Covid Chronicles: I gave up alcohol in the pandemic

Alcohol never helps in tough times, so UCC's Michelle Healy decided to cut it out at the beginning of the pandemic

Michelle Healy Picture: Claire Keogh

Michelle Healy

In December, I started working at UCC library as the new head of engagement. It's really strange starting a new job and working mostly remotely, but it helps that I already knew a lot of my colleagues. I had worked in UCC from 2017 to 2020 as the student hub project manager and, after spending a few months unemployed during a global pandemic, I’m really grateful to have this job and to be back at UCC.

It’s nearly a year since the first lockdown started last March and it’s also coming up to my ‘one year one beer’ anniversary. When the Government announced the first lockdown, I remember feeling the anxiety in the air and thinking it was going to be a pretty tough time ahead. Alcohol never helps those situations so I thought to myself, "I'm giving up drink for Covid." Little did I know how long Covid would last.

In my previous life, I was a humanitarian aid worker and I spent 10 years working across Africa and the Middle East with the UN and NGOs. I spent a lot of time in lockdown, under curfew, not being able to travel freely and living in some generally pretty stressful situations, where there really wasn’t much to do at all after work except to have a drink in the evening.

I started gradually going off alcohol in the last few years and noticed that I wasn’t really into drinking for the sake of it anymore. I love going to gigs and concerts, but I love them for the spirit of being there as opposed to the alcohol.

I’m also into sea swimming and surfing now, and I prefer to spend my weekends down by the beach. I came back to Ireland in April 2017 after years spent in sunnier climates, so one of the hardest things to return to was the weather: the cold rain and the dark winters. When I moved home, I made a promise to myself that I would never complain about the weather because it’s one thing we just can’t change.

To help my reverse culture shock, I did a beginners' kayak course with the Phoenix Kayak Club on the River Lee, and started sea swimming and surfing with friends. I basically decided that, if I was going to be cold, I might as well embrace it! 

In my opinion, one of the big wins of 2020 for Ireland is that everyone seems to have woken up to the fact that we have the most amazing coastline that we can use all year round.

Being a former humanitarian aid worker has definitely given me a bucket-load of resilience to draw from over the last year of lockdowns and uncertainty. Restricting my movements and relinquishing my travel freedom wasn’t a new concept to me, I’ve been there before… in South Sudan! 

I used to live in compounds where I worked and lived in the same tent day in and day out, so being here in my comfortable house, and working and living from home is manageable.

Living alone and working from home is really isolating I’ve realised lately. It’s not easy to go days without having real in-person conversations and this can really get to me. There was a heavy drink culture in the humanitarian sector and I saw first-hand what can happen to people when stress, isolation and alcohol collide. I’m really mindful of that now and so happy with the choice I made last year to leave the alcohol at the moment I did.

I’ll admit it is much easier to not drink these days. You might be wondering, when we can go out again, will it be weird to not be drinking? I’d like to think not, to be honest! I drove down to the Clonakilty Guitar Festival in 2019 and didn't drink obviously. Sure, I was down there until 1am, dancing in DeBarra’s and having the craic with my cups of tea.

It’s definitely easier now if you choose not to drink than a few years ago. Now there is more of a wellness culture and the like, so it’s more socially acceptable to say: "I’m just not drinking tonight."