On 24 February 2025, I lost my Grandma to a rare blood cancer. In the months that followed, I started to have a very difficult relationship with alcohol, which gradually became more and more problematic.
I think that’s a trap that a lot of people going through grief fall into. Grief can really warp people’s minds and cause them to engage in self-destructive behaviours. But drinking heavily never really made a difference.
By late September, I was already drinking less than I was, and was taking steps to address my issues with alcohol. But then I remembered something. Macmillan Cancer Support had a campaign called Go Sober for October. I signed up, believing this to be the perfect tribute to Grandma, not just because she died from a rare blood cancer, but also because she was heavily involved with some of the research at the Royal Marsden during her lifetime.
I’m not completely out of the woods on the mental health front. I don’t necessarily expect to be when the month of October is over. I do still miss Grandma, and avoiding alcohol hasn’t solved that (just as excessively consuming it didn’t solve it). But it’s a start.