Hello Sunday Morning: Alcohol, (non)consumption and selfhood

• Hello Sunday Morning is an online program where people blog about their experiences of not drinking.
• Through analysis of blog posts, participants revealed three key narratives of selfhood.
• These included: (1) a disrupted self, (2) a new healthy self, and (3) a resistant self.
• Short-term periods of abstinence alter attitudes, and promote discussion about alcohol in society.

BackgroundHello Sunday Morning (HSM) is an online program that encourages people to commit to a period of non-drinking and blog about their experiences. The purpose of this paper is to explore how HSM members negotiated their periods of abstention, with a focus on how not drinking influenced their narratives of selfhood.MethodsThematic analysis was undertaken of 2844 blog posts from 154 Victorians who signed up to HSM in 2013 or 2014.ResultsAnalysis revealed three key narratives of selfhood offered by participants: (1) abstinence resulting in a disrupted sense of self, (2) non-consumption facilitating the development of a new healthy self, and (3) anti-consumption facilitating the development of a resistant self.ConclusionIndividuals construct and maintain their sense of self through consumption (or non-consumption) activities, and this occurs within the broader context of the relationship between selfhood, consumption and culture. HSM members developed narratives of self by drawing on a range of wider discursive structures concerning pleasure, healthism and resistance. The typologies of non-drinking selves identified in this paper could be disseminated through platforms such as HSM to support people who are new to non-drinking in choosing how they might construct and enact alternative selfhoods in contexts where alcohol consumption is deeply embedded.