The Hidden Struggle of the High Functioning Drinker - with James Swanwick
Sober Awkward
Victoria Vanstone
4.8 • 533 Ratings
🗓️ 31 May 2026
⏱️ 59 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
This week on Sober Awkward, Vic chats to James Swanwick about high-functioning drinking, success, pressure and the growing movement of people choosing to live alcohol free — not because they’ve completely fallen apart, but because they simply feel better without it.
James is an Australian stop drinking expert, author, investor, entrepreneur and former SportsCenter anchor on ESPN. He is the creator of stop drinking organisation, Alcohol Free Lifestyle, which helps business owners and executives finally break free from alcohol without AA, rehab or willpower.
Together, Vic and James unpack the myth that alcohol problems only affect people at “rock bottom” and explore why high achievers often struggle silently for years. They chat about identity, pride, social pressure, parenting, masculinity, success and why being outwardly functional can actually make it harder to admit something isn’t working.
They also explore a really interesting question:
Can giving up alcohol sometimes be less about “having a problem”… and more about choosing a different lifestyle entirely?
Plus there’s chat about celebrity alcohol brands, the rise of the alcohol-free movement, Gen Z turning away from booze and why many people are beginning to realise that alcohol may be taking far more than it gives.
This episode is for anyone who’s ever wondered:
“Do I actually need to wait for things to get worse before I make a change?”
Enjoy!
Find James' work here -
IG: https://www.instagram.com/jamesswanwick/
FB: https://web.facebook.com/AlcoholFreeLifestyle
https://web.facebook.com/JamesSwanwickOfficial
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@AlcoholFreeLifestyle
https://www.youtube.com/@JamesSwanwick
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@jamesswanwick
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5253hMZWPlEWj6AVodbkC7
Apple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/alcohol-free-lifestyle/id1518416850
X: https://x.com/jamesswanwick
AFL Website: https://alcoholfreelifestyle.com/
💛 Resources & Links
📘 Victoria’s memoir – A Thousand Wasted Sundays
A brutally honest and hilarious look at motherhood, anxiety, and ditching the booze.
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Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Right, the kettles boiled, perfect timing. |
| 0:04.5 | I'll just make myself a quick cupper, take a deep breath and pretend I know exactly what I'm |
| 0:10.2 | doing. |
| 0:11.2 | Right, let's get started. |
| 0:13.6 | Have you ever woken up on a Sunday morning with massive anxiety and said to yourself, |
| 0:22.6 | I'm never drinking again, only to find yourself waving 50 bucks at a barman by happy hour? |
| 0:28.9 | Do you ever wonder why everyone else can stop at one while you end up at a dodgy after party |
| 0:34.6 | holding hands with a weird bloke called Disco Dane. If so, it might be time to |
| 0:40.7 | take a closer look at your reliable social crutch, alcohol. On this podcast, I investigate my |
| 0:47.7 | own deeply dysfunctional dealings with booze and find out what it's really like navigating |
| 0:53.4 | this alcohol-drenched world, one fizzy |
| 0:56.0 | water at a time. I'm going to open up a shame shed of humiliating drinking stories to help |
| 1:02.1 | you understand why waking up with one eyebrow missing and a kebab sticking out of your top |
| 1:07.4 | pocket might actually be negatively impacting your health. So what happens when |
| 1:12.8 | you put down those cheeky pints and finally let go of those rewarding mummy wines? I guess we're |
| 1:19.5 | just going to have to wait and see. I'm Victoria Vanstone and this is sober awkward. |
| 1:30.6 | Right, cup of there. Turn my phone off. I'm back in the studio after a big week. I've been down in |
| 1:37.7 | Brisbane with my daughter Nellie, who's got a bit of a dodgy knee and a dodgy leg, and needs a |
| 1:42.9 | little operation, which of course, as a parent, is slightly terrifying. |
| 1:47.3 | Although she seems to be absolutely delighted, |
| 1:50.7 | because, of course, being the kid at school on crutches, |
| 1:53.6 | is every child's dream come true? |
... |
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