Coping with Grief - without Drinking.
Sober Awkward
Victoria Vanstone
4.8 • 533 Ratings
🗓️ 7 May 2025
⏱️ 22 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
🎙️ Throwback Thursdays on Sober Awkward!
Every Thursday, we’re serving up a little slice of Sober Awkward history – a short, powerful clip from one of our most-loved past episodes.
Why? Because sometimes, the right words hit differently the second time around. Whether you’re new here or a long-time listener, these throwback moments are here to keep you company, remind you you’re not alone, and offer that little nudge of insight or encouragement just when you need it.
Think of it as a midweek check-in. Something bite-sized to walk with, laugh at, or quietly reflect on. And if the clip hits home? You can go back and listen to the full episode anytime – just follow the link in the show notes.
We know one episode a week isn’t always enough – so here’s your extra helping of honesty, humour, and a bit of awkwardness to get you through the week.
🎧 Listen to the full episode here → https://open.spotify.com/episode/4JLlluSHhOszqYeASiCBcR?si=2f37f5020b624263
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | It's such an important topic to discuss on this podcast. |
| 0:10.3 | Grief and alcohol have sadly come together for as long as we can remember. |
| 0:15.5 | In fact, many people develop an addiction to alcohol when self-medicating through grief or trauma. |
| 0:20.5 | It can also lead to those of us who have worked hard to get sober, sadly relapsing. |
| 0:25.6 | Yeah, this is exactly why we are here to help you avoid falling into this same trap. |
| 0:30.5 | By the end of today's episode, I hope that we can help you understand why turn into the bottle to numb out grief or any pain for that matter is not a wise choice. |
| 0:39.3 | And we will teach you a few tricks of our own to help you prepare for and navigate these situations when sober. |
| 0:46.1 | One of the things that I found most frightening when I began researching the connection between grief and alcohol |
| 0:51.2 | is that not only do most people drink through grief, but more |
| 0:54.9 | importantly, this is the time when an addiction often begins. Yeah, scary. Many people turn |
| 1:00.8 | to alcohol when coping with grief, either stemming from their own terminal illness diagnosis |
| 1:05.4 | or from watching a loved one grow sicker, could be for many reasons. Losing someone is certainly one of the most |
| 1:12.0 | upsetting and painful experiences anyone can have. It's common to go through a wide range of emotions |
| 1:18.4 | from anger and denial to sadness and despair. Each person goes through the grieving process |
| 1:24.4 | differently and they don't always do it in the healthiest way. |
| 1:28.9 | Sadly, self-medicating all that emotional pain often leads to alcohol addiction. With grief's |
| 1:34.3 | impact on mental health taking a serious toll, even for the seemingly strongest and most resilient |
| 1:39.5 | individuals. For many of us, it's comfortable and familiar to drink directly after a negative |
| 1:44.8 | feeling, to cope or take the edge off. It's also easy to be able to rationalise that |
| 1:49.5 | drinking after experiencing a hard day. You might tell yourself it's relaxing or even sleep |
| 1:54.1 | inducing. So why does alcohol have this effect on us? We've spoken a lot how alcohol releases |
| 1:59.7 | dopamine, which effectively makes |
... |
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