“Moderation Was Torture” — Tanya’s Sobriety Story
Sober Motivation: Sharing Sobriety Stories
Brad McLeod
4.8 • 596 Ratings
🗓️ 20 January 2026
⏱️ 84 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In this episode of the Sober Motivation Podcast, Brad sits down with Tanya to talk about what it really looks like to get sober and stay sober when your journey isn’t linear.
Tanya shares how she grew up with a stable home and little exposure to alcohol—but still struggled with insecurity, belonging, and wanting to feel “cool,” which made alcohol feel like the solution. What started as binge drinking and partying progressed into DUIs, escalating consequences, and the painful truth many people discover: once the addiction wiring is there, moderation feels like torture.
This conversation goes deep into relapse, grief, identity, relationships, resentment, and recovery—plus the power of community, AA, faith, service work, and learning to build self-worth from the inside out. Tanya also shares how she stayed sober through devastating loss and what helped her reach one year sober.
If you’re sober curious, trying to quit drinking, rebuilding after relapse, or looking for real tools to protect your sobriety long-term, this episode will hit home.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome back to season five of the Sober Motivation Podcast. |
| 0:03.4 | Join me, Brad, each week as my guests and I share incredible and powerful sobriety stories. |
| 0:08.6 | We're here to show sobriety as possible. |
| 0:11.4 | One story at a time. |
| 0:14.2 | Let's go. |
| 0:16.8 | In this episode, I sit down with Tanya to talk about what it is really like to get sober and stay sober when your journey isn't linear. |
| 0:25.2 | Tanya shares how she grew up with a stable home and a little exposure to alcohol, but still struggled with insecurity, belonging, and wanting to feel cool, which made alcohol feel like the solution. |
| 0:36.2 | What started as binge drinking and partying, |
| 0:38.3 | progressed into DUIs, escalating consequences, and the painful truth, many people discover, |
| 0:44.6 | once the addiction wiring is there, moderation feels like torture. This conversation goes deep |
| 0:49.6 | into relapse, grief, identity, relationships, resentment, and recovery, plus the power of community, |
| 0:56.8 | faith, service work, and learning to build self-esteem from the inside out. |
| 1:01.5 | Tanya also shares how she stayed sober through devastating loss and what helped her reach |
| 1:05.4 | one year sober. |
| 1:06.5 | How is it going, everyone? |
| 1:07.9 | Welcome back to another episode. |
| 1:09.2 | Brad here. |
| 1:09.7 | Thanks, as always always for hanging out. |
| 1:11.9 | I wanted to mention too about the Just Between Us podcast, the kind of sober motivation 2.0 with just |
| 1:18.9 | me sharing different stories and different thoughts. I want to invite you and for everybody |
| 1:24.3 | listening to the podcast. I want to give you a one-time offer. |
| 1:34.0 | $37 get you access to the podcast forever, as long as it runs. How long that's going to be, |
... |
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