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 and I am answering readers questions. I'm the author of this

naked mind. Today's question is from Dana. Dana says, Annie, I read your article. I'm not an

alcoholic, but here's how I knew I needed to stop drinking on my body green and really enjoyed it.

Do you still go out to the bars and sit with your friends, although you're no longer drinking?

If so, how do you loosen up? I'm in my late 20s and much of my social interaction with friends is

still at bars. I'd love your feedback. This is a great question. Yes, I definitely do. I,

you know, my friends and I don't really spend a ton of time at bars per se because we're, I'm 37,

I have two kids, but we do lots of kind of backyard bars or the bars at our friend's house or

camping, bringing your own bar or, you know, family kind of slumber parties where the entire family

will spend the night at our house so the kids can go to bed and the parents can stay up late and drink.

So these are all sorts of activities that replace the bar scene, but very social drinking activities

that we do now. And of course, it's just where your friends are and there's always alcohol and

there's always drinking and that's just our culture and that's just how it is. So yes, I do. I

still do all and participate in all of these activities and this is kind of how I do it. I make two

commitments to myself. First, in terms of loosening up, I think the best thing to do is just to make

a commitment that I'm going to stop worrying about me because I think a lot of the time we feel shy,

we feel inhibited when we worry about ourselves, when we worry what other people think, will I say

the right thing? Why do the right thing? You can completely flip the script and completely

erase that when you just make the commitment that I'm going to be here and present for my friends.

And by the way, it's the way to make your night the most enjoyable anyway. So I now know that my

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