Although I had my first straight whiskey when I was eight and started drinking socially when I was 13, I'm definitely no big drinker. So, not drinking any alcohol for a month seemed like an easy-peasy little project. Not even a challenge worth speaking about. Plus I would become a bit healthier and save a few pennies. I clearly didn't quite fathom what I had agreed to do.

Day 1
My flatmate made a lovely dinner for all of us. I poured myself a crisp-looking glass of Sauvignon Blanc, put the glass to my lips and nearly sipped it. Had it not been for my flatmate's reminder, I would failed my mission on the very first day. I had completely forgotten that The Month had started. Looking at the others drinking their wine was like being a child watching my friends eating chocolate in front of me. Left out and missing out.

Day 2
Birthday drinks, leaving drinks, let's-meet-up-for-a-drink-drinks, welcome drinks, celebration drinks. You name it. Why must everything always involve drinking? Any occasion is an excuse for a drink. Or rather, no drinks equals no occasion. It's a rotten alcoholic world we live in. No wonder we all walk around with bad skin and ruined livers. I see drinks and alcohol everywhere today and it bothers me. Under normal circumstances I would never give alcohol a single thought at 3pm on a Tuesday. But today I'm bothered and bitter and there is a whole long month left to go.

Day 3
My boss wanted to take us all out for lunch and champagne to celebrate that we had landed a big deal. I ignored my colleagues' encouragement to cheat, put on a jolly face and asked the waitress to pour me some sparkling water instead of giving me some of the beautiful Laurent Perrier she was generously serving to my colleagues. Sparkling water in a champagne glass does the trick momentarily, but only until the bubbles start making an impact on your fellow drinkers and you realise that however many bubbles you water contains, it will never be as festive as the real thing. Have I lost my sense of humour or are those Christmas-cracker jokes they all laugh at not funny? When I knocked over a glass I obviously got the, 'Ooh, look who's had too much to drink' comment. Not funny. At least I didn't fall asleep with my head on the keyboard when we got back to the office.

Today's advice: Expect to be mocked and for others not to understand - so hold your head high and show them that you are as strong-willed as they are weak!

Day 4
Worked so bloody hard all day. All I wanted was to go home, have a glass of wine and unwind.

Today's advice: Don't work hard. It'll make you think you deserve a drink at the end of the day.

Day 5
I had been dreading Nicole's dinner party for a couple of weeks. Normally I have the best time ever when I go out with that lot, but I was pretty sure that my teetotalling wouldn't go down well.

I was right.

Around lunchtime I got an email from Nicole that read: 'Look forward to seeing you tonight. And by the way, I'm not having any of your not-drinking malarkey.' I would have loved to be able to say that I was tricked or even bullied into drinking that night. However, the truth is that after dutifully saying no thank you to the apéritif, my favourite Prosecco, and staring all the goodness out of the Pinot Noir served with dinner, all my self-control just went down the drain. With a glass of that Pinot Noir. And one more. And another one. And suddenly the world was a much brighter place. I immersed myself in a conversation about how good red wine is for you. All those great antioxidants and all that jazz. I was genuinely surprised to find out that it was three o'clock in the morning when Andy and I left and not midnight as I'd thought.

Today's advice: Avoid dinner-parties with all your might. They are lethal to any sort of detox. And we are only human after all.

Day 6
I'm never going to drink again. No really, I mean it. Maybe red wine is not that good for you after all. I feel awful. Disgusting, fat, smelly and ill. Not only do I feel rubbish mentally because I let myself down and failed my mission in less than a week, but I also feel like getting out of bed would physically kill me.

To make matters worse, it's Megs's birthday and she has arranged a party at some bar. I did well in avoiding the scene for as long as possible and it was only after my boyfriend Dan had received five calls from Megs's boyfriend that we got going.

When we got there everybody was swigging shots and sipping cocktails. A plastered girl was dancing around and falling into everybody. How annoying and how disgraceful. I only managed to drink half of my lemonade before Megs knocked the table over and we all got soaked in Sex on the Beach and Stella Artois. Absolutely legless, she asked her boyfriend Dave to take her home. Although I felt sorry for Megs, I was secretly very pleased. No more alcohol-torture for tonight.

Today's advice: Turn up very late to birthday-parties. With a little bit of luck it will make your evening without alcohol short and sweet.

Day 7
My boyfriend's parents had invited us for Sunday dinner. It hurt to say no thanks to that. I love their company and I love their food. And I love the great wine they always serve. It would be rude to go and then not drink even a small glass of whatever fantastic red wine they had bought.

Today's advice: If you can't say no, stay away.

Day 8 - 12
I start to get the point. I feel better physically and now I'm learning to ignore the alcohol-infused side of social life, I don't think so much about it either. I have had a mountain of work to do this week and deep down I know, I wouldn't have been able to do as much as I have done if I had gone out for a drink even once in the past few days. I don't necessarily feel healthy. Maybe because I have been eating a lot of comfort food and have had a lot of fizzy drinks, which I wouldn't normally. But I do have more energy and it's been easy to get up in the mornings.

Today's advice: Avoid alcohol if you have lots of work to do.

Day 13
After a tough week at work and not much incitement to have a wild weekend out, my boyfriend and I decided to get away from London's intoxicating lures and go to the coast to de-stress.

Tired from all the fresh air and wholesomeness the seaside has to offer, we went to a lovely restaurant for dinner. Despite the fact that Dan didn't want any alcohol and that he at no point encouraged me to have some, this was, surprisingly, one of the most difficult moments in my time as a teetotaller. I so wanted a glass of wine. The waiter must have thought that I was a recovering alcoholic. I obsessively read every single word of the wine-list and kept changing my mind. Should I or shouldn't I? Anyway, the food was scrummy, but it would have been so much better with a glass of wine.

Day 14 – 16
Getting into a routine now. I keep myself busy with work and the thought of alcohol does not even enter my mind. I've been trying to drink herbal teas instead of coffee, and in general eat a bit more healthily. Physically I feel good. I'm not so sure about my mental state, though.

Day 17
Jason's leaving lunch. I apologised profusely for not being able to go. There is no need to put myself in a vulnerable situation. I'm at a point where I don't really mind missing out on social events, but it's a shame that I'm becoming a bit of a loner, albeit a healthy loner, for avoiding alcohol.

Day 19
My friend and flatmate, Nkuli's surprise birthday party. The house is full of wine, beers and spirits and it's really tempting to join in the fun. Luckily my other flatmate, Annelise, doesn't really drink and seeing her being perfectly capable of enjoying herself without alcohol keeps me strong.

Day 20 –21
Waking up and feeling fresh as a daisy while everybody else is hungover is a triumph. For some reason I don't get any pats on the back. Although I enjoy having lots of energy, I can't help but feel a bit like the outsider who doesn't feel like eating bacon sarnies, drinking Coke and watching crap TV.

Day 22
Was working till 10pm and only left to go and see a friend of mine, who was leaving the country the following day. I seriously thought about having a sneaky drink with her, but luckily she had had enough already and just wanted a lemonade.

Day 23
Dinner at a posh restaurant in Mayfair with the girls. I don't understand why I keep putting myself in this situation. I know by now that a dinner out cannot be fully enjoyed without a glass or two of wine. It didn't help that we opted for the tasting menu – with matching wine. A six-course dinner with six different wines. It was pure torture. A truly horrific experience.

Advice of the day: I cannot stress this enough, do not go out for dinner!

Day 24
Was supposed to go for dinner at a friend's house, but she postponed it at the last minute as she was feeling ill. I was secretly pleased as I was just not in the mood to face another big dinner without any wine.

Day 25
What is a launch party without a glass of champagne? Boring and a waste of time. Scoffed about 30 canapés, while holding onto my glass of champagne, which just got warmer and warmer. Made sure I circulated constantly so nobody would realise that I actually didn't drink any of the bubbly in my glass. And then I didn't even get a goodie-bag when I left. At least I won't go to work tomorrow with a hangover.

Today's advice: Avoid launch parties. Without the champagne they're really not worth the trouble.

Day 26
Why, oh, why have I not discovered non-alcoholic cocktails before today? Went for dinner with my friend Elly and, with a moody face, ordered my usual orange juice. 'They've got non-alcoholic cocktails, you know,' Elly said and right there and then she opened a whole new world for me. Providing you choose the right drink you will not be able to taste the lack of alcohol. I chose a Virgin Mule and it was delicious. After dinner I went to another friend's birthday party.

'Come on, let's have a shot!'

'I'm not drinking at the moment.'

'Have a non-alcoholic shot then.'

'What's the point?'

'Being sociable.'

'OK.' To my amazement, it did the trick.

Today's advice: Try alcohol-free cocktails, shots and beers. They are better than you think.

Day 27
What an amazing feeling it is to go out on Friday and wake up on Saturday morning without the slightest hint of a hangover. Felt fresh and energetic from the moment I woke up and spent all day doing really useful things. I made a healthy pumpkin soup and a delicious cassoulet and only thought about opening a bottle of wine to have with it for a few seconds.

Today's advice: An alcohol-free Saturday is a rare species. Protect it.

Day 28- 30
I really do feel better physically and now I'm getting used to a life without alcohol, my mental state is slowly getting better too. I might even enjoy my last day as a teetotaller. It has been a bit of an eye-opener to see how much alcohol I would have consumed in the past month had I not been acutely aware of avoiding it.

Although the immediate health benefits are not apparent, it's obvious that my body is happier than normal. My skin is better and although I have been working more than usual, I'm feeling a bit more energetic than I have done for a couple of months. If I had been living more healthily overall and opted for fruit juices instead of fizzy drinks instead of alcohol, I would probably have felt even better.

The downside is that most of my usual social life – and even work life - very much involves alcohol. Giving up meant I had to choose between avoiding festivities altogether or feeling like the most boring outsider in the world, which is not healthy for anybody's mental state in the long run.

I will let my hair down now and then in the future, but I think it's time to be nicer to my liver and cut down on the everyday bingeing. Cheers!