Not a sip, not a drop, nothing at all

My experience with alcohol is downright bad. But let me start at the beginning.

Alcohol was very common in my family. When my father came home from work, a bottle of wine, or beer, or sherry was brought to the table. Before dinner, all the necessary was drunk, and after the coffee this continued regularly. Very occasionally they did not drink for a month. I also liked a glass of wine or beer. But I could also very easily leave the booze. Until a few years ago. I started drinking more and more, there was always a reason to open a bottle. But I still had sober days. And I was able to hide it well from my family.

Last year, in the middle of the corona crisis, things went completely wrong. Sometimes I thought about drinking in the morning. And sometimes I did. In short, I was a real problem drinker. Something had to be done urgently, and I managed to stop drinking for a while. But I kept having a relapse. After a few days I reached for the bottle again. My family was now desperate. Then things changed, I sought help and immediately stopped drinking. That was almost four months ago now. And the funny thing is, I'm not having as much trouble with it as I expected. I sleep well, eat well, have a lot of meaning in life again. I have a nice job, three lovely children and a very sweet husband, many nice hobbies. Enough to make you happy. In December I registered for IkPas, with the aim of never drinking again.

In the coming weeks I will share my joys and sorrows with you. There will be many nice stories, but probably also very harrowing ones. All in all, I am positive about it, and hopefully we will benefit from each other's stories. The first challenge certainly helped me a lot.

I look forward to the stories of all my fellow passers and I wish you all a very nice sober day. And good luck everyone!

Lots of love from Esther