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 podcast. I'm here with Evan. Hi, Evan. How are you?

Good, Annie. How are you? Good. Nice to see you. So, why don't you take us back kind of two early days with alcohol for you and you're drinking career? Where did everything start?

Okay, first and foremost, I just want to say thank you for having me today and thank you for your work, you, your book, your podcast have all played a role in me being sober for seven months.

And I can't believe I'm saying that right now and not many people get an opportunity like this to say thank you. So I'm very appreciative of you.

I'm so glad that's amazing. Thank you.

I think the beginning for me like many was was high school. I started drinking when I was 16 and I thought alcohol was the greatest thing on earth.

And I had a very close group of friends and we were all heavy partiers and a lot of bonding occurred through that and a lot of those people are my best friends to this very day.

And although partying and drinking was important to me at that point, I was still able to get good grades, able to keep my part time jobs, play sports and really balancing it didn't seem that hard at the time.

College is when drinking started to affect my academic performance. I went into college, still getting great grades, getting A's my first few semesters.

And by the end I was I was barely getting seas and I barely got out with a degree and I really blame my academic failures towards the end on heavy drinking.

I was far more concerned with the next party than my next exam. That's for sure.

But I was able to take my strengths and weaknesses knowing alcohol was a big part of life and figure if I answered the workforce that would be a good move for me. I was a hard worker, money, motivated.

And I thought it'd be able to balance starting a career and drinking heavily. So really did not have any intentions of slowing the drinking down even though my grades itself.

And I was able to do that. I started a career as an environmental consultant, something I'm still doing today.

And was able to find some more self worth working but still drinking, thinking, well, I'll be a casual drinker during the week and a finished drinker on the weekend.

And I did that for a very, very long time. I was able to climb a career ladder, get married, get a dog, get a house, start a family, all those wonderful things.

And I really did that while drinking 20 to 30 drinks per week all throughout. Never really taking a break and continuing making alcohol such a big part of my life.

And of course, the hangovers started to increase, you know, we're all only human. And I think that as I was entering my 30s, I realized I was drinking way too much.

But even knowing that wasn't enough to do anything about it, it was clear alcohol was here this day. I really felt committed to that lifestyle and really trapped in something that was easy to tell myself you can continue to do this indefinitely.

And I did that all through my 30s. And although there were many highs in my life through my 30s and youth and young second story deck and shattered my ankle at party that my roommates and I were hosting.

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