By Marion, Recently 100 days alcohol free after completing the JTT course.
I joined the Just The Tonic programme on 23rd July 2025. My acupuncturist, who was one of the very few people I had confessed my excessive drinking to, sent me a Telegraph article on Sandra Parker, a sober coach. I had tried other programmes before, some with short-term success, but I always slipped back into my lonesome drinking habits.
This time felt different. The Just The Tonic website spoke to me in a way nothing else had. I booked an initial call with Sandra and, at the end of it, rather impulsively, I signed up. I gulped at the cost.
Twenty-one weeks later, in mid-December 2025, I can unequivocally say it was one of the best investments I have ever made. Worth every cent. Because it worked. Alcohol no longer controls me. I look back in astonishment at the life-changing progress I have made.
Approaching My First Alcohol-Free Christmas
I am about to celebrate 100 days alcohol-free, and even more extraordinarily, my first Christmas without alcohol. And I am genuinely looking forward to it.
I have always loved Christmas: family festivities, eating and drinking, games and get-togethers. My experience is that the holiday itself has healing powers. This year, I am enthusiastically planning a family gathering with my children, their partners, and my grandchildren — with plenty of booze for everyone else and alcohol-free alternatives for me.
It’s going to be good. I am going to enjoy every minute. Because I will live it fully — free from the so-called comfort blanket (Ho Ho Ho! Not!!) of alcohol.
Last summer, I would never have believed this was possible.
Decades of Drinking That Crept Up on Me
I had been stuck in my drinking life for decades. I worked in book publishing for 40 years — a habitually boozy industry (aren’t they all?). Retired and living alone, stiff gins and glasses of wine — often at lunchtime as well as in the evening — became my daily de-stressors and rewards. Or so I believed.
Yes, I admitted to myself that I had an alcohol disorder, but I wasn’t an alcoholic. My social drinking was more controlled than some of my friends’. I was getting away with it. Or so I thought.
But I couldn’t shift myself away from those friendly bottles. The triggers to drink felt irresistible. And the internal anxiety, shame, guilt and self-recrimination were weighing my life down.
I was 72. Was this the sad trajectory of the rest of my life?
Were my memory lapses — forgetting names, places, conversations — the beginning of alcohol-related dementia? That thought was terrifying. And yet, I couldn’t stop.
What Made the Difference This Time
I focused daily on the Just The Tonic programme. I wouldn’t call it easy — how could it be? It was often quite trying. I worked hard at the modules, the homework, the journalling, and posting in the WhatsApp group. I was determined to get the results I had paid for.
Every group member had a different drinking story, but hearing the thoughts, feelings, perspectives, experiences, successes and lapses of others was inspiring. Wins were celebrated. Lapses were forgiven. And most importantly, everyone told the truth.
That honesty was a massive relief.
Discovering Neuroplasticity and Rewiring Beliefs
One of the best discoveries for me was learning about neuroplasticity — the fact that our brains, however old we are, never lose the ability to change and rewire.
Hallelujah.
My subconscious brain had “known” that alcohol was a proper reward and that I deserved it. Through the programme, that belief was gently but firmly dismantled. My brain now understands that alcoholic rewards are fundamentally fake.
Other rewards are available — and they are truly long-lasting.
You can read more about this approach on the
How to Rewire Your Brain From Addiction
Life After Alcohol: Calmer, Clearer, More Hopeful
I am now a couple of months into the graduate programme, Upgraded Life. The pace is slower. Progress is not measured in units of alcohol drunk or not drunk.
Instead, it’s a deeper exploration of life — facing its difficulties without turning away and seeking refuge in a glass.
Those difficulties still exist. But I see them more clearly and calmly. It feels as though I am learning to think again.
Memory lapses no longer induce panic. And if I ever do succumb to dementia, I will do so more intelligently!
A Different Kind of Creativity and Hope
I don’t know exactly what the future looks like, but I am more excited about it than I have been for years. New doors are opening, and I trust they will lead to good outcomes.
I won’t be going back to where I was before.
Does this sound evangelical? Perhaps. I loved my drinking life — until I didn’t. I will always say I had some of my most creative ideas after a few drinks and a free-floating imagination.
But alcohol did not serve me well in the end.
Freeing myself from its powerful grip is already making me more creative, not less.
Intoxicatingly hopeful is how it feels.
Ready to Rethink Your Relationship With Alcohol?
If Christmas, retirement, living alone, or long-standing habits have made you question your drinking, you are not alone — and you are not broken.
You may find these helpful next steps:
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👉 Read real success stories
Your future self may thank you — just as mine does.
Marion is a retired publishing professional who spent over 40 years working in a famously boozy industry. After decades of habitual drinking and several failed attempts to cut back, she joined Just The Tonic in 2025. Now alcohol-free, Marion writes candidly about later-life sobriety, neuroplasticity, and rediscovering creativity, clarity and confidence without alcohol.