I started comedy at a young age, before it was legal for me to drink. The fact that I could be in bars, have a beer and nobody would bat an eye was definitely part of the attraction to the trade.

I’m not sure if it was starting at such a young age or just the way I was wired, but stand-up and drinking were forever linked in my brain. How could I possibly do a show without having a few? That would be absolutely preposterous.

But I was incapable of viewing comedy as a business while I was drinking. It became about the ‘party’ that would happen after the show. The excuse I always told myself was there was no way I could be a successful comedian and be sober. How could I? No one would want to work with me. I’d be boring!

There wasn’t some big defining moment that made me stop. But after a headline run of nine shows at a club, with drinks every night, I was depressed. I remember wondering what was wrong with me. I’d just smashed so many shows, why was I so down? I haven’t touched a drink since that Saturday late show almost four years ago.

 It wasn't until I got sober that I was mentally able to look at comedy as a real job and could begin to apply the work ethic one should have at a typical ‘real’ job. I stopped sitting around and drinking after shows, bitching with other comics about who got what and why we should have gotten it. I began to look at my goals practically and began forging a path to obtain those goals.

Alcohol made me lazy as a person and as a comic.  It made me think all I had to do was be funny. For most comics, being funny isn't enough. We have to work hard, know what we want and know how to work towards what we want.

We also have to let go when we don't get that thing we showcased for, that TV spot, or that major festival.  When I drank I held on to all the negative aspects of the business and felt sorry for myself and angry at not getting certain things. But once I got sober I realized I was maybe giving 70 per cent  and not the 110 per cent  needed to take my career as far as I know I can.

As comics, we know that being self-aware onstage is MAJOR. But I wasn't being self-aware offstage, which was a detriment to my mental health and my career.

I still sit around talking with comics, but like attracts like. And without the self-sabotaging habits, I naturally just find myself hanging with more like-minded comedians. I was headed down a bitter path with bitter people. That path definitely does not lead to success.

• Michelle Shaughnessy’s Edinburgh Fringe debut,  Be Your Own Daddy, will be at the Underbelly Bristo Square Jersey Room at 8.30pm.