In July 2020, the UK’s first lockdown was easing. The sun was shining, and live was beginning anew.
But for 24-year-old Lucy Sedgwick, something felt wrong.
“That summer, everyone went back out partying,” recalled Lucy.
“I remember being out with my friends and feeling really anxious, thinking: ‘why am I not enjoying myself?'”
She described going out that summer. “I was at a party, and I was just crying. My friend asked me what was wrong and I said: ‘I don’t know, but something is wrong,” she said.
This, says Lucy, was the point that her relationship with alcohol began to sour.
READ MORE: The formerly homeless Londoner who battled his demons to resist drinking again in lockdown
From Berkshire, Lucy moved to London after graduating from Cardiff University.
“Ever since I could remember, drinking had been a big part of my social life,” she said.
On Wednesdays, Lucy would drink a bottle of wine over dinner with friends. And from Thursday through to Saturday, she’d usually be out – which would invariably involve drinking.
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“It didn’t feel that abnormal,” she said.
“I think it’s quite normal to be drinking that amount as a young person in London.”
The pandemic, which put a swift end to Lucy’s usual social life, took its toll on her mental health.
For many, it was a time of introspection – and Lucy was no exception.
She began putting her life, with all its habits and routines, under the microscope.
“At the end of 2020, I hit rock bottom with my mental health,” she said. “I was getting really bad anxiety and depression. I was struggling with my eating, and I decided to overhaul my lifestyle. I wanted to focus on the things that make me feel good.”
She switched to a plant-based diet, started yoga and daily meditation, but realised it wasn’t enough.
“I would drink in the evening and it would bring it all back,” she said.
“These questions started to come up within me like ‘maybe alcohol just isn’t right for you’. It was a scary thought.”
“Anywhere that does cocktails can do mocktails,” says Lucy. “Easiest one is a virgin mojito.”
(Image: Lucy Sedgwick)
In May 2021, Lucy set herself a challenge: six weeks without alcohol, which would include her 25th birthday.
“I wanted to choose how I lived my life,” she said. “I didn’t want to be reactive in my life and have it passing me by.”
Lucy says she started to feel the benefits straight away – and, to her surprise, she wasn’t tempted to break the trial on her birthday.
“As soon as I gave it up I felt so much better. I felt like ‘me’ – it just felt so right not to be drinking alcohol,” she said.
“The anxiety didn’t go away, but it massively reduced the depression. It really helped me in terms of my overall relationship with myself and my mental health. I haven’t looked back.”
Now, more than five months later, Lucy’s initial experiment to give up alcohol is still going strong.
Whilst she isn’t enforcing a lifetime ban on alcohol, she said: “I can’t see drinking again in my future.”
Given the role that alcohol had played in her social life, Lucy said she needed to “redefine socialising”. This involved prioritising her most important relationships.
“When you take away alcohol from a friendship, it’s amazing what happens to it. I don’t think I really expected that,” explained Lucy.
“I think my relationships are so much better and so much more enriched now. I value them a lot more. A lot of those superficial drunk girls in the bathroom-type friendships that seemed really important at the time have fallen away.”
She added: “I had some super supportive friends and others who couldn’t really understand why [I’d given up alcohol].”
Lucy’s go-to order in the pub is now a non-alcoholic gin and tonic
(Image: Lucy Sedgwick)
Lucy will still go to the pub — she was adamant that “you don’t need to drink to go to the pub” — only, her order has changed.
These days, it’s a non-alcoholic gin and tonic.
“There are so many great options out there nowadays,” she said.
Her top tips for not drinking at the pub include knowing your order in advance, asking for mocktails (Lucy explained that they aren’t always openly advertised), and ordering non-alcoholic drinks in a wine glass.
Initially, one of the hardest things was asking for non-alcoholic drinks at the bar.
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“Because I’m 25, young and in London, they’d look at me, decide I wasn’t pregnant, and think of all the reasons I wouldn’t drink,” she said.
Five months on, Lucy admitted that there are still challenges.
“It’s hard in the current dating world,” she said.
With drinks being one of the most common choices for a first date, she has had to find alternatives, including coffee, dinner, walks, seeing a show, or visiting an art gallery.
“It’s kind of scary because the places where you would have relied on a drink, you then can’t. You have to rely on yourself,” she said,
This, said Lucy, has been particularly empowering.
“The single greatest benefit of giving up alcohol is that I feel more myself. I am a more grounded, genuinely happier person… I feel like I’ve created a life now that I don’t ever really feel the need to escape from,” she said.
Lucy has found that asking for her drinks in a wine glass helps with giving up alcohol
(Image: Lucy Sedgwick)
Bolstered by the changes to her lifestyle, Lucy is now training to become a yoga instructor.
In March this year, she launched an Instagram page, @Segders_wellness, where she shares her journey and tips for giving up alcohol.
“I want to share this idea that a healthy lifestyle is a lifestyle that makes you feel good, that helps you live longer, that enriches your life – the people you’re with, the things you do, the way you spend your downtime, the sleep you get, the way you talk to yourself. All these things make up a healthy lifestyle,” said Lucy.
By posting pictures of herself with virgin cocktails or out with friends, Lucy hopes to “normalise not drinking alcohol”.
“I think it’s seen as so abnormal in society not to drink, especially in your early to mid-twenties,” she added.
“One of the things that really annoys me is this idea that you’re boring if you’re not having an alcoholic drink. I’m super passionate about changing that narrative.”
Lucy stressed that giving up alcohol is a personal decision. Her intention was not to tell people not to drink but to encourage everyone to evaluate — in the same way that they would relationships, jobs or experiences — how alcohol makes really makes them feel.
She added: “I do believe that if you do want to give [alcohol] up, you can do the things that you love – you can still have the fun nights out.
“You can literally do every single thing that you love without drinking alcohol. You are still the same person, with the same personality traits.”
More than 34,000 people across the UK are currently taking part in Sober October, a month-long initiative to cut out alcohol to raise money for Macmillan Cancer Support. You can find out more here.
Do you have an interesting story about your London life? Please email [email protected].
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