# Euan McColm reflects on 25 years since giving up alcohol

- URL: https://talkfuse.com/story/euan-mccolm-for-18-years-i-blurred-the-world-and-my-feelings-with-booze-but-in-one-flick-of-a-switch-moment-that-changed-and-i-glimpsed-what-was-possible/
- Published: 2026-11-03T18:12:53+00:00
- Updated: 2026-11-03T18:35:09+00:00
- Original publisher: Daily Mail (publisher lean: Right)
- Original article: https://www.dailymail.com/news/article-16262909/18-years-blurred-world-feelings-booze-one-flick-switch-moment-changed-glimpsed-possible.html?ns_mchannel=rss&ns_campaign=1490&ito=1490
- Topics: World

## Key points

- McColm marks 25 years since he stopped drinking.
- He says one moment in a pub changed his life.
- Alcohol harm remains a serious problem in Scotland.

## Summary

Euan McColm reflects on reaching 25 years without alcohol, describing how heavy drinking shaped his life and left him believing he could never be a father or sustain a relationship. He says a sudden moment in a pub in October 2001, when he handed back the pint he had ordered, became the turning point that made recovery possible.

McColm began drinking heavily at 13 and stopped at 31, after 18 years of using alcohol to cope with his feelings. He says shame kept him from discussing his alcoholism for years, while noting that one in five Scottish adults now abstains from alcohol, almost twice the proportion of 20 years ago. Yet alcohol harm remains widespread: around a fifth of adults drink to excess, nearly 21,000 Scots were hospitalised with alcohol-related problems in 2023-24, and alcohol was linked to 1,152 deaths in Scotland in 2025.

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Summarised by TalkFuse (https://talkfuse.com/). Quote the original publisher for the reporting and link this page for the summary and discussion.