101 Things To Do When You're Not Drinking by Robert Short
| 101 Things To Do When You're Not Drinking by Robert Short | |
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| Category: Lifestyle | |
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Reviewer: Sue Magee
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| Summary: Not drinking alcohol can leave a hole in your life: Robert Short has 101 good ideas to fill the gap. | |
| Buy? Yes | Borrow? Yes |
| Pages: 128 | Date: November 2016 |
| Publisher: Short Books | |
| ISBN: 978-1780722870 | |
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If you're thinking about giving up alcohol long term, short term or for Dry January then you might be wondering if it's going to leave one helluva hole in your social life. You might be thinking about what you'll do with the time you normally spend out socialising (just having a quick one before you get the train home...) as well as the time you spend recovering from having had just one too many the night before. Sunday mornings will loom large as uncharted and largely unknown territory. Robert Short has a few answers for you - well 101 of them in fact - in a pocket-size book which should give you some inspiration.
There's something for everyone in here and some suggestions are not so much things to do as plans. We open with write a list of the three things you're going to buy with the money you've saved from not drinking. Good plan: alcohol costs big time, particularly when you get caught up in a group who're buying rounds. How about having a 'bring a board game' party instead of a 'bring a bottle'? That could actually be a lot of fun. Just from flicking through the book I've learned to count to ten in Japanese: I'm not certain that it will be a lot of use, but I'm proud that I've done it. I also improved my recognition of faces - something at which I've always failed lamentably.
I loved the idea of going for a walk with one of your parents or grandparents and ask them to tell you about their childhood, but was brought up short when I saw the date range down the side of the page and realised that I was going to be the one being taken for a walk. There's a suggestion about learning to juggle and I think I might give that one a go. I'm getting quite a list of things to do!
One of the problems with not drinking is that you can find yourself looking like the odd one out when you stand around with what's obviously a glass of coke, or my own go-to drink on these occasions, sparkling water. You look just a little too virtuous. How about a Not Quite Pina Colada? Miraculously it's even quite a healthy drink, with banana, pineapples, unsweetened juice, coconut milk and coconut flakes. So often non-alcoholic drinks are oversweet to compensate for the lack of alcohol and it's good to find something which isn't. The pomegranate mojito mocktail isn't quite as healthy (it's the lemonade, you see) but it's still not bad and you can at least look as though you're joining in.
There are loads of good ideas and if you're thinking of doing Dry January there's even an app to download to help you on the Dry January website. It'll help you calculate how much you have to spend when you're drawing up that list of treats for yourself. or Rehab 4 Addiction is a free helpline dedicated to helping those experiencing alcohol addiction problems.
I'd like to thank the publishers for sending a copy to the Bookbag.
How about changing your mobile phone habits too? We can recommend 101 Things to do Instead of Playing on Your Phone by Ilka Heinemann.
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You can read more book reviews or buy 101 Things To Do When You're Not Drinking by Robert Short at Amazon.co.uk Amazon currently charges £2.99 for standard delivery for orders under £20, over which delivery is free.
You can read more book reviews or buy 101 Things To Do When You're Not Drinking by Robert Short at Amazon.com.
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