I’m from the North East of England but I live in southern Spain with my husband, two boys and two dogs. I love my family, sleeping, meditation, long walks, tea, food, loud rock music, autumn and the rain. Most of all I love living my life free from alcohol and it is full of so many beautiful, crazy, inspiring and laugh out loud moments.

But, it wasn’t always like that

In 2004, I moved to Spain to start a new life with my husband and our son who was two years old at the time. My drinking then was only on a social scale – after all Spain is the land of beer and tapas! Trouble was, we carried on when we came home. It was unheard of for us not to have a crate of beer and a box of wine in the house at all times. 

After a break from booze of just over a year during pregnancy and early months of our second son’s arrival, I picked up where I left off with renewed vigor. It was lonely, hard work, boring and stressful. Even though I lived in a great place, had two lovely sons and a lifestyle many people envied, I retreated into my own bubble and closed the doors on life.  

My drinking day would usually start after the school run, earlier at the weekend and so it would continue through lunch, homework, dinner time, bath time and bedtime until I would relax on the sofa with another drink to reward myself for getting through the day and there I would stay until I fell into bed or passed out.

The weekends and holidays were worse as the drinking would start as soon as it was midday and carry on right through the night. If we visited friends or had friends round I would do as much as I could to make sure they stayed until the early hours so I didn’t have to face the normality of home life.

Before I knew it I was stuck in a cycle of start drinking at 12 or 2, have a nap, wake up do some mumsy stuff, start drinking again, have tea, get the kids out of the way, drink some more, go to bed, wake up at 3 feeling like hell full of dread and regret, fall back asleep wake up, get the kids to school and so it would start again.