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 friends, it's Annie Grace, author of this naked mind and I am out and about today,

but I still wanted to answer a question. Today's question comes from Mateo and Mateo asks, he says,

how do you gracefully say no because I get a lot of hassle when I don't want to drink? So what are

some tips and tricks to just say no and kind of end the conversation? So I think it's a really good

question. I mean I was really surprised by how much pressure people put on you to drink and I

went into it somewhat naively I think because I thought, all right well no one's going to care,

I'm doing what I'm doing, it's my own body, nobody's going to pressure me and then I remember the

first time I went out in London with a bunch of colleagues and I ordered, you know, people I

have been drinking with, I had stopped drinking, I ordered like a tonic and lime or something and the

questions were like, whoa, like stop, everybody was looking at me all of a sudden like, what, why?

Are you pregnant? Like what's going on? Like, you know, there were so many questions and I just

wasn't prepared for it and so I think it's a really really good point. First of all, I'll say that

if people have been drinking with you and they're your close friends, you probably, oh,

I'm a little bit of an explanation as to, you know, yeah, I just feel better about it these days or

I don't want to drink anymore because I'm happier without drinking or whatever the case is for you,

but if you're just in a random situation with strangers, here's a few tips.

Before I get into the tips though, I think there's something really important that's happening,

like why do people feel uncomfortable when you say no to a drink? So my brother was over the other day

and he and I, well, he was making dinner and he eats 100% organic vegan has been, you know, very

healthy for a very long time and I was asking about it and he's like, yeah, there's a really big

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