After Dry January, a close friend invited me to attend her wedding. My experience of being sober for thirty days was difficult but positive, and I was seriously considering quitting forever. That was a significant change in my thinking, since I’d always considered sober people boring.
The wedding reception was last weekend, and I had every intention of not drinking. When I could finally sit down and relax after going around and greeting friends, I suddenly thought: ‘I’ll have just one drink.’ Many acquaintances had asked me why I wasn’t drinking, and I just felt that I needed to be like them, to feel ‘normal’ on this occasion. I felt like I was going against societal norms, like I was an embarrassment by not drinking. You know how it is, people assume you’ve had a huge alcohol problem if you don’t drink at a wedding.
Well, even though I struggled with myself, with societal expectations, with that party and celebrations in general, I was able to return to my center and my decision to live alcohol free. I didn’t have that ‘one drink.’ I felt proud and brave, a real badass.” —Angela
Lamberghini-West, A., & Karlen Triplett, P. (2025). Tipsy: A Woman’s Self-Guided Method for Managing Alcohol. US: Aysen Wellness.