Me in recovery. Image on the right: Me on the brink of death from ..read more

If you think you might have a drinking the problem, the chances are you DO indeed have a drinking problem. In private, people are very good at being self-aware about their own health and lifestyle. But accepting that changes are needed and being open with others about any issues, is a different matter. I know this because I hid my addiction to alcohol from EVERYONE for as long as I could. Deep down, I knew that drinking on my own every single night was not normal. But the alcoholic side of my brain would drip feed me ridiculous justifications for drinking. ‘’I’m young, everyone’s doing it at ..read more

Today, I’m 6 years sober. That’s 2,191 days since I last had an alcoholic drink. 52,600 hours since I last let the demon on my shoulder win. Over 3.1 million minutes of me winning the war against the disease of addiction.                                                                ..read more

‘’Life can be a funny thing’’. Those were the words of my auntie Gail who’s visiting from Australia. She was one of the many family members who were forced to watch from afar as I ripped my immediate family to pieces with my destructive alcoholic behaviour. Those words escaped her mouth as she watched a special news programme on TV that I helped to create. I still pinch myself every now and again. I’ve been so lucky to come out of the other side of alcoholism. And even luckier to end up with a career I love. A career which blossomed from this blog about recovery from addiction. So yeah…life ca ..read more

After a hectic year, I realised the other day that I’d not written in my blog since December. This blog has been a huge part of my recovery for 3 and a half years, and I need to remember that. So, I thought now would be a good time to recap my journey since my ‘BIG rock bottom’ moment. In 2015, after 6 or so years of battling alcohol addiction, I ended up in Kings hospital with alcoholic liver disease. Me bloated, jaundice and with liver disease outside Kings hospital in 2015 I spent a month in that hospital. And for a couple of weeks, it didn’t look like I was going to get out alive. I was ja ..read more

So, once again it’s New Year’s Eve. A date in the diary where millions of people in the UK get drunk. This will be my 6th New Year’s Eve sober. To me, it’s just another day. I think, for anyone facing their first New Year’s Eve sober, that’s the key – just treat it like any other day. You are not missing out on anything by not drinking. I’m choosing to not to go out and celebrate because I don’t enjoy it. I don’t enjoy being around people who are drinking. How ironic is that!!! I can hear the yells of ‘get off your high horse!’, but that’s the truth. I am comfortable enough in my recovery to b ..read more

Since finally getting sober in 2016, I’ve been driven by a need to make up for lost time. I lost seven years to alcoholism. In my head, that meant that I was seven years behind everyone else my age. I labelled myself an underdog – and that self-evaluation has done me wonders. There is an extra layer of satisfaction when you achieve anything against the odds. It doesn’t matter what that achievement is. For me, it started with staying sober. I always try to have a plan and a next goal in sight. It works for me and keeps my head in the right place. Goals are incredibly important to me and are a h ..read more