Ten Lessons I learnt from Quitting alcohol!

You don’t need a DUI, a breakup, or a health crisis to question your drinking. I’m Meg, and I’m sharing the top 10 things I’ve learned since quitting alcohol, because the biggest shift for me wasn’t “fixing a problem” it was choosing a better life before things got worse. If you’ve ever wondered whether you’re “bad enough” to stop, this conversation is for you.

I talk honestly about the sneaky ways alcohol can affect anxiety, sleep, motivation, brain fog, and that feeling of being disconnected from yourself. I also unpack why the first few weeks of sobriety can feel uncomfortable or even more anxious, and why that doesn’t mean alcohol-free living isn’t working. Your routines and your nervous system are adjusting, and there are practical ways to get through those evenings when you’d usually reach for wine.

We go deeper into the emotional side too: learning to actually feel your feelings again, grieving alcohol even when you know it’s not serving you, and replacing what drinking used to do for you with new rituals and real support. I share what changed in my relationships, why some friendships naturally fade, and how new connections can grow when you’re living in alignment. Then there’s the bonus lesson that matters most: being ready isn’t a feeling, it’s a decision.

If you want more support, I’m also launching my 12-week program for women, The Reclaimed Woman, where we work through alcohol and what sits underneath it. Listen now, then subscribe, leave a review, and share this with someone who’s alcohol-curious. What’s the one thing you hope changes if you stop drinking?

Contact Meg: 

Website: https://www.meganwebb.com.au/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61579436511475
Instagram:https://www.instagram.com/meganwebbcoaching/

Link to FREE discovery call with Meg:  

https://calendly.com/glassfulfilled

Email Meg here: 

meganwebbcoaching@gmail.com

Transcript

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Welcome And Why I Quit

SPEAKER_00 0:27

Hi guys and welcome to Conscious Unbottling. I'm Meg and I am your host. So today I wanted to talk about the top 10 things I've learned since quitting drinking. Number one, you don't have to hit rock bottom. I think the stigma around stopping alcohol has been, might continue to be that if you stop drinking, you have a drinking problem. It's it's got gotten really bad and possibly something really bad happened. Uh rock bottom, like a DUI, failed marriage, health crisis, or injury, whatever it might be, loss of a job.

No Rock Bottom Required

SPEAKER_00 1:07

But really, you do not have to hit rock bottom to stop drinking. I find that most women that I coach haven't hit that rock bottom and they just know that this doesn't feel right and they want a better life. For me, I certainly had moments that were pretty dodgy, but ultimately I gave up drinking because I wanted a better life. I could have kept drinking, but I chose not to. Ultimately, I knew that if I did keep drinking, then surely a rock bottom was coming. Number two, you don't actually know how much alcohol is affecting you until you stop. This is an interesting one. So things like anxiety, poor sleep, irritability, low motivation, brain fog, and feeling disconnected from yourself can become so normal that you don't realize alcohol is contributing. Like I had anxiety disorders since I was 17, and

Hidden Impacts On Mind And Body

SPEAKER_00 2:08

I hadn't had alcohol at that point. So for me, anxiety was part of my life. So it was easy for me to say alcohol wasn't causing it. But actually, when I gave up drinking at the end of 2021, even after a week, my anxiety was so much better. Alcohol had contributed to it in such a big way. So that was interesting. And also when I stopped drinking, I realized that I had um restless leg syndrome, so really, really painful as well. And in fact, I could hardly walk for you know a couple of months, like no more than five or 10 minutes, because I wanted to get back into walking. And I walked in the past 50 kilometers, 55 Ks in a day. I couldn't even do five minutes. I didn't realize that until I stopped drinking. The other thing was that I didn't realize was that um my teeth, my gums were getting really sore. So when I stopped drinking, it became very apparent. And I went to the dentist, got a little fixed up. It was it was fixable, which was good. But I didn't realize any of these because I just drank through pain. So any signal my body was giving me was being numbed out. So that was been quite an eye-opener, and I've been very grateful to be able to work on my health since then. Number three, the first few weeks when you give up alcohol aren't necessarily a preview of your new life. So you might feel uncomfortable, emotional, bored, or unsure. You might have more anxiety initially. That doesn't mean sobriety isn't working. Your brain and your routines are just adjusting. Also, I did um I did a few things that I

Early Sobriety Is An Adjustment

SPEAKER_00 4:03

didn't want to carry on doing, but things like instead of watching TV at night in those first few weeks, because that's when I would have grabbed a wine, I went for a walk or I went to do a yoga class. I didn't really want to keep doing that at night and I didn't have to. So it was just initially in those first few weeks. Um, or I might have gone to see a movie with a friend. Whatever it took, I wanted to give myself the best chance. Um, the other things in the first few weeks, I the first few days my anxiety got so much worse. So I did have a few panic attacks, felt quite miserable, um, but that lifted pretty quickly. And yeah, other than that, the first few weeks were really just day to day working out, you know, what what I could do for that day to keep my mind busy, to keep on track, basically. Um, and I generally I felt pretty good. But if you're someone that feels not so good in the first few weeks, just remember it's not how your life is going to continue. Number four, you will have to learn what you're actually feeling. So this is a tricky one for us big drinkers because alcohol has helped us avoid, suppress, and numb emotions. And once you remove it, feelings can become much more noticeable. I found it really hard to sit with feelings at first. What I learned was that I just had to practice. So I

Learning Feelings And Grieving Alcohol

SPEAKER_00 5:41

literally started by setting a timer and focusing on my feelings for about five minutes, where I could feel them in my body, what I was saying to myself. And I just started to breathe through those five minutes. And it became a tool I used going forward that when big feelings came up, I visualized as I breathed into the area, usually in my chest, I'd visualize some light going into that area. And when I breathed out, I'd say release. And it was so effective in getting me through feelings. And then the other thing I did was write about the feelings, um, you know, work on the things that were coming up with those feelings. It is something we have to relearn, but it's very doable. And once you do, you also get back the good feelings because we're not only numbing bad feelings, we're numbing the good, the joy, all of the positive emotions. So actually getting to feel them fully again. And that that took probably quite a few months until I could feel excited again, feel really joyful. But once I did, I mean, that was incredible. Number five, you might grieve alcohol. Even when you know it's not serving you, you can still miss the ritual, the reward, the social aspect of and the fantasy of what alcohol represented. And for some people, you know, loneliness for me meant that alcohol was like a friend. So it's totally normal to grieve alcohol. Allow yourself the space and the time to do that. Um, that's perfectly normal and and it's just part of the journey. But I let myself do that. I certainly do not have any feelings for it anymore, and I don't miss it, but I did allow myself to feel what came up. Number six, you don't just remove alcohol, you have to replace what it was doing for you. So if if wine was a way of relaxing, celebrating, coping with loneliness or switching off, you need new ways of meeting those needs. They were the things I looked at in the first few weeks and months. I tried different things, I practiced for, you know, at the end of the day, coming home, I made sure that I did

Replacing The Habit With Real Support

SPEAKER_00 8:02

have that um mental off-switch that I was going from working to relaxing. I went for a walk, I um watered the garden, I had a mocktail or a bath, whatever it was, it became a new habit, and that was a way I switched off. Loneliness was a big one, so I really, when I got to that time in the evening when I drink and um usually drunk text, but it numbed my feelings around it. Instead of that, I reached out to friends. I'd make a phone call, you know, I'd have a good chat with someone. You don't want to be caught out at 6 p.m. going, oh my god, I have nothing in place. Uh, do I just sit and watch Netflix with nothing? That's going to be too hard. So a plan is always helpful. Number seven, your relationships with people may change. Some people will completely support you, others might feel uncomfortable with your change, and you may discover that relationships you had, some of them were built around drinking. Um but I think this was a big fear going into alcohol freedom for me, and I certainly hear it from other people. They're afraid of losing friendships, um, relationships

Relationships Change And New Ones Grow

SPEAKER_00 9:22

because alcohol really, the bottom line is alcohol is a big part of it. The people who really matter in your life and where the connection is deeper than alcohol, they'll remain. You know, I've I've pretty much kept most of my friendships and family relationships. The ones where who I'm not friends with anymore or where things changed, it usually was that we connected with alcohol. And um, and that was there's nothing wrong with that. It just means that we're not aligning as friends anymore. So they've been quite natural friendships that have dissolved, but it was nothing to be scared of. Um in on reflection, it's it's been amazing. And with that, I've also made friends and connected with so many other people that are more aligned to my journey now. And that's been amazing. I didn't really think about new friendships that I'd I'd strike up. So that's been a a real um joy to experience. Number eight, you may discover that alcohol wasn't the whole problem. Well, I definitely discovered that, and you might hear me saying alcohol wasn't the problem. It certainly became a problem. Don't get me wrong, it became a problem. But the reason I drank from the very first drink I had was to numb the other problems, the deeper problems, the core beliefs about myself, the,

The Deeper Work Under Drinking

SPEAKER_00 10:55

you know, believing that I wasn't lovable, not worthy, those things. It was to stop my shaking with my anxiety disorder. You know, the problems were all the things, all the reasons that I was drinking to numb. When you stop drinking, you will probably need to do some work around what the actual issues were. For me, it has been really amazing to work on them. You know, self-worth, boundaries, grief, relationships, identity, purpose, all of these things that I've been able to work on have absolutely changed my life for the better. Number nine, you don't suddenly become a completely different person. You start finding yourself again. What I have found since giving up alcohol is that I have reconnected with my authentic self. I am absolutely not a completely different person. I'm more of me. So I'm more of the parts that I really loved about myself. I'm more sure of who I want to be, I have clearer values. It's it's been a journey to feeling safe being myself, and that's that's been amazing. So I don't want anyone to fear that stopping alcohol means that you have to become someone totally different. What also happened when I stopped drinking is that the parts of myself that I didn't really like, they dropped away. The alcohol made me not a nice person some of the time. Um, it made me do and say things that I never would have done when I was sober. So dropping the alcohol has meant coming back to who I am, who I want to be, finding that self-love and self-acceptance. That has been amazing. Number 10, your life does not have to become boring. And perhaps this is the biggest misconception about stopping drinking. But you don't lose your fun, your personality, your spontaneity, or your social life. You actually discover that alcohol was taking more from your life than it was giving you. I absolutely thought alcohol made me more fun, made me more spontaneous, and gave me a better social life. But

Fun Returns Without Alcohol

SPEAKER_00 13:13

since stopping drinking, I've realized that was not true in any way. It just wasn't true. Um, it certainly made me more stupid, careless, uh, more prone to taking risks that weren't safe. Um, you know, that didn't make me fun and spontaneous. It made me someone I'm not. So with getting rid of alcohol, I have got my real personality back. Um, if you're nervous about socializing without alcohol, it's a practice thing. Um, I have certainly fully embraced socializing without alcohol now. It has taken time. But I go home from social events, from lunches, dinners, catch-ups, and I feel fulfilled. Something that I never felt when I was drinking. If you are worried that you'll become boring or that not drinking is boring, I can tell you from this side, there is nothing boring about my life. I do more, I see more, I connect more, and I am more fulfilled. And you can be too. Now that's the 10 important things I've learned since quitting drinking, but I have a bonus one, and this is really, really important, and it's a big lesson to me, and that is that being ready is not a feeling, it's a decision. I would have never stopped drinking alcohol if I had waited until I was ready. It was something that one

Ready Is A Decision

SPEAKER_00 14:44

day, after a lot of time, you know, three and a half years for me, sort of stopping and starting. One day my brain said, This is it. And I dived into alcohol freedom, and it's been over four and a half years now, and that's all because I made a decision. So please do not wait to feel ready because in so many things in life, we're not going to feel ready. I can tell you with this podcast, I didn't feel ready to go out on my own, but I'm doing it. It's not perfect. Um, I'm doing it because I know I'll never be ready if I don't. And I just want to reach out to people who might learn something from me and my journey and my mistakes, and also to let people know they're not alone. And I'm not ready. I'm not ready, believe me, but I'm doing it, and you can too. So stop waiting to feel ready. If that's how you're feeling around alcohol, please just do it. Your brain, everything will catch up to you. Just start taking the steps, start doing it. And I promise that um you'll get to a point and go, I cannot believe I did it. I can't believe, you know, for me how long I've been alcohol free, but I'm just so glad I made that decision. Because if I hadn't, I I dread to think where I'd be now. So that's my episode on the 10 important things I've learned since quitting alcohol. I'd love to hear from you and hear what have been, you know, the things you've learned since quitting or the things you're afraid of before quitting. Please reach out. You can contact me through the show notes or at my website, meganweb.com.au, and please subscribe and review. Your support would mean so much in that, helping me get my podcast out. And on a final note, I am launching a brand new course. It's a 12-week

Reach Out And Course Details

SPEAKER_00 16:33

program for women. It's called The Reclaimed Woman. We will work through all things alcohol, but also beyond that, healing our wounds, looking toward the future, planning a future where you have purpose and passion. So if you would like to find out more about that, please book a discovery call on my website. There is a link, it gives you a half-hour free call, and just book in and we can talk about the course if you're interested. I'm so excited about it. It's another thing where I am absolutely didn't feel ready and I am stepping out of my comfort zone big time, but I think it's going to help a lot of people. So please get in touch if you're interested. Thanks everyone for listening, and I will see you on the next episode of Conscious Unbottling. Bye.