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 back to this naked mind podcast. Today I'm really excited

because I have Jamie and Jamie has not only expertise. She's a registered nurse and certified

health coach and nutritionist, but she also has just an amazing story of her own journey of

finding freedom. So welcome, Jamie. It's so great to have you here. Oh, it's such an honor,

honor to be on here. Thank you. That's so awesome. So why don't you just jump right in and get us

started, but what was your life like before you decided to give up alcohol? Yeah, sure. So I

think I'm going to start from the beginning kind of when I first started drinking, which was around

the age 16. And the first time I started drinking, if you were watching from the outside, you would have

said she has a problem. I drank half a bottle of vodka, locked out until 5 p.m. the next day,

and then it was off to the races. There was no repercussions. There was no new patients have done that.

It was just, oh, this is fun. This is this is the whole new world. And it was kind of

straight ahead 100 miles per hour for the next 12 years. So it was like I had this slow gradual,

oh, let me see what this is like. It was just, oh, wow, this is amazing. Let's see what happens.

So kind of, you know, even in high school, at the time I was 17, I was working as a waitress. So

20, 30 hours a week and going to high school. And I had this mentality of work hard play hard.

And so even by 17, people would pull me aside and be like, you know, my best friend would be like,

maybe you're drinking a little bit too much. And I would, you know, kind of lash out and be like,

you don't know what you're talking about. I work so hard. You don't know what my life is like, kind of

that typical, you know, justification. So then fast forward to, I guess, maybe 10 years later,

and I'm living in the New York City lifestyle. So I'm a registered nurse. I have a background

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