There is a version of motherhood that runs on depletion.

You’re there, but you’re not fully there. You’re moving through the motions, holding it all together, counting down to the moment you can exhale. And for a long time, that exhale looked like a glass of wine.

I had a handful of compromising experiences with alcohol growing up, but I didn’t hit rock bottom. I didn’t have a story that would make headlines. I had a life that looked good from the outside and a subtle knowing on the inside that I wasn’t as present as I wanted to be.

Eight years ago, I stopped drinking when I found out I was pregnant with my daughter.

And I didn't think about alcohol once for the next year and a half. When it came time to take a night off from the baby with my friends, and there was alcohol poured for me, I could barely finish the class. 

When I went to celebrate a friend's promotion, I joined them with a class of champagne that I took tiny sips from. I realised I couldn't go back. 

Because what I felt changed me. 

More clarity. More patience. More capacity to actually feel my life as it was happening.

Motherhood became the place where this choice revealed itself the most.

Because when you remove alcohol, you don’t just remove a drink. You remove the buffer. The numbing. The softening of edges. And what’s left is raw and real and, at times, confronting. But also, unbelievably alive.

Not drinking alcohol aligned with my desire to be a different kind of mother in today's age.

One who could sit in the chaos without needing to escape it emotionally. One who could wake up clear and grounded. One who could repair faster, love deeper, and hold more without resentment quietly building underneath.

And here’s the part no one talks about enough: it’s not about restriction. It’s about expansion.

The non-alcoholic space has evolved in a way that actually supports this life. It honours the ritual, the beauty, the belonging, the social connection. But it removes what takes you away from all of that.

Because motherhood doesn’t need another layer of disconnection.

It needs presence.

It needs women who feel themselves fully and choose to stay.

This Mother’s Day, that’s what we’re celebrating. Not perfection. Not pressure. Just presence.

And a table that is undoubtedly full.

Fiona Hepher, Co-Founder Sansorium

Shop our Spring Sale for Mother's Day if you want to celebrate beautifully.