The Hidden Cost of Your Wine Habit: What Alcohol Is Really Taking From You

Episode 223: The Hidden Cost of Your Wine Habit: What Alcohol Is Really Taking From You

In episode 223 of the Sober Vibes podcast, Courtney Andersen chats today about the real, often overlooked cost of your wine habit: from lost energy and time to low self-esteem and confidence. This episode is designed to help you see clearly what alcohol is really doing beneath the surface. 

Are you telling yourself it’s “just one glass to unwind”  but still waking up tired, anxious, and disconnected from the life you want? If you’ve been stuck in the “I’ll cut back next week” cycle and know something deeper needs to change, this episode is your wake-up call.

What you will learn in this episode:

• Why even “moderate” drinking steals your motivation and joy
• How alcohol impacts your sleep, confidence, and decision-making
• The hidden toll alcohol takes on your time and self-worth
• Why willpower isn’t the problem and what to do instead

Thank you for listening!

Resources Mentioned:

Apply to work 1:1 with Soberity Coach, Courtney Andersen

Courtney's Website

Ready to thrive in your alcohol-free life? Sober Vibes: A Guide to Thriving in Your First Three Months Without Alcohol is your step-by-step guide to navigating early sobriety with confidence.

Grab your copy today!

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Chapters

• 0:31 Welcome to Episode 223
• 1:30 The Real Cost of Your Wine Habit
• 3:45 What Alcohol Quietly Steals From You
• 9:40 Trapped in the Drinking Cycle
• 12:42 Breaking Free With Support
• 14:44 Finding Your Way Back to You

Transcript

Courtney Andersen: 0:31

Hey, welcome back to the Sober Vibes podcast. I am your host, courtney Anderson. I'm a sober coach author and your guide to living a kick-ass life without alcohol. Today's episode is going to be a little different, and today's episode is episode 223. That is right 223 episodes of this wonderful podcast. I still cannot believe I made it past 50 episodes. So in today's episode it's just a little bit different, because we're not just talking about how to quit drinking, but we're talking about the real cost of your alcohol habit.

Courtney Andersen: 1:07

I'm just going to throw wine out there, I'm just going to use wine, but you insert what it is for you. Maybe it's beer, maybe it's some liquor, right, but I know majority of people who listen to this. It is about the wine, right? And this habit too, that no one wants to admit but so many women feel deep in their bones. So let's get into it, shall we? It's going to be a pretty quick episode too.

Courtney Andersen: 1:37

Have you ever said something like I'm just having one glass to unwind, right? I deserve this. It's been a long day. Or I deserve this. It's been a long day with kids. Or I deserve this. It's been a long week. Or I'll cut back next week, right?

Courtney Andersen: 1:55

You are not alone. And really, too, I want you to keep in mind that this particular issue, especially with alcohol, so many people feel like it's just like that they're the only ones, that they're the only ones who are thinking this way, and that is not the truth, right, and I get it because I was there myself. But I see you, you are a high achiever, right. You're doing all the things, holding it all together, while you're quietly wondering why do I feel so off? Okay, here's the truth. It's one we've conditioned to ignore, right, and especially, too, with a lot of high achieving women. You are also a people pleaser, but your wine habit is costing you. Your drinking habit is costing you, and it's not just about the hangovers or the calories or how much you spend at Trader Joe's right. It's costing you deeper, sneaker ways. That don't show up really in your bank account, right, but they show up in your energy and your confidence, in your peace of mind. They show up in, again, your self-esteem. Going back to the confidence, the energy levels, especially, and also, too, I know a lot of the good people of the world on here too, and even there's men who listen to this. Majority of you are highly sensitive. Slash empaths, okay.

Courtney Andersen: 3:21

So how this impacts you and how this completely demolishes your energy, it's beyond. Because you feel so much, and then you feel so much 20 times more the day after drinking, because then you go into that punishment cycle, right? So? So let's break this down for you. Here's what drinking four to five nights a week, even just a couple of glasses of wine, is quietly taking from you. It's stealing your energy.

Courtney Andersen: 3:55

As I said, you're waking up groggy, even after maybe you had eight hours in bed, right, that's tired all the time feeling. Because when you go to sleep intoxicated, having a couple of glasses of wine, you're not having any type of alcohol, it's actually not. You're not getting the proper sleep that you need, right? So it's not your job, it's not your age, it's the alcohol interrupting your sleep cycles. It's not the little dictators, except for those old dictators. Do get us right With that sleep. Listen. That is why I hired a sleep coach that first year of his life, because I was like, please help me, I don't know what I'm doing. So it's alcohol that is fucking your sleep up, right. It's stealing your motivation. You have dreams and goals and things that you want to accomplish in your life and starting something new, getting back into shape whatever it is showing up better in your life, and starting something new, getting back into shape whatever it is showing up better for your family, being a better mom, being a better partner, but somehow the follow-through is missing, right? Alcohol completely lowers your dopamine and makes actions feel like a mountain.

Courtney Andersen: 5:05

In this pattern that you are also at, this relationship you're also in with alcohol, I have to say, have you noticed where you're like? I used to be a person who followed through all the time and now I'm not. Now I'm not. I just celebrated something last week. I'm taking a public speaking class, okay, and I actually was very nervous going and you will get to the point of the story.

Courtney Andersen: 5:33

Now I was actually starting to talk myself out of it during the day and I was like, no, you little son of a bitch, you're going to go and do this because you are a person who follows through with things. If you say you're going to do something 95% of the time, if you say you're going to do something 95% of the time, you are going to do it right. And after I got done, it made me very happy and I'm glad I participated. I have a couple more weeks to go in this and but it reminded me, like even going home, even driving home, I was like I'm so happy I did that. And then it just made me think, like of the days I didn't follow through and there were so many days in active, in my active drinking days. This is I still feel it today, at 12 years, sober, being like oh wow, you did. You. You said what you were going to say, right, like you did what you were going to do and you followed through, and that means the world to me now. You were going to do and you followed through, and that means the world to me now. So, like driving home the other night, I was very excited because again, I reflect back on a time of how I used to live, and alcohol for sure made me a person who did not follow through on jack shit. So just that was my story for you.

Courtney Andersen: 6:49

So alcohol is stealing your confidence, right, every time you say I'm not drinking tonight and then pour that glass of wine anyways, that chips away at your self-trust. And when you don't trust yourself, you stop dreaming big and wanting big and you don't think that you can do anything. So it's's stealing your joy. Wine doesn't just numb the stress, it numbs everything Joy, connection, presence. You're in the room with your kids, your partner, maybe your friends, but you're not really there. Because your thought is, if you even haven't started drinking yet, your thought is oh my God, when can I drink? Or if you are with friends and they're sitting there just like casually having one and you're already finished. Or if they're wanting to be like God, I don't want to look like a pig and start drinking a couple more, like in front of these people, because then they're going to start counting my drinks because the paranoia sets in. This is what alcohol does.

Courtney Andersen: 7:42

So you're never really fully present, right? Same thing if you're hung over with the kids the next day, like you're not present when you're in a state of a hangover. I mean, it's hard enough some days being 100 percent present with your child because it's you're not. But you know what I'm saying of being hung over. That's not a space you want to be. When you have the little rugrats around, I'm sure it's not an enjoyable space, but that just adds to the guilt and to the lack of self-confidence for you of like, why do I keep doing this to myself? Right, and it's stealing your time.

Courtney Andersen: 8:22

Time is all something. As we get older, we want more of right, like when you're young, you just want to get old. And then, when you're old, at a certain point you're like man. I wish I could go back to those days. I wish I could go back to some glory days of mine. Right, and it's something we all want more of. We want more time right, and so alcohol really dulls. Let's just say two to three hours a night, right. Multiply that by five nights a week, that could be 60 hours a month, right, nearly a full week of your life. Every single month is gone. That's just in the act of drinking. That's not even in the thoughts of drinking. And if you've read my book, you know that I make you map out a 24-hour cycle. And a lot of this too is like the emotional pull that alcohol has over you with your thoughts, until it doesn't right. And then we keep saying in the cycle, right, it's not that bad. Saying in the cycle, right, it's not that bad, I'm not that bad because I am not like A, b, c and D.

Courtney Andersen: 9:37

So what happens when you don't face this? You stay stuck in the cycle. You stay stuck exactly where you are, right. You wake up foggy, you push through the day, you pour another glass, you feel guilty, you tell yourself you'll do better tomorrow. Rinse and repeat. And you're doing that, maybe five days a week, right, five days a week that you were living in the cycle. What am I doing? Or maybe it's just three days a week on the weekends, right, where you go into it on Friday and then by Monday you're disgusted. And then Tuesday, wednesday, thursday, you're like all right, I feel better, start becoming a functioning member of society. And it's like on the weekend it happens all over again.

Courtney Andersen: 10:14

So by continuing to do this, you stop feeling like yourself. You stop dressing the way you used to love, right. You stop laughing from your tummy. You stop dressing the way you used to love, right, you stop laughing from your tummy. You stop dreaming, because dreaming requires energy and you don't have that energy anymore. Also, too, you stop thinking clearer, right, and that is low-key discontent, that feeling of something's missing, but I can't name it, right, and that alcohol is the biggest trick, right? It convinces you that it's just life right now, that you're just tired or hormonal or too busy. Or when the kids get older, this will be better and the truth of it is it's just going to get worse and worse as you get older.

Courtney Andersen: 11:10

Right, but here's the thing and this is a lot of people think that they're broken, like when I end up getting on, especially my one-on-one consults with people it's what is wrong with me and it's nothing is wrong with you. You are stuck in this cycle of a highly addictive substance that has this emotional pull on you, because everybody has an emotional dependence on alcohol, right? So then you are just let you're defeated. You are just defeated and you're bogged down by something that was never meant to help you thrive and the substance was designed to keep you stuck and small, truly designed. From the beginning of time people have had issues with alcohol because, again, it is a highly addictive substance. This is straight poison that does not get the recognition that it should be getting right, but it gets celebrated. So that's for another day. And again, the worst part of this, like I said, it's you blame yourself. It's not the substance, that's not the culture that glamorized it, it's you.

Courtney Andersen: 12:19

What is wrong with me? That's what I said on my one-on-one consults. What is wrong with me? You think maybe you just need more discipline, maybe more willpower, more green juice right, more yoga classes, more stuff to put on your to-do list, but you don't. That is not. You need support. You need a plan, a clear, shame-free path forward.

Courtney Andersen: 12:42

So that is why I have created my one-on-one coaching program, designed like it is designed. It's personal. You don't need a 30-day challenge, okay. You don't need to white knuckle your way through another dry January, sober October, dry July. You need a space to unpack what's really going on underneath your drinking and a coach who's walked the walk to guide you through it.

Courtney Andersen: 13:08

So in my private coaching, we work together over usually anywhere from 30 days to three months, whatever level of support fits you. I really a lot of people end up doing an eight-week option with me because that two months is a great time, because usually when you get into that 30 to 60 day mark, your brain likes to start playing tricks on you too, especially at 30 of. Well, it wasn't that bad and for so many of you, you have that mindset oh, it wasn't that bad right after a couple weeks. So really, what we do together is uncover the real reasons alcohol has become your go-to, create rituals, routines and tools that help you stay alcohol-free without feeling deprived, because a lot of this, too, is built on a reward system. Rebuild your self-trust and confidence right and, most importantly, reconnect you with the version of you that's been buried under the booze and burnout.

Courtney Andersen: 14:10

If you're tired of cycling the same route mountain client, being in the same cycle of shame, if you know you're meant for more than survival mode, I want you to go to CourtneyRecovercom under the work with me section and apply now to work with me, or you can find the link in the show notes, right? I keep my coaching container small because I can go deep with each client, so these spots do fill up fast. So if your gut is whispering, this is for you. Do not ignore it. Okay Again, you don't have to keep shrinking your life just to cope.

Courtney Andersen: 14:48

There's other healthier ways to cope without alcohol. You don't have to keep trading presents for numbness. You're allowed to live awake, alive, clear, present and joyful, and it's not too late for you. I just worked with a person who was 69 years old 69. And the youngest I've ever worked with, somebody who's 24. I mean, and it comes to a point where, when you are good and tired, you are good and tired and that is what you need to go off of to push you forward.

Courtney Andersen: 15:20

I don't want to get back to this feeling, and a lot of the work I do with people, too, is a nice conditioning. It's a good conditioning of the brain, right? So, again, go to CourtneyRecoveredcom under work with me, or look for the link in the show notes and let's get back. Let's get you back to you, into this new version of yourself, going forward. So thank you for tuning in today. If this episode resonated for you, please feel free to reach out and slide into my dms on my soar vibes instagram page and remember this you are not the problem. Alcohol is, and there is a beautiful life on the other side of that. Okay, thank you for listening today, as always. Keep on trucking and stay healthy out there. Thank you.