'A "sober life" I was afraid of.' Tammin Sursok on quitting alcohol.

It's been a year since Home and Away star Tammin Sursok began her sobriety journey.

The actor, who rose to fame in the early 2000s, has been open about her experience with quitting alcohol, telling followers on Instagram she'd developed a "complicated" relationship with drinking.

It got to the point where Sursok felt like she was counting down the days until the weekend rolled around so she could finally drink to feel "normal" again.

Watch: Tammin Sursok on Home and Away. Post continues after video. 

However, Sursok ditched the drinks one year ago and to celebrate her sobriety, the actor shared what it's been like to live without alcohol.

TL;DR – things are good.

In an Instagram reel, she shared a snippet of some of the adventures she's experienced minus the alcohol.

"If you followed me for a long time, you know that I’ve teetered on the idea of ‘sober curious’ for a long time now," she wrote.

"My relationship with alcohol hasn’t really been that complicated."

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Tammin Sursok (@tamminsursok)

"I've never felt like I had to have it or that I had an issue, but I did feel like, in stressful moments and anxious times, I would crave a glass of wine to be able to calm down my limbic system," Sursok continued, adding that the days she could drink were the only ones where she felt "normal".

"I realised that I was using something that, in the moment, made me feel better but yet over time was making me feel worse," the Pretty Little Liars star reflected.

"Alcohol raises dopamine levels, so for people like me, who struggle with low dopamine, it really helps us feel relaxed, sane and, like I said, 'normal'. But it didn’t and doesn’t last long. What goes up must come down, and after drinking any alcohol, dopamine drops dramatically, way lower than it was before, so I’d end up actually feeling way worse than before I had a drink."

The actor said that while she doesn't believe she "actually had an alcohol issue", she was beginning to crave it.

"I never really had an alcohol issue, but I was noticing that I was craving alcohol when I was anxious," she said in her Instagram stories. "To be honest with you... I have had the best year and it has been a stressful year but I haven't felt stressed."

Image: Instagram/@tamminsursok.

The Aussie actor did share, however, that giving up drinking came with the fear that she would no longer be able to have fun or fit in.

"I’m not gonna lie, a 'sober life' I was afraid of. How am I going to go to parties and fit in? How am I going to have fun? How am I going to feel energy and dance? What will everyone think of me?" she recalled thinking. 

"But I can honestly say, not only have I felt more joy, more happiness, more connection but I’ve felt it in such a greater way.

"And nothing beats waking up the next day after having the time of your life, out until 2am, feeling clear-headed, less anxious and remembering everything that happened the night before!"

The future for Sursok's relationship with alcohol is uncertain, but the actor said she "definitely feels like I'm on the right path".

According to the National Drug Household Survey from 2019, at least one in five working women in Australia are either drinking at hazardous or harmful levels.

For Sursok, this isn't the first time she's reflected on her alcohol consumption.

In 2016, she shared her thoughts on sobriety after attending a retreat. 

"It dawned on me that we are living in such a fast-paced world that we are losing out on our real interaction. We are drinking alcohol to feel better when, in fact, it makes us feel worse, we have stopped looking out at nature and [we] spend our lives looking down on a device, watch mindless TV that doesn’t feed our soul, eat out for the convenience instead of sustenance because cooking takes too much time," she wrote.

"What are we living for??? What are we rushing towards??"

Feature Image: Instagram @tamminsursok.

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