Today we have Brittany. She is 44 years old, lives in New Braunfels, TX and she had her last drink on May 27^th, 2025.

 

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Bozeman 2026 – August 12^th-16^th, 2026

 

[02:07] Paul introduces Brittany:

 

Brittany is 44 years old, is originally from Wisconsin, and lives in New Braunfels, TX with her husband of 18 years. Together they have four kids. For fun, Brittany enjoys sporting events and traveling with her family.

 

Brittany shares she had a great childhood. Her parents were very supportive of her and her older brother. Her father was the child of alcoholics, so he chose not to drink so there was limited exposure to it while Brittany was growing up.

 

Brittany's first drink was when she was 15 years old. She didn't drink much throughout her teens as she was more into sports that didn't leave much room for it. In Wisconsin, attending sporting events always included drinking. In college, Brittany enjoyed the party and playing drinking games and all of her friends drank like she did, so she didn't see it as a problem.

 

After college, Brittany met her husband. He went into the Air Force which found them moving to San Antonio. They hung out with a lot of other young married couples, and they all partied a lot on the weekends. Her husband didn't like Brittany's drinking so she would begin hiding how much she drank, seeing it as him trying to control her.

 

When their second daughter was born in 2014 with a rare genetic disorder, Brittany began to use alcohol as medication. Caring for a special needs child and also moving a lot as a military family was very stressful for Brittany. With her husband being deployed or on assignments, she was doing a lot of parenting alone which led her to self-medicate often.

 

When COVID happened, Brittany's husband was able to be home more, but that led to her drinking increase. Brittany switched from wine to vodka, assuming it would be less noticeable to her husband. She began to hide her drinking more and started promising to drink less but it never happened.

 

Memorial Day weekend of 2025 Brittany's husband left town for work, and she was getting the family settled into their new home with her parents. Brittany had vodka stashed and was drinking in secret throughout the day. That evening, she passed out at the dinner table. Since she had been lying to everyone about drinking, they were worried that something else might be wrong and her mother took her to the hospital.

 

While she was there, both the nurse and the doctor could see what the issue was, but Brittany was still in denial. Brittany will never forget when the doctor told her, "You are not alone". At this point, the family knew and it felt like a weight was lifted.

 

A family friend became a lifeline for Brittany, and she contacted him the next day. He is also in recovery and helped her feel less alone. She went to her first AA meeting that day. With the help of her parents since they were living in Wisconsin, Brittany was able to attend meetings, sometimes two, daily.

 

Brittany says things changed for her very quickly. She started feeling better physically, was losing weight and began working out. The light was beginning to come back into her eyes. Parenting was hard, but she enjoys it much more now that she isn't drinking.

 

Brittany's parting piece of guidance: You are not alone. Find a sober community and jump in with both feet.

 

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