Hi Ben, fellow Londoner here, well , born and raised there anyway. Doesn’t sound much fun thus drinking for you. It’s such a cruel irony that drinkers get stressed because of lack of alcohol and are trapped in that cycle. It sounds like you’re dependent on alcohol now unfortunately, and as a few recent threads here discuss, that’s irreversible I’m afraid. However, there is good news in that stopping totally means the cravings and mood swings start to fade. We’re all different, but this takes anything from a few weeks to several months. The cravings will still pop up from time to time albeit weaker than before.
As for me, I quit just under four years ago (31/12/2018) in my late forties. The health benefits are obvious, but to be honest, I wasn’t a pleasant guy as a drinker. I wasn’t violent or anything, just mean spirited, which meant my marriage ended recently. But because I’m a way more positive and nicer person now (without the alcohol), so many other good things happened, and very surprisingly I’m not on my own this Christmas - that would never have happened to the drinker me, no one would want that version of me.
It’s a tall order to quit at Xmas with all the hype around alcohol on TV, but give it some serious thought. Those mood swings will be holding you back from a much better life.
All the best for now and enjoy your Xmas
