This is Not a Self-Help Book

it. I felt different. I felt off.

addicted to getting up early or doing the washing-up.

I quickly slipped into the daily ritual of drinking a cup of red wine first thing in the morning, just to steady my nerves. Then I would have another cup to help me think straight. After that, I’d need one to cheer me up and one more to forget about the fighting.

was through the looking glass. There was no going back.

I am both the scorpion and the frog. Drinking is in my nature. If I were to repeat the same series of failed measures once more, it could result in dire consequences,

doing everything differently rather than redoing the same things harder or better.

for the most part, life had become very dull. Each week was a mirror to the last.

; I would start off my Monday in the depths of despair, riddled with so much remorse and self-loathing that I would often be incapable of even opening an email

My surroundings will sculpt me into a different person and change my habits overnight.

if I had a job in a reputable organisation like the BBC, my drinking would iron itself out