Anna Donaghey, 53, from Gloucestershire, found that her addiction to alcohol crept up on her and before she knew it, she was drinking a bottle of wine every night and started sipping earlier and earlier in the day

A Gloucestershire mum who began her battle with the bottle at just 14 found herself necking a bottle of wine every night until a heart-wrenching observation from her daughter made her put a cork in it. Anna Donaghey's drinking spiralled into a full-blown addiction that she couldn't shake off.

Anna confessed: "My addiction happened very slowly, and then very fast. I drank consistently from that first drink aged 14 all the way through to my late 40s, slowly becoming addicted until it hit me very suddenly that I was in trouble. I was drinking every night and when I wasn't drinking, I was thinking about drinking."

"I had become secretive about it, to avoid judgment, hiding it from my husband. After cycles of failed moderation, I would set myself ultimatums that I never met. Ultimately I was drinking when I didn't even want to," revealed Anna, now 53.

"Drinking took a big toll - physically I ached, felt old and was carrying too much weight. I was waking up tired. The cycle was exhausting, my sleep was deeply compromised and my energy levels were very low. Mentally I was also very low feeling stuck and controlled is terrifying."

"Looking back, I passed off so many aches, and pains as being age-related. I explained away so much of the emotional lows as being female and hormonal, and so much of the tiredness down to being a working parent. It is incredible just what a sub-optimal existence I was putting up with and trying desperately to normalise," she reflected, reports Gloucestershire Live.

Anna confessed to feeling weak and 'like a failure for years'. "I couldn't even bear looking in the mirror a lot of the time I hated and had no respect for the person looking back at me."

She lived in constant fear; terrified of quitting alcohol, unsure how she would manage without it, and equally scared of a future where she continued to drink. One Sunday afternoon, while cooking and drinking wine, her daughters walked in and asked to play a board game.

"As we did so, it became very apparent to my husband that I was very drunk. One of my daughters asked him: 'Why is mummy behaving strangely? '."

"We had an argument; he was in tears. His message was clear, 'we can't go on like this'."

Another low point came when Anna, who is now an alcohol mindset coach, was mugged in London. Her memory of the incident was so hazy that she felt too embarrassed to report it to the police or visit the hospital.

"I lost count of the marital arguments. I attended weddings, of which I have very few memories. I was absolutely legless at a works-do, which was another undignified and highly regrettable moment. But those are the big moments."

"There were also countless days in which I knew I was just 'off' and irritable. Not really present and emotionally absent from time spent with the children."

Anna's life took a dramatic turn when she realised her drinking was starting earlier each day, leading her to quit alcohol on New Year's Eve 2020. She discovered a support group and embraced 'This Naked Mind', a method that helped her see the flaws in her beliefs about alcohol.

Now, Anna is not only happier and healthier but also helps others as a coach to quit drinking. She runs the podcast 'The Big Drink Rethink', offering help and tools for those looking to reassess their relationship with booze.

"Overcoming my addiction makes me feel so powerful. It made me feel that if I could do that, I could achieve anything. Aged 50, I was reacquainted with levels of energy and motivation last felt in my twenties."

"Will I ever drink again? When people ask me why I don't drink, or why I'm not having a drink, I always say that I drink as much as I want to and I simply don't want to. I don't see that changing," she declares.