I’m in Spain at the moment and writing this post in an Internet cafe. I had my doubts about how easy it would be to resist alcohol here and they were not unfounded. One incentive for not drinking in the UK is the price, but here the alcohol is dead cheap with a litre of red wine costing less than a euro. It’s also made harder because my family are all drinking everyday from midday onwards. I don’t think I have ever been so tempted! The beast within is nagging me continually to drink as it is well aware of how vulnerable I am at the moment. I can resist, but I feel a little resentful to say the least.

I found today especially hard as after a meal we were all given a complimentary glass of wine. I think that was the hardest point for me, seeing the wine there in front of me I knew I had a choice, I could give in and return to my old alcoholic ways or I could exert my willpower, decline the drink and move forward. and made the decision not to drink but was left feeling depressed for the rest of the evening.

If you’re serious about not drinking, you will be able to do it but you have to remain strong because temptation is always going to be there. All of the time during the holiday all I could think was about giving in but I knew deep down that if I did my 17 months away from alcohol would have been in vain. Sometimes when I’m in the company of people drinking I feel fine because they’re the ones who end up looking silly, slurring their words and talking nonsense, at other times I feel totally excluded from the fun that they are having and I feel boring. I think if you’re going to go on holiday to a place where alcohol is cheap and constantly available then you need to select your company carefully. If some of your party are only concerned about getting drunk then I imagine that you will find abstaining from alcohol incredibly hard.