My Life Without Alcohol: “When you’re an alcoholic, you think no one knows, but everyone does.”

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Putting wine, beer, or spirits away after a few boozy weeks. This is the idea behind initiatives like "Dry January," or alcohol-free month , or its Australian cousin, Dry July , launched in 2008. They allow us to question our relationship with the (over)consumption of alcoholic beverages. But for others, sometimes in situations of addiction, sobriety has become a saving way of life. In this episode, Jean, 38, a strategy consultant in Paris, talks about how alcohol had taken up too much space in his life.

"I left Paris to study in London. At that time, I drank at parties, without overdoing it. It was when I started working, around the age of 25, that my drinking became problematic. It took me a while to realize it, especially since in London, drinking was the norm.

"There are different forms of alcoholism. At the time, I drank in a social context. It was around my thirties that I started drinking alone. P