Scott ~ 4018 days

“11 years alcohol-free.

This was me in 2015. I’d just taken on a 1 year no alcohol challenge while travelling in Oz. People told me you don’t move to Bondi in your 20s and stop drinking, but I did.

When I first wanted to cut back there was no language around not drinking. I was asked if I was an alcoholic because I didn’t drink.

There was no sober curious movement, low & no (outside of becks blue) or dry jan to help with social proof and normalise not drinking.

Pre instagram / influencer culture, being health conscious wasn’t encouraged but drinking to excess was.

I didn’t need support but I reached a point where the negatives started to outweigh the positives and I wanted more from life than weekend drinking.

A few hours of drinking followed by a few days of hangxiety… that balance I was told I should have in my life didn’t feel like balance.

So I joined a gym, picked up my camera more and started to cut back.

Being the first person in my friend group to put my hand up and say I’m not drinking was tough. People told me that I was weak and that I thought I was better than them.

There are many people, like I was, who know how to stop drinking, want to stop drinking, but don’t feel able to because of how others might react.

When I drank the focus was always on how to deter people from drinking. For me, the best deterrent was simple. A hangover. It was more effective than any messaging about risk or units because the consequences were immediate and impossible to ignore.

The world feels like a strange place right now. With constant uncertainty, cost of living and burnout.

But not drinking has given me a level of stability and comfort I didn’t have when I drank. Its made life easier, I’ve been happier for it, and most importantly, its helped me be more present with my family.

We can only connect the dots looking back. But being alcohol-free also gave me the confidence, time, clarity and drive to learn new skills that eventually made building Arclett possible ~ a place where I’m inspired by the stories of others.

More people than ever before are starting to question alcohol, and our mission at Arclett is simple. To make not drinking feel normal.”