A former Queen’s School pupil is bucking the student stereotype and has given up alcohol for one year to raise money for mental health charity Mind.
While many may be struggling with Dryathlon in aid of Cancer Research, spare a thought for 19-year-old Katherine Lewis, who is six months into her sober challenge following her last tipple on July 5 last year.
The Durham University law student, from Erbistock, decided to give up the hard stuff after her friend jokingly suggested she should for a month, as a test of endurance.
She explained: “I responded that I could do it for a year with ease and then stubbornly decided to prove that.
“Although the idea came from this flippant exchange the more I thought about it, the more the challenge appealed.
“It was something I could do to show my support to friends who had struggled with their mental health and it is something that I believe has helped me grow up and become more confident in myself and more understanding of my peers.”
Katherine chose Mind because she believes ‘it is a charity that, like mental illness, is underrepresented in public’.
“People don’t like discussing mental illness and while other illnesses have proud survivors vying to tell their story, those who have suffered with depression or other disorders of the mind don’t tend to be quite so keen to discuss, because of the fear of stigmatisation,” she said.
Katherine described the challenge as ‘difficult’ so far, particularly turning down alcohol at gatherings such as picnics and meals, rather than nights out.
“I think this is because that kind of casual drinking is more an occasion where the alcohol is presented in an enjoyable form,” she added.
She said that she will ‘definitely’ go back to drinking but that the challenge has opened her eyes to the negative aspects of alcohol: “I will definitely get drunk less often when I do go back.
“I used to find that alcohol gave me a confidence which I don’t naturally have, so going alcohol-free has forced me to develop my confidence more, so I now know that I don’t need to have a drink to enjoy myself.”
Katherine is documenting her experience on her blog www.lessdrinkmorethink.com, which also includes some of her top tips for sobriety.
“If anyone is struggling through their post-Christmas detox, maybe they’d like to give it a read,” she added.
She has raised £212.50 of her £365 target – a pound for every day that she is sober.
To sponsor Katherine, visit www.justgiving.com/KatGoesSober.
