Lisa on Presence, Health and a Whole New Lease of Life

Because you can think that it's only you that's struggling.

I know I used to check with my friends and ask them, you know, "Are you worried about your drinking?" Or, "How much are you drinking?" And they must have thought these were really weird questions, but I was constantly trying to social proof, trying to sense check other people's drinking.

And not only that, if they were happy with it, because I had this weird notion that it must be safe because everybody does it.

Yeah, absolutely.

And didn't it feel great if somebody said to you, "Oh, if it...

That's what everybody does," you know? And, and yeah, I, I...

And if somebody said that they also had a bottle of wine every night, I was like, "Oh, brilliant.

It's not, it's not just me then.

It's quite, it's quite normal behavior."

Yeah.

You know? And [laughs] and now that I'm sober for all this time, it, it, uh, it's funny, isn't it, how your, your, your, your mind changes, and your thoughts definitely change.

But at the time, yeah, to be able to ask those questions and people to confirm that actually what you're doing is okay helped.

Helped.

Yeah.

In terms of, you know, I, I thought, I thought that was quite normal.

It is, isn't it? At, at the, the society these days, it is just considered sort of normal for people to drink so much.

It is.

It is.

And that's the thing that I think kept me drinking.

Mm.

Because it's just so...

It, it's two things I always say.

It's glamorized.

Yeah.

We, we, you know, we can, we can be quite switched on to the glamorization of it.

Because you can think that it's only you that's struggling.

I know I used to check with my friends and ask them, you know, "Are you worried about your drinking?" Or, "How much are you drinking?" And they must have thought these were really weird questions, but I was constantly trying to social proof, trying to sense check other people's drinking.

And not only that, if they were happy with it, because I had this weird notion that it must be safe because everybody does it.

Yeah, absolutely.

And didn't it feel great if somebody said to you, "Oh, if it...

That's what everybody does," you know? And, and yeah, I, I...

And if somebody said that they also had a bottle of wine every night, I was like, "Oh, brilliant.

It's not, it's not just me then.

It's quite, it's quite normal behavior."

Yeah.

You know? And [laughs] and now that I'm sober for all this time, it, it, uh, it's funny, isn't it, how your, your, your, your mind changes, and your thoughts definitely change.

But at the time, yeah, to be able to ask those questions and people to confirm that actually what you're doing is okay helped.

Helped.

Yeah.

In terms of, you know, I, I thought, I thought that was quite normal.

It is, isn't it? At, at the, the society these days, it is just considered sort of normal for people to drink so much.

It is.

It is.

And that's the thing that I think kept me drinking.

Mm.

Because it's just so...

It, it's two things I always say.

It's glamorized.

Yeah.

We, we, you know, we can, we can be quite switched on to the glamorization of it.