A student who ditched booze after passing out while drinking heavily says she still loves going to the pub - and praised Tom Holland for speaking out about going sober. <br /><br />Phoebe Pallot, 21, decided to give up alcohol after growing reliant on a glass of wine to get to sleep during the Covid lockdowns.<br /><br />She says she also struggled with excessive boozing in her teenage years - which led some pals to stop inviting her to events.<br /><br />But Phoebe - a second year marketing student - says she feels better than ever after going teetotal.<br /><br />And she has praised Spider-Man star Tom Holland for putting the topic in the public eye, after he revealed he had been sober for a year.<br /><br />Phoebe, from Alderney, Guernsey, said: "I would go to extremes with drinking. People didn’t want to invite me.<br /><br />“I have always been quite curvy. I think I drank to feel more comfortable. I wasn’t aggressive but I would fall asleep and pass out.<br /><br />“People would worry about how I got home. Now I feel very real.<br /><br />“It’s so nice – there is no collateral the next day.”<br /><br />Phoebe, who does not want to disclose the university she attends, leaned on alcohol after struggling with the “quiet nights” of the pandemic.<br /><br />She said: “I struggled on and off with insomnia. I started this habit of having to have a glass of wine before sleep.<br /><br />“It turned into a reliance. When I went to university I just wanted to quit.”<br /><br />Phoebe started her course in September 2021 without booze and struggled with withdrawal symptoms and loneliness.<br /><br />She said: “I was shaking and had heart pain.<br /><br />“First year was really hard. It was lonely and isolating.<br /><br />“I wasn’t going out clubbing. I went back home at Christmas and drank on Christmas Eve. I felt awful the next day.”<br /><br />So, when Phoebe went back to university, she decided to “quit” the booze for good.<br /><br />She’s now surrounded herself with like-minded friends and her boyfriend, who rarely drinks.<br /><br />Phoebe said: “I’m generally happy. I deal with sadness better. I still go to the pub. I love a house party. I love dancing.<br /><br />“I have a wholesome life. I’m making the most of life.”<br /><br />Phoebe hopes there can be more education surrounding sobriety.<br /><br />She said: “You have to learnt to be confident not drinking.<br /><br />“If people say we’re boring they don’t understand. It doesn’t bother me.<br /><br />“If universities created sober events I don’t that helps the problem. I think there needs to be education.”<br /><br />And she has praised actor Holland, who revealed he has taken a break from drinking in a recent interview.<br /><br />"It's great to see," she said.
