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On January 1, 2015, mum-of-two Kate Gibson woke up in her spare room, in a bed covered with urine, her head cloudy after consuming five bottles of wine the night before.

She could hear her son in the other room, asking his father why she was still in bed. 

'Mummy's just tired mate,' she heard her partner tell their children. 'She's trying to catch up on some sleep.' 

It was a lie, but it would be the one that finally changed Kate's life.

Mum-of-two Kate Gibson, 42, has written a brutally honest account about her journey to sobriety after drinking regularly for nearly 26 years of her life 

Kate revealed to Daily Mail Australia that she was drinking at least 88 350ml bottles of Strongbow a week - an average of 12 a day - at the height of her drinking 

Twenty six years of drinking would go by before that fateful New Year's Day, when Kate, now 42, decided she finally needed to make a change. 

'I was laying there thinking, I cannot do another year like this and what a horrible way to start the new year - with the father of my children lying to them,' Kate told Daily Mail Australia. 

It was a dramatic turning point for Kate, from Victoria, who had instantly fallen in love with the bottle when she had her first taste at the age of 14. 

Kate was at her father's 50th birthday party when she got drunk for the first time, a pivotal moment in her life that was akin to meeting a first love. 

'I remember what I was wearing, how I'd done my hair,' Kate wrote in a candid essay for Mamamia. 

'And the moment,' she added, 'That I knew alcohol was going to be a very special and necessary part of my life.'

Although Kate had an 'amazing childhood', alcohol was a way for her to escape reality.

'I had a few issues regarding not fitting in,' she told Daily Mail Australia.

'I always felt a little different to everybody else, I was always a bit thicker than everyone else, I always struggled with weight issues.' 

'And when I drank, it didn't matter. Nothing mattered anymore. I was in my own little world in my head, it was quite freeing, it was my own little journey.' 

Kate also found alcohol to be inspiring as she pursued a music career and began to write her own music. 

Kate (pictured right as a teen) got drunk for the first time when she was 14 years old at her father's birthday party, and said she immediately felt as if she had found a soulmate

'I was surrounded by alcohol,' she said of the music industry. 'I'd never get on the stage sober - the first time I did a gig sober was when I was pregnant, and that was at age 38.' 

'When I wasn't drinking it was boring,' she added. 'I never thought I'd be able to write a song or do a lot of the stuff I did if I wasn't drinking.'

From the moment she first got drunk at her father's birthday, Kate said alcohol became her obsession.  

Drinking soon became entwined with her reputation as she began top sneak alcohol into school and guzzling more than anyone else at a party. 

As she got older there were nights of drinking until 3am that turned into mornings where she was late at work - if she arrived at all. 

There were accidents, broken bones, sneaking off to the pub at lunch and getting behind the wheel of her car after drinking too much. 

From her teen years, Kate could tell that her habits were different from her friends and began to suspect that she was an alcoholic. 

'I immediately noticed that I was different to them,' she wrote in her essay. 'They knew when they'd had enough or they'd get so sick that they'd swear off drinking ever again.'

The mum-of-two stayed sober during both of her pregnancies with her children, now aged nine and four, but it wasn't until January 1, 2015 that she quit the bottle for good 

'Not me. It didn't matter what happened to me or how sick I got, it was never enough to deter me for more than a day or two, or a weekend at the very most.' 

Kate successfully stayed sober during both of her pregnancies, and would occasionally stop for a few weeks here or there. 

But she was always thinking about the bottle. 

'There was a point I went 90 days without alcohol,' she revealed to Daily Mail Australia. 

'And the whole 90 days I was counting down.' 

Right up until she quit, Kate was drinking about 88 small bottles of Strongbow cider a week - the equivalent of around 12 a day - and that's only what she was buying herself.  

At the very first day of 2015, Kate finally admitted to herself that something needed to change. 

'It was definitely quite overwhelming,' she told Daily Mail Australia. 'Here's another year ahead, and it's just going to be the same as all the other years.' 

Kate admitted that she still finds it hard when she is in social settings where friends and family are drinking, or at times when she feels depressed or stressed 

There was a time when Kate's fridge (pictured before she got sober) was filled with wine

'I couldn't cope with that anymore.' 

But Kate said she has found immense clarity in her sobriety now that her mind is no longer 'consumed with thinking about drinking' 

Fast-forward two years later, and Kate, who is no longer in a relationship with her partner, is finding that a sober life means one with a clear mind.

'My mind isn't consumed with thinking about drinking,' she said. 

'I used to wake up in the morning and argue with myself about what happened the night before. I would think about it all day, "Should I drink tonight, can I do that with a hangover?'"

'I don't have to worry about any of that, its almost like my mind has been cleared and its free to do what normal minds would do.' 

'I see things in a different light now,' she added. 'Everything is much clearer, and I'm much more grateful for the tiny little things I see every day.' 

Sobriety has also come with its own set of difficulties, and Kate said she is still caught by surprised when she feels the urge to drink. 

'Sometimes a summer day comes along and its perfect beer weather, and I might see people down the street outside a cafe having a glass of wine and I get a bit jealous,' she said. 

The trigger can be as small as seeing a woman carrying a six-pack of beer behind her in the supermarket, or during periods of depression or stress. 

'But then I think of the consequences,' Kate added. 'And it's not worth it.' 

There is also the inspiration Kate has found as she trains to become a drug and alcohol counsellor, as well as every moment she spends with her children, now aged nine and four. 

Its this new life that inspires Kate now, rather than the bottle, and it was one she wanted to share in her brutally honest essay with the hopes it may inspire others. 

'If I can help one person I'd be so happy,' she said. 'There's no point lying about it.' 

'It is what it is, you have to take ownership of what you've done.'