Being sober makes you brave. You hear that a lot. And you hear that because, quite frankly, it's true. Last week, I had one of the craziest days of my life - and one where I had to really channel that bravery.
Wednesday was one of the days I was rota'd to work in the NHS; so I went off as usual, lunch in hand, expecting a normal 12-hour day - busy, tiring but ultimately enjoyable.
Then at about half 9 I got a text that was a bit of a curveball. It was from a number I didn't recognise, from someone called Ryan who, it read, is a producer on the Jeremy Vine show on BBC Radio 2. He wondered if I had a moment to run something past me... Gulp.
Back in December 2022 I appeared on BBC Radio Sheffield's mid-morning show with two other local sober people to talk about being sober at Christmas. "You did really well, can I we add you to the database?" "Yeah, sure".
Since then I've been contacted by the BBC a couple of times; earlier this year I spoke to BBC Newcastle breakfast show about Dry January, and last month a 5Live producer was looking for 'sober young women'; which was a little bit of a slap in the face when it turned out she meant a 'Gen Z' and not a 44 year old Gen Xer...
So I rang Ryan back; would I go up against journalist Mike Perry to discuss the loss of the Great British Pintâ„¢. This was following a research paper that looked into the effect on beer sales by reducing the volume it's served in. You can read about it here.
Obviously, being at work this wasn't entirely my decision to make. NHS Diagnostic Imaging departments aren't reknowned for having the capacity for someone to slip away to appear on National Radio, so I tracked down my boss and she let me - mentioning something about 'lunchbreak' which I chose to interpret as 'take leave and have your lunch later' - and said I could use her office.
I spent the next two hours (between patients, obviously) frantically read the article, got my 'arguments' straight in my head and before I knew it, I was sitting in my boss' office waiting for the call.
The rest, as they say, is history. The section lasted about 15 minutes, and you can listen to it here.
After it finished I did a little dance and - full of adrenaline - returned to the department so that other members of the team could go for lunch. My phone was a little crazy for the rest of the day - with the theme largely being how I did well, didn't lecture him and well, some comments about the journalist's approach that I won't repeat.Â
The rest of the shift went without incident - and when I got home at half 8, it was like the day hadn't happened in the strangest way. I listened back, and to the callers after it - how odd that people were talking about what I was saying while I was back scanning patients. Was it a dream??
If you listen, I'd love to know what you think. Ultimately, I'm all for education around alcohol and people making informed choices. Hopefully this will have done something to help with that...
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