Laughs without Lager

Life outside our comfort zone!

• Ali and Meg

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What happens when you take the mic, skip the “liquid courage,” and tell the truth anyway? We open up about two moments that reshaped our confidence: MCing a 90th birthday with shaking hands and a full heart, and saying yes to a day at the races with people we barely knew. No shortcuts, no numbing—just the kind of presence that turns fear into evidence that you can handle more than you thought.

The stories are small and seismic. A speech becomes a bridge between mother and daughter, where sobriety transforms old resentment into real connection. A social invite that once would’ve required a pregame turns into a simple, joyful experiment: pick the horses by name, laugh at the losses, and leave clear-headed and proud. That momentum carries into a primary school reunion, where karaoke and reconnection feel natural without a drink in hand. Along the way, we talk about how alcohol used to work until it didn’t—how it made us selfish, loud, and far from who we wanted to be—and how removing it gave us back choice, presence, and the energy to celebrate others.

If you’re rethinking your relationship with alcohol, curious about building confidence without a crutch, or just hungry for proof that courage grows by doing, this conversation offers practical hope. We share the wins, the wobbles, and the simple moves that add up: speak even when your hand shakes, say yes to the thing that scares you a little, and let the afterglow become your new feedback loop. Subscribe, share this with a friend who needs a nudge, and leave a review telling us the next brave step you’re taking.

Meg's Dry January - FORWARD TOGETHER

https://www.elizaparkinson.com/forwardtogether

Contact Us:

https://www.meganwebb.com.au/podcast-1


Ali

insta: https://www.instagram.com/idontdrinkfullstop/


Meg

website: https://www.meganwebb.com.au/

insta: https://www.instagram.com/meganwebbcoaching/

bookclub: https://www.alcoholfreedom.com.au/unwinedbookclub

Connect AF: https://www.elizaparkinson.com/groupcoaching

SPEAKER_00:

Hey Ali, how are you going? Megsy, I'm very well. How about you? Not too bad. Not too bad. It's nice to see you. Nice to see you too. It's fun to be back recording, even though it's not uh it's only been two weeks, feels like longer.

SPEAKER_01:

It does. I mean, it's already, yeah, this year's going flying by, isn't it?

SPEAKER_00:

Crazy. Crazy, crazy. But a few weeks back, we were talking about two things, two events that we had coming up, and we and they've been and gone, and we wanted to talk a bit about them and you know how they went. Yes. So yours was your mum's how old was she? 90. 90 oh Queen, what's her name? Margaret. Queen Margaret. Is that what you called her?

SPEAKER_01:

No, but she actually, yeah. I mean, look, she is the the queen of the family. My dad has passed, so she's um, you know, outlived him and doing very well. She doesn't have a zimmer frame, she's still got a marbles and lives independently and still has a license. So I am kicking goals with uh genetics like that.

SPEAKER_00:

Absolutely, you are. And so you MC'd at her big party, didn't you?

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, so you know, again, like I obviously with this podcast, it's um it's great to be behind the scenes, which is a good little, you know, because people talk about going on stage and being a comic and comedian, and I just scares the crap out of me. Um, so yeah, well, you know, I kind of like being the youngest, nobody there was a couple of siblings that are very comfortable in front of an audience, and that's not me. So I don't know, just somehow we're on a family group chat talking about the day, and um they were who's gonna be MC? Who's gonna be in? And it was crickets, and then I thought, you know what, fuck it, I will. Um so yeah, I thought, well, you know, I'm using my voice behind the camera. Um, so let's and if if you can't be an MC in front of your family and friends, well, fucking where else can you do it? You know. So I thought that was a good start, and um, yeah, my sister one of my sisters helped with the agenda, and also it was yeah, so I sort of had mum, we had her makeup done, and then I drove her to the party, and it was kind of like a surprise because she thought it started at a certain time, and then we kind of you know had the entrance and she's oh my gosh, and then yeah, basically ting ting ting, and I grabbed the microphone and was like, Oh, hello. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

How was it from then? What was it like just starting?

SPEAKER_01:

Oh, yeah, I it was pretty annoying because the microphones kept fucking running out of battery, so you know, I was getting that that was like great, we didn't check that. Um, but I mean, look, there was times there, not gonna lie, where my hand was visibly shaking, even though it is friends and family. But um, and also I guess part of doing the MCing, that was pretty easy because I mean, look, it wasn't you know, it was housekeeping where the toilets are and all that. Um, I guess the the handshaking and the real deer in the headlights was actually when I was doing the speech.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, wow. Wow. You know, sometimes friend friends and family can be harder. Right. It doesn't make it easy. So it's pretty amazing what you did. But yeah, so tell us about the speech.

SPEAKER_01:

Oh, well, yeah, I just yeah, it was really good. Like it wasn't funny, it wasn't I don't know, like I kind of uh yeah, eased into it, but uh sort of about the halfway mark, I just thought, oh shit, my hammer's my hammer's shaking because I was holding my phone and I'm like, oh my god, you know, then the critic and the brains going, everyone's staring at you, you know, da-da-da. Um so yeah, and I I sort of wasn't sure whether to say, you know, about my sobriety because I thought, well, you know, it's mum's birthday, but I actually mentioned too in that speech that you know, for the four years since ditching the booze, mum and my relationship has has grown flourished actually because I wasn't numbing the resentment and the anger and the hurt and the abandonment. You know, I've kind of got out of that victim mode and and you know, mum, like a lot of kids in this era of we were free range, you know. Back in the day, seven children is was actually just the average, really. My best friend, she had one of 14. Whoa, you know, her mum's actually still alive and still lives independently. I mean, it's amazing. So, yeah, I don't know, but um so anyway, I did. I I just thought, well, you know what, I'm fucking proud of my sobriety, and my sobriety is you know, I can stay with mum and she doesn't get anxious because I'm not angry or pissed off all the time or hung over and you know, dismissing her and having the courage to actually say the things that ha have troubled me in my past um about why I used to drink or why I used to pick the wrong partners was you know, my upbringing when you're a little baby and all those core wounds, love. So I just sort of brushed on that, but it was really authentic and true to the that it was true that I since I'm sober, mum and my relationships just it's beautiful actually. Um so that was lovely, and she everyone actually, when I did sort of say that, because you know, there was her second husband's family there, and you know, not everybody knows that you know that I'm sober, and so they all actually a couple of them cheered, you know. Um, so yeah, and I got some really nice feedback uh afterwards that oh you know, your speech was really good, and you know so yeah, um I kind of dropped the ball with the main meals. It took like three hours off. I'm like, oh shit, everyone's really hungry, and I'm like standing in the corner chatting away. I was like, oops, sorry. Um, but other than that, it was an absolute success, and we ended up going to the pub afterwards for our lemon lime and bitters to cap off the night, and um that was that amazing.

SPEAKER_00:

And how did you feel after that? You you know you'd stepped out of your comfort zone, done something that was obviously really important, but um also massively scary.

SPEAKER_01:

We can do hard things, thanks, Glenn and Doyle and Abby. Um, you know, yeah, I didn't need to hold on to that liquid courage, mate. So you can just you can do hard things once you take out and get the confidence, you know. Like you're not um yeah, it just gives you the confidence to you know, like in the past, if I've maybe had a speech, I think I was I I remember I was a matron of honour at my best friend's wedding, and you know, of course I was the funny one, the outgoing one, but I think fuck um our other friend was there on the stand next to me because I clammed up. I literally deer in the head, like I couldn't fucking talk. And my friend Shell basically jumped in and saved the day. And but I was just drinking myself to you know get the courage and calm the nerves, and then when I got on stairs, it's like I literally fucking just didn't do a very good job. So there was then that from that point on, Meg, that was me never ever grabbing a microphone again. And even like with karaoke, we were talking about karaoke. I've never done it because I'm terrified. Yeah, so maybe now that I've done the old um MCMI, or actually, we're singing a song for our Ranger who's leaving um ground control to Major Tom, because his name's Tom. So it's gonna be ground control to Ranger. Oh, that's awesome. And we're gonna and they're all like Ali, you're singing, and I'm like, Yeah, man, I'll do it.

SPEAKER_00:

Cool.

SPEAKER_01:

So yeah, anyway, you know what you're never ready, right?

SPEAKER_00:

So the thing about courage is it comes last, so you've got to stepping out of your comfort zone is something you do before you're ready, and you did it. And it's the same with like karaoke, you just do it, and then you know, it and that's where the confidence grows by the doing, but we only get the confidence, you know, you don't have the confidence first, so yes, yeah, I um yeah, I was a karaoke queen and now I do it sober. I did it recently with people I hadn't seen since I was nine years old. I am absolutely fine now. Um, I still haven't spoken in front of a large audience. That's gonna be my biggest step out of my comfort zone, but um it it'll happen in the right time. It's it's steps, baby steps, but yeah, I think we'll be able to do that.

SPEAKER_01:

Well, we're gonna take this. Oh, sorry, Meg.

SPEAKER_00:

You go.

SPEAKER_01:

We're gonna get well, we'll we'll take this uh our podcast on the road one day. Get a live audience and feed off the energy.

SPEAKER_00:

Yes, it's gonna be awesome, and that's that's my goal. That's our goal. And you know, I was the same, I had a social phobia, so I couldn't speak in front of people for years unless I had drinks. Um or yeah, it was just social situations. So I've not done like MC like you did, but I have done different things that really have involved stepping out of my comfort zone. So it's it's where the you know, afterwards, that's why I asked you how you felt after. It's just it just feels so good. Yes, it's like that's where the momentum grows, the after, and you go, yes, it's the same with not drinking, and say the first night you don't drink, waking up and going, Oh yes, I did it. And just that bit of momentum grows and snowballs in in a positive way. So I hear you went to uh the races. So this was a different it was stepping out of my comfort zone. Um it was different, uh slightly different to yours. Now I'm not for or against the races. I did actually I really liked um we only went down to the front once and saw the horses, and I I really liked how much they were loved. That's what I saw. But I I'm not I know some people don't like races because of animal treatment, but I literally went. This is what happened. A friend of my son's mother texted me and said, I've got tickets to this event, it's a dress up event, it's a whole day, and my first and she said, 10 people are going, I would only know her. And I went, no fucking way, in my head. And then I went, I have to say yes. Something said in my head, I have to say yes. Because if I don't start doing things and putting myself out there, you know, ultimately I'm hoping, I don't know if I'm hoping, but but in the future I might like to meet someone, and I'm not gonna ever meet anyone unless I start doing these things. And I love stepping out of my comfort zone. Well, it's a love-hate relationship, yeah. Um, and I thought this is the perfect time because that's what she said. There are two eligible bachelors going. Oh, that's what got me to say yes. I thought, well, might as well go and because I don't, I'm never gonna do dating apps. So I was like, I can do it. And I got a dress and a fascinator, and she kept texting, going, it's so exciting. And I was like, I just I didn't feel excited, but I didn't feel anything really because I had no expectations and I was nervous. So it got to the day, and she did say to me she wasn't gonna drink, and that was nice. I thought, okay, cool. So we got there early to get a table. Turned out we didn't have to. We weren't at the front, like I said, we were in a we were away from the track, we didn't see the track except on a screen, and we had food trucks and that, and so we we bought some food and then we went and put a bet on a race, and there were probably about eight races while I was there, and they were 45 minutes apart. So having that um to do was fun.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

Um, the people came, I met the men, they were nice. I knew that it was not going to be anything, but they were actually fun, and we did we went through the horses together and they were hilarious. I said, So that's your expert opinion, and they both went, No, no, we keep losing, we're no expert. But we had a good time picking the names we liked, and and then there was, you know, like I said, 10 people. I got to chat to other people, and I just felt when I left, nice and sober, not like all the 20-something year olds that were pissed on the floor. When I left, I just felt proud of myself.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

And it just adds that little bit of muscle to superpower of stepping out of your comfort zone. So I felt good and I did something, you know, that was brave. And I met some nice people and I had a fun day. I had a fun day. So, all in all, it was a good little experiment. And then the following week, I had my primary school reunion, which I left the school when I was nine. So I hadn't seen these people forever. And like I said before, I ended up doing some karaoke with them. But it's I actually walked in with so much confidence. Now I haven't felt confident walking into a gathering, particularly with people I didn't know, but I kind of knew forever, I can't remember. But finally, I think after nearly four years of alcohol free, I I felt confident, and that was a massive win. Yeah. To know I can actually go in now without having to sort of build up, like, come on, you can do it. I just walked in, and yeah, that's a massive win for me. That's fucking progress.

SPEAKER_01:

That's growth of what you know, like remember when we were saying, like, you know, if you're pregnant or you had to do the Christmas party with the you know, with your partner, so you couldn't drink, and you'd have that fucking tantrum. Yes, and just that, mmm, why can't I? What you know, so it just changes the so we've got to that point. You've got sounds like you're like, you know what? Yeah, I've got you, I've got it. I've got this. There's no fear of missing out. No, you can drive there, you can if you don't like it, if someone gives you the shits, you just go, okay, I'll just go in the loo and I can get in the car and drive off. Exactly. Exactly. It's because we would have just drank and made a tit of ourselves, or probably had an argument with said person or whatever, you know, like it's so awesome.

SPEAKER_00:

I would have been a freaking idiot, and then I would have woken up the next day hating myself. Whereas now we leave going, you're freaking amazing, girl, and I feel good and happy. Like you feel fulfilled from the event, not hung over and hating yourself. Trained, yeah. So different, such a different experience, but so worth it.

SPEAKER_01:

So, what was it like seeing people from when they were nine years old? Or was it was it when you were nine or year old?

SPEAKER_00:

I left the school at the end of year two. So there were yeah, right. So the people I saw mostly I hadn't seen since then. And we had a tour through our old school.

SPEAKER_01:

Wow.

SPEAKER_00:

And doing that with people that you were there with when you were so little, it was such an I can't explain the feeling. It was like going back in time. Yeah, it really was, and it just felt so good. It was so I reconnected with a few people, we're gonna see each other again. But it was so weird. It's like, I know these people, but they just look so old compared to what I knew, like little babies. Yeah, and that was the same with all of us, but it was um, it was almost comfortable, yet we didn't know each other. You know what I mean? There was something familiar, and um, and and out of the whole year there weren't heaps of people, but it was it was so good, and I just don't reckon I I could have done that a few years ago. I I would have either gone and been so pissed, and all they would have remembered of me was, well, she's turned out to be an alcoholic. Um, but but it just shagged one of them. Oh well, yeah. Exactly. Well, probably. I always had a crush on you, and that's exactly the person. I know I would have been going, I always like you. Yeah, I was eight or nine. I mean, let's play Kiss Chasey again. The guy I did that with wasn't there. Lucky for him. Um but yeah, the it it's just so different when you're not obviously when you're not smashed, but yeah, because of the nerves, you'd I'd get smashed, turn up half cut, and then make an idiot of myself. So it was really nice to not do that and then to leave and think that was bloody fun. And did you, you know, allude to the fact that you don't drink, or is it well, funnily enough, I two of the girls, so one of them I see sometimes, we live locally, and we were really good friends till our 20s. So two her I've kept in touch with, no one else. There was another girl though that we were we were pretty close. So they both knew because we're on Facebook, right? Um, and when we got there, this guy turned up and I haven't seen him forever, and we're so excited, and he goes, Oh, I don't drink, and someone goes, Oh, you and Megan can, you know, hang together. And so everyone knew, and he we had a chat, he's two years alcohol free, and he sells non-alcoholic wines, and we were having this great chat, and he had different business card. Well, yeah, we're gonna connect, so we're gonna catch up. But it was um, yeah, I just didn't care less. Who knew what? One friend at the time, the friend I've been in touch with, said to me, but you didn't have a problem, and I just went, nah. Um, I don't have to say anything, I don't want anyway. But yeah, basically now my realization around that is I I was not an alcoholic, I don't resonate with alcoholic, I had deep self-worth issues, as we most humans do. It's not unusual, but a hundred percent I just numbed out that self-hate in my head, that negative talk, and that's what it was self-medicating. And so I can go into that with some people, and some people I just say, no, I just felt I was drinking too much and wanted clarity, you know. So yeah, so we had a few NABs together, me and him. Actually, I tried to have two and I couldn't even get through the second. It's hard. The first one was great, and then I just was on such a high, and so was he. We were wondering if we'd been spiked. And then my friend dropped and spilt her drink, and we none of us, the people that had drunk hadn't had that much, so we were just all really happy. It was really lovely, anyway. It was um, yeah, a night to remember, yeah, as opposed to um forgetting because I was so blind.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, I mean, because all I mean, like you wouldn't have met that guy because you would have been like, fucking, you don't drink, see ya.

SPEAKER_00:

Totally.

SPEAKER_01:

You know, drink, see ya, yeah, and just hung with the heavier well, someone that drank, you know, a little bit probably not as much as you because you know, um and I would have walked away going, I made a new friend, the biggest piss head there.

SPEAKER_00:

Yes. And then we might have ended up meeting up to drink together, and that would be the friendship was based on that. And to be totally honest, I don't even know if anyone was drinking that much there, but I would have found them. Yeah, I would have found them.

SPEAKER_01:

Well, you would have instigated if if you like what I was, you would have at least said, Oh, come on, we'll just have one more out, or come on, or or I would have, if there wasn't anyone there to drink with, then I would have been on the phone to one of my mates to be like, Oh, this is so boring. Yep, um, I'm leaving. What are you doing? Exactly.

SPEAKER_00:

Plan the next thing you're going to do.

SPEAKER_01:

Plan B, we're out of here. And you know, it's so sad, isn't it? That that's how we used to think, or that's how most of us, you know, heavy drinkers used to to to um to go about these events was you know, if it wasn't, you know, full on fun and pissy, then it was like this is boring, I'm out of here. Yep. And just to go back to probably, you know, the usual's house and bitch about how shit it was. And it's like, actually, I mean, it's so negative, isn't it?

SPEAKER_00:

It's really negative. It would have been a lot of gossip and bitching, and yeah, and and that would have been true. No, because it would have been my self- you know, um not analogy of you know, through your beer goggles, it would have been fucking and we feel better about ourselves back then if we put other people down, and it's just a sad thing, and and that was because we weren't happy. Exactly.

SPEAKER_01:

Well, that's yeah, well, I was just thinking then, like it was us probably projecting how miserable we were by sort of putting it on everyone else. Oh no, it was boring, or this was that, or you know, that person couldn't resonate. But you know, this is the joy again of um not drinking.

SPEAKER_00:

The unexpected joy of being sober. Oh, that's a good name for a book. It is a book. Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

Hello, quick, quick, Begsy, patent it. No, it is a book. Oh, it is. Yeah, it does ring a bell. But it's true. It does. Yeah, we have these little nuggets of wisdom of lightning. Yeah, that it's yeah, that's awesome. And it's the same, like it was good actually with the mum's thing. We didn't yeah, there wasn't like the need for it all to be it's I think I might have even pressed on with the mentioned in the speech, or I didn't actually, it was uh after or before or during. I did certainly mention to people that in the family, like this would have all been about me and the bar, basically. Um I I just it just would have looked completely different, and mum would have had zero uh it wouldn't have been about mum at all, it would have been about me and how much I could drink in the short amount of time. And then again, I would have we we did go to the pub and there was a few people carrying on with you know drinking, and I would have basically you know, just kept going and then ended up somewhere that you know, all or with these people, you know, come on, come on, let's drink some more, like and just be literally like yeah, okay, see you mum, bye, yeah, love you. Fucking not even really caring, it's just like I'm just on to the next venue or drink. Totally.

SPEAKER_00:

Alcohol, yeah, it's really it made us selfish because we're not selfish people, and and most people, you know, alcohol makes you be who you're not. Yeah, and yeah, that that's not proper English, but alcohol makes you be who you're not. Alcohol works until it doesn't. Oh my god. Well, we're gonna wind this one up, aren't we, Allie?

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, I reckon uh, you know, I think we've highlighted the alcohol shit, and we are amazing human beings without it, which we were with, you know, we are anyway, but it's just so nice to have that um awareness of you know the joys of being booze-free.

SPEAKER_00:

Absolutely. Alcohol's the toxic part in this, not you, not me, not anyone listening. And stepping out of our comfort zone is a massive, massive win. And so good on us and to everyone that's taking small steps that you know is leading them to a better life.

SPEAKER_01:

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_00:

Awesome.

SPEAKER_01:

Well, well, I think that's a wrap. I think that's about half an hour of your treadmill, done and dusted. Um, but yeah, thanks for tuning in, everyone. And we'll uh chat again next time.

SPEAKER_00:

See ya then.

SPEAKER_01:

See ya.