Free, friendly AA meetings are held daily across the Costa del Sol. Credit: DC Studio, Shutterstock
The Costa del Sol is known for sunshine, a busy social life and long summer days. But when autumn arrives, visitors leave, the bustle fades, and for some, loneliness or low mood creeps in
For anyone already struggling with alcohol, drinking can feel like an easy way to cope. A drink to lift your mood or fill an empty evening can become something you rely on – until you are drinking far more than you intended and cannot seem to stop.
Isabelle, 60, knows how alcohol can become an escape from difficult emotions. Her parents were Roman Catholic “pioneers” who had pledged never to drink, which she believes made alcohol more appealing. “On my 18th birthday I planned to get drunk for the first time,” she recalls. “Drinking at first was fun – but I feel I always had a psychological need for a drink from the beginning.”
For 35 years her drinking came and went, and she believed she could control it. But a tragic incident, which led to PTSD, changed everything. “Drinking became my way of getting out of my head so I could not ‘think’,” she says. She drank to blackout many nights, then needed morning drinks to stabilise.
Increasingly isolated, she reached rock bottom when she realised she was drinking against her will and was physically ill all the time. “I knew I was drinking myself to a slow death,” she says.
Isabelle’s first Alcoholics Anonymous meeting was on 11 January 2021. She remembers “a feeling of welcoming and belonging.”
Today, she says, “life is good”. Her message is simple: “Removing alcohol gives us our life back.”
If the quieter months leave you drinking more, using alcohol to deal with loneliness, or promising yourself you will stop but finding you cannot, it may be time to talk to someone. You don’t have to wait for rock bottom.
Free, friendly AA meetings are held daily across the Costa del Sol, and anyone who thinks they may have a drinking problem is welcome.
Call the English-speaking AA helpline on +34 600 379 110 or visit aacostadelsol.com.