Week eleven: Make fun, fun again

Millie Gooch | June 2022 | 6 minutes

Millie Gooch, founder of the Sober Girl Society, brings us some brilliant tips on tackling Sober Spring - the three-month sabbatical off alcohol.

When I stopped drinking, one of the biggest things I realised was that I did in fact have no idea how to have fun without alcohol. This has pretty much led me on a four-year path of attempting everything from axe-throwing to trekking with Alpaca’s in the Kentish countryside. Now is a great time to explore the things that really light you up and help you connect to your inner childlike joy. Here’s my tips:

Connect with old hobbies

Do you remember the things that you used to love doing before drinking became your default for fun? Great – pick them back up again, even if it’s childish. Reconnecting with your passion can be such a lovely thing to come from a booze break and remind us that we were once able to enjoy things that didn’t hold drinking at the centre of them.

Recreate new ones

Always fancied picking up something new? Perfect – now is your time to give it a go. Not only will you have more time and money to spend on extra hobbies but you’ll be hangover free so they will get your full attention. You may unlock a life-long passion or you might just collect a lot of useless skills you can utilise as party tricks.

Rally the troops

People like meeting at bars and pubs because it’s easy. It often requires very little organisation other than picking a time and a destination. What I realised when I stopped drinking was that it wasn’t that my friends didn’t want to get involved in doing new things, they just didn’t want to organise it. If you take it upon yourself to organise something like a cinema trip or a day out at a trampoline park, it’s likely you’ll find that your friends are actually very happy to come with you and you’ll get to make some new memories doing unique and fun things.

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