Community stories: The link between alcohol and work

“I’ve had a really varied career and worked in many sectors, and alcohol has impacted all of them. Work, and alcohol being involved, was pretty much the focal point of everything. There was an unwritten expectation that you were to go out and have drinks. I think a challenge was, working in the banking sector for example – lots of these drinks were free.”

“Running two pubs in the Cotswolds and with a long career in the hospitality industry behind me, alcohol has naturally been an ever-present norm. Being able to cut alcohol from having five, six pints at the end of a shift to maybe one or two vodka sodas a week has really helped benefit us as a business and me as a person."

“As a bar manager, it was normal to have an 80-hour week, so starting my shift with a pick me up of Bacardi hidden in a Coke bottle was easy and standard working practice. No one told me they were worried because no one cared, and they were all doing the same.”

“I soon found that alcohol was a big part of my work culture. Drinking was everywhere: from entertaining clients to lunchtime meetings, and a seemingly essential part of after-work events. Despite the harm I’d seen alcohol cause my family, I felt the pressure to keep up with this heavy drinking culture. The culture of heavy drinking at my place of work meant my alcohol problems weren’t noticeable to others for a very long time.”

“Making the change to cut down my drinking wasn’t easy. Not because of my friends or my family, my support network has been incredible. The difficulty at times was my workplace. Comments were made, and jokes were thrown. I even got told in a performance review that I should make more effort to socialise in the pub as it would help me build relationships internally, as if that’s the only way to connect.”

“For most of my adult life, alcohol was just part of my routine. I was a consultant travelling for work, and bars became my living room. I drank when I was bored, stressed, lonely, celebrating - really, for any reason at all. I didn’t think I had a problem because I wasn’t hitting a dramatic rock bottom. I was high-performing and ‘successful’. But over time, I slipped into a chronic rut: constant fatigue, low motivation, brain fog, irritability, poor sleep, terrible nutrition, anxiety, and apathy.”

“My early drinking habits and then career in the armed forces moulded my brain into a routine and strategy which allowed me to stay afloat rather than sailing free. Never kid a kidder was a mantra that probably summed up my path and through this I believe I chose jobs and career opportunities around the principles of working for drink rather than far more important things like family and future. Without doubt I have had a great career but, as I have now realised, the small trickle effect and the lost days are not without consequence."