Week fourteen: Sober Spring has sprung

Millie Gooch | June 2022 | 7 minutes

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

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Whether you plan to return to the booze or not, you should be mightily proud of what you’ve just achieved over the past few months. If you have decided to stay sat down firmly in your seat aboard the sober train – hurrah, gold star. Go grab yourself a mocktail or whopping great bar of chocolate – you are dismissed! If however, you are planning to re-introduce alcohol into your life, still grab yourself a gigantic, sweet treat the size of your face but I also have a few pieces of helpful advice. I hope you’ll indulge me by reading them:

Be aware of your tolerance

Thanks to your booze break, your tolerance to alcohol will now be much lower and it’s likely that you will feel the effects of alcohol in far quicker fashion than before. If you are returning to drinking, ease back in slowly as a return-by-binge could be especially dangerous and your hangover will not be pretty. There are said to be 47 symptoms of a hangover and if you indulge too quickly after a period of abstinence, it’s likely you’ll experience at least 40.

Embrace a more mindful approach

Going forward, consider taking a more curious and thoughtful approach to your drinking habits. This could involve everything from tracking units and taking regular breaks to simply reducing your double measures to singles! There are plenty of helpful resources for mindful drinkers and those who want to have a healthier relationship with alcohol going forward. Mindful Drinking by Rosamund Dean is a great book for getting started.

Keep coming back

Hopefully this won’t be the last we’ll see of you because making Sober Spring a permanent part of your lifestyle can have huge benefits. Not only is it a great way to make sure you keep re-evaluating your relationship with alcohol but it can help you make more conscious choices throughout the rest of the year.