This is Annie Grace and you're listening to this naked mind podcast where without judgment,

pain or rules, we explore the role of alcohol in our lives and culture.

Hi, this is Annie Grace and welcome to this naked mind podcast.

So today I have Stephen with me and welcome Stephen. I'm so excited to have you on.

Hi, thanks for having me. I'm excited to.

That's so cool. So why don't you just, yeah, back up, start from the beginning and let us know where it all started.

Okay, so when I was a kid, I grew up in a in a nice upper middle class town on Long Island.

We had good schools. I went to public school and I was an athlete throughout middle school and high school.

Never drank, never really drank in high school except maybe like one time I saw it over a year.

I got wasted that time. I enjoyed it at the time, but it was just kind of a one time thing.

And I really didn't, didn't drink at all or do any drugs or anything like that until I graduated high school.

So I was an athlete. I was, you know, a very, very good kid, a very clean kid with a lot of things.

I did wholesome things while I was a kid and I had great parents. I had a lot of advantages.

So it was a good upbringing and I, you know, I can't complain. I mean, everything was wonderful.

And then when I got into college, I mean, I did start drinking there and I remember really enjoying it.

Thinking it was, wow, this is great, you know, but it wasn't like the first time that I felt like, oh, this is what I should be doing.

It was, you know, just something that I thought was a lot of fun.

And I did it kind of just like everybody else and I joined a fraternity and I did some cross country and track running in college and I quit about halfway through my sophomore year.

It was really, I mean, it was actually a good decision at the time anyway.

But, you know, I continue to be an athlete and I continue to exercise and all that stuff, but I just wasn't part of the team at that time.

And I joined a fraternity and, you know, it was kind of like in some ways a bit of a glorified drinking club, but it was actually kind of the norm where I was.

I mean, you know, it's to that special status of alcohol that getting a hangover was, you know, this thing that, wow, you must have had fun last night or something.

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