Thirty six years old. Try that out for size. How does that sound? Too old? Am I getting old? Am I acting my age? Thirty six years old. So this is how it feels. Staring middle age in the face, bit by bit losing sight of my youth. Thirty six years old. Funny. Isn't it at this point I'm supposed to remind myself that I feel exactly the same as I did when I was 35? That I'm not getting older. That I'm still the same guy I was at 25? But I think I do feel a bit different. It's been a long time coming, but being thirty six is probably the age I've been most prepared for in my life. I'm thirty six years old and feel pretty good about it.

Well, strictly speaking I feel pretty good today. But I don't think I did for the two days following my birthday. Oh no. I'm fairly sure there used to be a time when a night down the pub with a few friends wouldn't require me to take a day off the next day, and if I did take the day off I wouldn't be spending that precious day off feeling sorry for myself. Because I now suffer from two day hangovers. Which gave me a lot of time to philosophise about how I feel about hangovers, or more to the point about drinking so much that I incurred a two day hangover.

Here's the thing. I've been working pretty hard to make sure I do get a two day hangover. I'm not used to drinking like that anymore. And this is a good thing. And, as the hangover began to pass, rather than saying something along the lines of "ugh, never again", then promptly doing it again and again, I realised that something strange had happened. I think I've changed. Yes, after six months, I think a change of lifestyle has occurred.

Let's get one thing straight. I like a drink. That's not going to change, thank goodness. It's just that I quite like being sober a lot more than I like being drunk. Or at least staying sober for much longer stretches than I used to before. I really quite enjoy being out with friends perfectly sober. The interesting thing is that I've found myself choosing to do it, rather than begrudgingly doing it to maintain a diet.

Take the previous weekend for example. I'd played a game of football, and over a beer in the pub, the conversation turned to the engagement party a few of us were going to the next day. "I'm going to drive", I casually mentioned thinking nothing of it. My friend nearly choked on his drink before exclaiming "What?" as if I'd just announced I was planning to arrive naked. But it really wasn't for any other reason that I didn't much fancy drinking, and I thought it would be a hell of a lot easier to drive.

Of course, my birthday was an entirely different matter. I'd done well over the last 6 months. I fancied a drink to celebrate it. I'd been planning it. And since I was planning on drinking to excess, I'd planned to eat to excess as well. So I did both. And I did both with aplomb. With only a slight loss of dignity on the night before.

It was fantastic to see so many good friends. Some of them hadn't seen me for a little while, so I think my new appearance came as a surprise to some. In fact, a very good friend of mine really didn't recognise me. So, I'd clearly made quite an outward change in the last few months. Oh, and while I'm on the subject, I didn't make my target. I was half a stone short. But I'm well pleased with that. And I'm also pleased that the doctor told me I'm in good shape. I'm still going to carry on and meet the target though. I still feel I need to.

Anyway, I've clearly made some outward changes, and I've talked previously about making some changes on the inside. And I do think I'm doing just as well there. I've come to realise that I could no longer just carry on exactly the same way as I was going. I'm quite sure without the change of lifestyle that I feel that I'm making at the moment, I really could find myself ten years from now wondering where the time has gone and wondering why my health is so bad, and why I'm not so happy.

It's an odd feeling thinking about your life with a hangover. It's an even odder feeling knowing that even though my head was pounding there wasn't a thought in that pounding head that regretted drinking the previous night. Neither was I proud of it. I was just safe in the knowledge that such nights were becoming increasingly rare in my life as I start acting my age at last.

I've still got to make my target from six months ago. I'm still going to do that. But I think it's time for a new focus and a new target. I'm not sure what it is yet, but I know I've still got much to do. There's a career to get going. A house to make the most of. And love to find. All of which should be easier to sort out without a hangover. So it's clear to me that whatever the target is, I've got to not forget the lessons I have learnt over the last six months. Everything that's happened and everything that has helped me to think about my life past and present has helped me grow more in this short time than I have done over the last six years. And I've got to keep building on that.

Whatever the target is, I hope I do well, because I'm going to enjoy the next two day hangover. Hopefully I'll have something to feel good about again.