Sober Up!

On a journey of self-discovery – and in hope of a (more) sober life – LYNETTE BOTHA learns that her ‘HARMLESS’ love affair with wine is not as innocuous as she thought…

Anyone who knows me can attest to how much I love a glass of wine (or three). I’m often the instigator of a ‘quick wine’ at the end of the work day, always the one cheerfully topping up glasses at a braai (mine first), and I’m rarely without a bottle of Chardonnay in the fridge. My love of wine has become a part of my character, which, up until recently, I didn’t think was a bad thing. After all, most of my girlfriends are just like me – and they don’t have a problem.

It’s a natural instinct for me to head straight to the fridge when I get home from work and pour myself a chilled glass, feeling the stress of the day melt away with the first sip (read: gulp). Wine was my salvation, my escape and – often – the only ‘me-time’ I had.

The adage ‘I love to cook with wine; sometimes I even add it to the food’ is just one of many fun ‘sayings’ that normalise drinking, especially for women. But while my almost-a-bottle-a-night habit wasn’t affecting my work, family or social life, I knew it couldn’t possibly be healthy. At the same time as I was becoming more aware of my not-so-sober life, I kept happening upon articles about the rising number of Millennial women dependent on wine. And it’s not a pretty picture.