Story
My story starts at aged 9 (1st photo) when I developed an eating disorder, it started out relatively innocently - my brother who is autistic only ate certain foods a lot and I was frankly sick of the same meals. I didn't really know what I was doing but I knew that when I ate less, I didn't have so much energy, anxiety and racing thoughts. By the time I was 15 (2nd photo) my problems with food had progressed to a laxative abuse issue and other forms of bulimia. I realise now that my issues were probably a coping mechanism for undiagnosed ADHD as looking back I remember having so much less energy, whereas alot of my time in recovery I felt so much more on edge, jittery and like I had too much energy.
When I turned sixteen, I was introduced to Alcohol (3rd photo) but because of my fear of calories back then, I wouldn't eat before partying with friends and I'd black out every time I drank. It would scare me but it was the only thing my friends did socially at that age. I would repeat this over and over again. I would never refuse a night out as being around people felt better than being alone as at that time I was desperately trying to fix an eating issue with no outside support and my excess energy was no longer being muted by a lack of calories.
people didn't seem to see this behaviour as damaging in the same way that they saw my disordered eating - in fact I would often be told how I was the life of the party despite the fact that I would say 'I couldn't remember' almost all of our nights out.
Thankfully, I made choices in my twenties to recover, to learn to be healthy, to learn how to look after myself. Even now, I struggle with the culture around drinking, most prevelently in workplace environments, which I have seen first hand in previous roles can go hand in hand with drinking culture regardless of whether all employees want to partake in it. I have changed my outlook on many things including alcohol and its prevelancy in society - mostly, I wish teenage me had more places to go and more to do so I didn't have to damage my body in another way just to be around people. It would mean the world to me if you can donate to my fundraiser.
About Alcohol Change UK
Every day in the UK twenty people die because of alcohol. It can affect anyone, from any walk of life but alcohol harm is not inevitable. With your support, change can happen faster. Alcohol Change wants to build a future in which people drink as a conscious choice, not a default; where the issues which lead to alcohol problems like poverty, mental health issues, homelessness are addressed; where those of us who drink too much, and our loved ones, have access to high-quality support whenever we need it, without shame or stigma.
Our team of wonderful Royal Parks Half Marathon fundraisers are helping to make this a reality.
Your fundraising/donations can help by:
* £20 could support around 20 people reduce their drinking through the Dry January® challenge.
* £30 could help us develop and deliver more training for front line workers and improve support for dependent drinkers.
* £40 could cover the costs of supporting 16 people for six months to reduce their drinking through our Try Dry® app.