How lockdown helped one Bedford man give up the booze and launch an app for others

While many found themselves drinking more and more during the boredom of lockdown, for one Bedford man, it was a wake-up call.

Always a social drinker, Matt Pink enjoyed traveling to London’s West End, especially at the weekend.

But then the weekend drinking became mid-week drinking and then the mid-week drinking turned into wet lunches.

The 39-year-old from Biddenham said: “In 2012 I had a great job earning good money in central London. I was married with a daughter and a newborn son, I thought I had made it in life.

"In April 2013, my life changed forever when my four-and-a-half-month-old son Rocco died in his sleep. My relationship with alcohol went from something that I wanted to something that I needed, it was the only thing that was getting me through the incredible pain of losing my son.”

Matt tried to pick up the pieces of his life and slowly reintegrate back into society – but, as he says, “something had changed”.

He said: “I found myself drinking a lot more, once I started it was very hard to stop. I was spending more and more time in the bright lights of the West End, not wanting to go home or simply unable to.”

A few years later, his marriage ended, and he was left sofa surfing.

But that’s by no means the end of Matt’s story. While the rest of us were adapting to the new normal of lockdown during the pandemic, he saw his chance.

He said: “When the lockdown came around I saw an opportunity to get out and I took it. What better opportunity will I ever get? Away from the bright lights, stuck indoors and not knowing if or when things would ever go back to how they once were.”

He started to write a book about his life which became a best seller on Amazon and documented his journey on Instagram under the @better_life_guy account, reaching over 71,000 followers.

And that's now all, Matt has also qualified as an alcohol-free coach and co-founded the Dryy app.

He added: “I have now dedicated my life to helping as many people to take a break from drinking or give it up altogether and I have never felt more alive.”

You can download the Dryy app here

You can access Matt’s website here