But what they don’t know is that ditching alcohol is one of the most freeing choices you can make. Rather than needing to get drunk to find pleasure, people who don’t drink know that life itself is incredibly intoxicating. All you have to do is give it a chance. The hardest part might be social situations, many of which are in locations that serve alcohol. To beat this, try new places. You might go to a sober morning rave or invite your friends to an alcohol-free bar or restaurant. Catherine Gray is an award-winning writer and editor. She has worked on staff for magazines such as Cosmopolitan, GLAMOUR and the Sun's Fabulous supplement. She has written as a freelancer for publications like Stylist, Marie Claire, YOU, Women's Health, Grazia, the Guardian, Shortlist, BBC Earth, Emerald Street, Heat and the Daily Mail. Catherine Gray really captures the FUN we can have in sobriety. This book challenges the status quo; sobriet sounds as liberating as taking a trip to the jungle. Fun and inspirational. What an important book for our time! A joy to read.' - Samantha Moyo, founder of Morning Gloryville

That comes through so clearly in all of your books and and that’s why I love recommending them to women because It really is the flip side, you You almost take every argument that we all have that we all hold on to about why we don’t want to stop drinking. So it feels like such hard work keeping alcohol in your life, that when you finally let it go, you realize everything is actually easier. I keep promises to myself and to the people around me. Cancelled breakfast dates and gym classes are a thing of the past. If I say I’m going to be there, I’m there. Both for myself, and everyone else. A few years ago, I was drinking a lot. I was out most nights - with a hangover to match the next morning. With every drink, I felt like I was getting further away from the life that I wanted. Drinkers in a 2013 study in the UK were found to have much less brain activity than non-drinkers. The good news was that abstinence reversed this process.So it’s clear that it’s beginning to die out just like smoking did. And we’re just really early adopters. There is so much that goes into putting together the tools you need to get through the first 30 days which are really the hardest. Yeah, I think I think it’s a really interesting thing, that these two things can coexist. At the same time. It’s, it’s more nuanced than if you were once addicted to something, then you’re addicted to it forevermore. Because I am not currently addicted to alcohol. I don’t crave it, I could, I don’t. But if I if I needed to, I could have it in my house and not drink it. Yeah. And so if folks haven’t read The Unexpected Joy Of Being Sober, your first book, will you tell us about that first book? I saw the author on breakfast TV over the festive period and decided to buy the book after seeing how engaging and down-to-earth she seemed. The book is very much in a similar vein. It’s not at all “preachy” or “annoying” - just sets out Catherine’s story in a way that is easy to relate to. Part autobiography, part health book, there are stories and anecdotes in the book to which we can all relate. While Catherine is now teetotal - and makes no bones about it - this book is useful for anyone who wants to examine their relationship with alcohol a bit further, cut down on drinking and/or give up completely. There’s no set script with the book.

This book is alright. She made some good points and I’m glad she put in scientific, marketing, societal and health information. It really helps her readers get a grasp on how alcohol affects us in multiple fields of just living life. Yeah, that’s how I mean, it truly is. And I must have had about 37 day ones. And the way the shame you feel about slipping again, the having to tell people that you’ve drunk again, and you’ve busted your day one is, it’s just so all consuming. Ever sworn off alcohol for a month and found yourself drinking by the 7th? Think there's 'no point' in just one drink? Welcome! There are millions of us. When she’s not writing, Catherine can generally be found taking 20 identical pictures of the sunset, wondering why she’s always the sweatiest person in yoga, fighting her ‘spend it all’ financial urges or scanning the body language of strangers to see if it’s okay to pet their dog.

But there truly is nothing to lose other than the crucifying hangovers; the ability to laugh at jokes that aren’t funny; propensity to pull people you don’t fancy; and the inclination to stay out beyond 1am (after which nothing good happens, I promise, having done my research on 16,807 occasions). The only – yes, only! – social skill I have lost is the ability to do karaoke.