Joshua Nair
A mum has admitted to giving up drink after she caught on to some of the erratic behaviour that she was displaying.
Sarah Mills is a wife and a mother, but when the feeling hit, she'd start binge drinking. The 40-year-old could drink just about anywhere, whether it be a bar with mates or even while cooking a Sunday dinner for her family, there was rarely a time where she didn't have a drink in her hand.
This would often result in a number of embarrassing behaviours which she didn't think much of at the time, such as flashing her knickers.
Sarah would also splash £300 on a number of cosmetic surgeries, such as Botox injections and lip fillers, as she put a lot of effort into her looks.
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But once she turned 40, the Brit realised that she was suffering with 'crippling anxiety' which left her unable to function, resulting in Sarah choosing to quit drinking for good.
Since making the decision in June, she hasn't touched the stuff and is now celebrating two months of sobriety.
The NHS business administrator said that alcohol was 'destroying' the Botox she was paying for and that she 'wanted a drink' as soon as the weekend came around.
"I used drink to be seen as a loud, fun-time girl," she admitted, adding: "Prosecco was always my go-to - I could drink two bottles a night."
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Sarah explained: "I would do silly things when drunk, like flashing my knickers and walking into walls. I even split open my nose on the toilet when I was throwing up."
Reflecting on it, she admitted that her drinking and subsequent hangovers would negatively affect her marriage as she would be left feeling lazy, with the overwhelming feeling of 'anxiety and depresison' after her 40th serving as a wake-up call.
She quickly realised that drinking aws aging her, and she vowed never to be 'that chaotic person again'.
Having had her first drink at the age of just 12, she would move onto spirits and prosecco in time, resulting in binge-drinking throughout her 20s, with this behaviour sticking around even after she met her husband, Martyn, 45.
The pair have a daughter, seven, and a son, six, together.
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This isn't the first time Sarah tried her hand at sobriety though, having made it to 90 days back in 2023 before slipping back into the habit.
"I didn't let motherhood stop me from having a good time," she recalled.
"I'd celebrate getting midway through the week with a bottle of prosecco on Wednesday and then the same again on Friday."
Her Sunday drinking habits meant that Monday mornings were awful, as she said: "Martyn and my sister sat me down many times to tell me to stop drinking because they saw me at my absolute lowest,
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"I'd tell them 'I don't have a problem- I just like to have a good time'. "
But since she started to get Botox and filler in 2021, she wasn't too worried, despite claiming she was 'ruining' her insides. After a six-hour pub crawl on her birthday, she couldn't shower, eat, or walk the dog, spending the day on her sofa in tears.
"Something within me changed, and through willpower alone, I've been 67 days sober. I don't ever want to go back," Sarah claimed.
Now, the mother wakes up at 6am with all the energy in the world, and says that she's a better parent to her kids.
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Family bike rides are a regular occurrence and while she will continue to get cosmetic procedures every six months, she 'looks and feels more youthful.
Sarah is now also an avid vegetable-grower, and shares her sobreity journey with those on Instagram through her account @sarahstayssober.
"I'd like to think I'm helping people, just as much as they help me,' she admitted, after saying that she used to be embarrassed about her old drinking habits.