One for the Road: The Quit Drinking Podcast

Have you ever wondered whether your drinking is still “normal,” or whether alcohol is taking up more space in your life than you’d like to admit?In this episode of One for the Road, Sober Dave is joined by bestselling author and grey area drinking expert Sarah Rusbatch for an honest conversation about women’s relationship with alcohol, mummy wine culture, moderation and the subtle ways drinking can become something we rely on.Sarah shares how she appeared happy and successful on the outside while, internally, her anxiety was getting worse and alcohol was taking up more and more headspace. What began as a way to socialise and have fun gradually became wine at home, a reward at the end of the day and a way to switch off.They explore why so many women don’t identify with traditional ideas of alcohol addiction, how one glass can quietly become two or three, the shame of repeatedly promising yourself you’ll drink less, and why grey area drinking can be so difficult to recognise.Sarah also opens up about trying to moderate her drinking for years before eventually accepting two things that changed her life: she couldn’t moderate, and everything in her life was better when she didn’t drink.Dave and Sarah also discuss mummy wine culture, alcohol marketing towards women, the 5 p.m. drinking trigger, alcohol and anxiety, sober friendships, relationships after quitting drinking, finding healthier ways to regulate stress, and learning to build a life where alcohol is no longer needed as the reward.If you’ve ever thought, “I don’t have a drinking problem, but I know I want to drink less,” this episode is for you.Sarah Rusbatch is the bestselling author of Beyond Booze and host of the Stronger, Bolder, Wiser podcast.

*Trigger warning-This show has discussions around suicide*How do you know when drinking has crossed the line from “I drink a lot” to “I have a problem”?In this episode of One For The Road, Sober Dave is joined by Emma Walsh, who shares how her relationship with alcohol slowly progressed from social drinking to drinking two, sometimes nearly three bottles of wine a night.From the outside, Emma had built a successful life — a career, a marriage and two young children. But underneath it all, she was struggling with anxiety, depression, imposter syndrome and a deep sense of not knowing who she really was.As drinking became her way of coping with difficult emotions, the consequences began to grow. Blackouts, risky decisions, overwhelming hangovers and constant negotiations with herself about how much she would drink became part of everyday life. Yet for a long time, Emma still didn’t believe she had a problem with alcohol.Everything began to change when a friend told Emma she had stopped drinking and encouraged her to educate herself about alcohol. Emma started listening to recovery podcasts and, for the first time, began recognising herself in the stories she was hearing.The realization finally hit her: “I just thought I was drinking a lot. But I never realized I had a problem.”If you want to connect with me via Instagram, you can find me on the instahandle @Soberdave https://www.instagram.com/soberdave/or via my website https://davidwilsoncoaching.com/Provided below are links for services offering additional help and advice.www.drinkaware.co.uk/advice/alcohol-support-serviceshttps://nacoa.org.uk/

Have you ever wondered why getting sober didn’t magically fix everything you thought it would?After eight years of sobriety, Victoria Vanstone the host of Sober Awkward podcast found herself hitting an unexpected wall. She wasn’t craving alcohol or wanting to return to drinking. Instead, sobriety had started revealing something deeper: people pleasing, anxiety, identity, boundaries and years spent trying to prove she could still be the fun person in the room.In this episode of the One For The Road Podcast, Sober Dave and Victoria have an open conversation about what happens after the initial excitement of quitting alcohol wears off and the deeper work begins.Victoria shares why she spent years trying to fit in after getting sober, the reality of mummy wine culture, parenting without alcohol, social anxiety, shame and regret, and why sobriety is often the starting line rather than the finish line.They also explore alcohol cravings, moderation, sober socialising, mental health, personal growth and what it really means to build a life you no longer need to escape from.If you’ve quit drinking, are sober curious, questioning your relationship with alcohol, or wondering why life still feels difficult in sobriety, this conversation is for you.If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe, leave a review, and share it with someone who could benefit from hearing that sobriety isn't about perfection—it's about progress.If you enjoy One For The Road, then click follow to be notified of the release of our next episode.If you want to connect with me via Instagram, you can find me on the instahandle @Soberdave https://www.instagram.com/soberdave/or via my website https://davidwilsoncoaching.com/Provided below are links for services offering additional help and advice.https://www.wearewithyou.org.uk/https://www.drinkaware.co.uk/advice/alcohol-support-serviceshttps://nacoa.org.uk/https://alcoholchange.org.uk/

Have you ever promised yourself you wouldn’t drink, only to find yourself buying alcohol again hours later?Peter’s drinking eventually reached the point where a litre of gin wasn’t a problem. He would wake up determined to stop, only to find himself back at the supermarket buying more by the afternoon.In this episode of One For The Road with Sober Dave, Peter shares how growing up around alcoholism, heroin addiction and chaos shaped his life, how his own drinking became an escape, and what finally happened when he decided enough was enough.This is a powerful conversation about alcohol addiction, childhood trauma, quitting drinking, recovery and rebuilding your life in sobriety.If you want to connect with me via Instagram, you can find me on the instahandle @Soberdave https://www.instagram.com/soberdave/or via my website https://davidwilsoncoaching.com/Provided below are links for services offering additional help and advice.www.drinkaware.co.uk/advice/alcohol-support-serviceshttps://nacoa.org.uk/Thank you for listening to One For The Road.

This week on One For The Road, Dave is joined by Liberty X star Michelle Heaton for one of the rawest and most brutally honest conversations of the series.From pop fame, red carpets and chart success to addiction, intervention, rehab and rock bottom — Michelle opens up about the reality behind the headlines. She speaks candidly about living with the BRCA gene, undergoing a double mastectomy and hysterectomy, the identity crisis that followed, and how alcohol and cocaine slowly took over her life.Michelle shares the terrifying depths of addiction, drinking vodka at 7am, hiding bottles around the house, pushing away the people she loved most and reaching a point where she genuinely believed she was going to die.Now sober and rebuilding her life one day at a time, Michelle talks about recovery, boundaries, motherhood, self-worth and finding hope after complete chaos.This episode is fearless, heartbreaking, funny in places and deeply inspiring — a conversation about survival, sobriety and what happens when you finally decide you want to live.If you want to connect with me via Instagram, you can find me on the instahandle @Soberdave https://www.instagram.com/soberdave/or via my website https://davidwilsoncoaching.com/Provided below are links for services offering additional help and advice, and links for Michelle.https://www.instagram.com/wonderwomanshel/https://www.wearewithyou.org.uk/https://www.drinkaware.co.uk/advice/alcohol-support-serviceshttps://nacoa.org.uk/https://alcoholchange.org.uk/Show producer- Daniella AttanasioInstagram - @Daniellattanasio

Millie Gooch is the founder of Sober Girl Society, author of The Sober Girl Society Handbook, and one of the loudest voices in the UK sober community for women in their twenties.But four years ago she was a blackout drinker.She didn't drink at all until 18, then went to uni, took three bar jobs, got paid in alcohol, and came out the other side a four-or-five-night-a-week binge drinker. PR and journalism after that. Free Bar Fridays. Ending up in Dover at 4am because she'd fallen asleep on the train. Three weeks in Thailand spent almost entirely drunk or hungover. A six-year relationship breakup at 24 that sent her head-first into another year of going out and getting hammered.She read a Stylist magazine interview with Catherine Gray on the tube one hungover morning. Took a photo of the article. Did nothing about it. Then in February 2018, after a night she couldn't remember at all, she downloaded the audiobook and listened to it for eight straight hours on the worst hangover of her life.That was her last drink.In this episode she walks through how Sober Girl Society started by accident, the trap of becoming "the sober person" instead of just a person, and what changes between year one and year four.If you enjoy One For The Road, then click follow to be notified of the release of our next episode.You can also access further content and shows on my Patreon account by clicking the link below.https://www.patreon.com/user?u=62824759&fan_landing=trueIf you want to connect with me via Instagram, you can find me on the instahandle @Soberdave https://www.instagram.com/soberdave/or via my website https://davidwilsoncoaching.com/Provided below are links for services offering additional help and advice, and links for Millie.Instagram.com/sobergirlsocietyInstagram.com/milliegoochhttps://www.amazon.co.uk/Sober-Girl-Society-Handbook-empowering/dp/1787634124/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1636881084&sr=8-1https://www.wearewithyou.org.uk/https://www.drinkaware.co.uk/advice/alcohol-support-serviceshttps://nacoa.org.uk/https://alcoholchange.org.uk/Show producer- Daniella Attanasiohttps://www.grownuphustle.com/Instagram - @daniellattanasio

Ollie Ollerton was 10 years old when a 50-pound chimpanzee pinned him to the floor of a circus enclosure and tried to kill him. He fought it off. Nearly lost his arm to gangrene. Then spent the next thirty-something years chasing danger to feel something close to that adrenaline again.Royal Marines. Special Forces. Iraq, where he drove drunk through Baghdad on his own with an AK-47 in the back of an armoured Mercedes. Steroids. Valium. A bottle most nights to muffle whatever was underneath. He was the life and soul of every party. He was also barely keeping it together.Ollie is now sober, runs his company Breakpoint, hosts SAS Who Dares Wins, and uses his platform to talk honestly about what alcohol actually cost him.You'll hear about: the chimp attack that shaped 30 years of his life; "personality rental" and why none of it was ever really him; the moment in Baghdad when he realised he was knocking on death's door; why he had to dip back into drinking to be sure; what it actually means to choose short-term discomfort for long-term gain.If you've been telling yourself you've got it under control, this one's for you.If you enjoy One For The Road, then click follow to be notified of the release of our next episode.If you want to connect with me via Instagram, you can find me on the instahandle @Soberdave https://www.instagram.com/soberdave/or via my website https://davidwilsoncoaching.com/Provided below are links for services offering additional help and advice, and links for Ollie.https://ollieollerton.com/https://www.instagram.com/ollie.ollerton/https://twitter.com/ollie_ollertonhttps://www.wearewithyou.org.uk/https://www.drinkaware.co.uk/advice/alcohol-support-serviceshttps://nacoa.org.uk/https://alcoholchange.org.uk/-Martinezhttps://www.grownuphustle.com/Instagram - @daniellattanasioHosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Lucy Norfolk met Daniel backstage at a London theatre. He was funny, kind, the centre of every room. He was also, slowly, becoming an alcoholic.This is the story rarely told. Not the person in recovery. The partner watching it unfold. Lucy takes us through years of loving Dan: the hiding, the vodka behind the chair while she bathed, the first fit at the park in front of their children, the shattered hip at 38, the osteoporosis, the broken back, the day he turned yellow.Dan didn't make it out of the hospital. His heart, kidneys, and corneas saved three other lives.Lucy is sharing this so partners don't feel alone. So families know where to find help before it's too late. So the word 'alcoholic' stops being whispered.Connect with Lucy on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lucy_norfolk_/If you have been affected by this podcast here are some links to support you.https://www.cruse.org.uk/?s=alcoholhttps://al-anonuk.org.uk/https://www.wearewithyou.org.uk/https://www.actiononaddiction.org.uk/Connect with Soberdave on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/soberdave/And Vist my Website for more support: https://www.soberdave.co.uk/Show producer- Daniella Attanasio-MartinezInstagram - @TheDaniellaMartinezhttps://www.instagram.com/thedaniellamartinez/www.instagram.com/grownuphustle/