What’s one thing you’re proud of since you’ve been sober?

by John Risby

Published: September 21, 2020 Last updated: November 30, 2023

To be totally honest, it’s hard to say ONE thing.

It could be the fact we’ve helped thousands of people with The Alcohol-Free Shop since 2006 (I became sober in 2004) and made many friends along the way.

It could be the fact that we run the Alcohol-Free Community on Facebook – a free, private group – which right now is helping hundreds of people get sober, stay sober, or just moderate if that is their wish.

It could be the fact I took a huge chance and moved to Spain from the UK, which led me to meeting my wife.

It could be one of hundreds of things frankly.

But I guess, if I had to say JUST one… my 3-year-old daughter who is the light of our lives.

If you had told me in 2004, just before I became sober, I would have done all these things and ended up living in Spain with a Spanish daughter, I’d have thought you were the one who was drunk 😉

About this Q&A

About this Q&A

Over the years I’ve replied to quite a lot of questions asked on Quora. I thought I’d post some of them here. I’ll post the reply I gave at the time and I won’t edit the original answer unless they are very embarrassing 😉 or to fix typos, but I may add an update or correction as a reply if needed. Please feel free to add/disagree etc in the comments section! This answer was originally posted on Quora on 21st September 2020.

About The Author

John Risby

Co-Founder of The Alcohol-Free Shop and AlcoholFree.com. John is a recovering alcoholic who stopped drinking in June 2004. Born and raised in Manchester, he now lives in Malaga with his wife and young daughter. He came to terms with being an alcoholic many years ago, but still finds the concept his daughter is Spanish very strange.