4. Witching Hour, Without the Wine

The late-day pressure builds fast—the inbox pings, dinner stalls, kids get loud, and your chest tightens as the clock hits five. That uneasy mix of dread and fatigue is hard to name, and for a long time, many of us reached for a glass to take the edge off. Today we explore a kinder, steadier way through the “witching hour” that doesn’t end in regret, shame, or a foggy bedtime. We share a small practice that changed our evenings: step out, breathe, whisper a short prayer, and walk back in with just enough calm to choose the next right thing.

We talk openly about how alcohol becomes a learned crutch, why the quick relief fades into heavier nights, and how our bodies can relearn a new pattern with simple, repeatable cues. Grounding in Psalm 46—God is our refuge and strength, always ready to help—we show how faith reframes 5 p.m. from a test to an invitation. You’ll hear a personal story of resisting the pour for the first time, what shifted internally, and how tiny pauses add up to real resilience.

You’ll also get practical solutions for everyday bottlenecks: meal kits or batch cooking to ease dinner stress, permission for cereal nights, setting a playlist to steady the room, and creating margin when it matters most. We offer grace-based tradeoffs for early wins—an AF drink you actually like, a five-minute walk, a text to a friend—along with a one-line prayer you can remember even when your brain feels scrambled: Give me grace for the moment, God.

If evenings feel like too much, you’re not broken and you’re not alone. Try the one-minute reset tonight and see what opens when you replace numbing with noticing and ask for help that’s always ready. If this resonates, follow the show, share it with a friend who’s in the 5 p.m. battle, and leave a review to help more people find steady ground.

Transcript

Naming The Witching Hour

SPEAKER_00 0:00

For many women, there's a time of day that feels almost unbearable. Maybe it's the kids are melting down, dinner isn't made yet, work emails are still pinging, you feel stretched so thin that you could break. That is often for many of us that we might call that the witching hour. And it is one of the biggest triggers that women have. Whether or not you have kids, like the five o'clock hour is like when everything sort of comes to a head and it's so hard. And I would get this feeling that I still get this feeling, but I could never name what it was. Like, what is this feeling of discontent? It's almost impossible to name. And I still, like I said, I still am walking through this feeling sometimes. And I'm going, what is this? Why do I feel this dread, almost like a feeling of depression a little bit? Um, what is that? And it was everything I could do to just get rid of that feeling. It was

Alcohol As A Learned Crutch

SPEAKER_00 0:56

so bad. I told myself it was normal and that at five o'clock, it was perfectly acceptable to drink. Like maybe everybody had this feeling and drinking was the solution or the answer or the tonic that was supposed to take it away. Uh, and it was, you know, briefly. But what I really was saying was, I can't handle this moment without something to take the edge off. I thought I couldn't do it. And I trained my body to believe that. I trained myself and my mind to think if I don't have this drink, I can't get through this and it's gonna be so awful. It wasn't true, but that's what I taught myself. And because alcohol is an addictive substance, it worked right along with my little mental, uh, my little mental chit chat to myself. That was a lie.

Turning To Scripture For Strength

SPEAKER_00 1:45

But let's let's go to scripture. That's always the answer when we need a little clarity. Psalm 46 says, God is our refuge in strength, always ready to help in times of trouble. God is our refuge in strength and always ready to help in times of trouble. Notice that. Always ready at 5 p.m., at 2 a.m. at 4 a.m., all of the times God is ready because he doesn't sleep, you know? It's not sometimes and it's not only when we've got it together, but always. And in fact, even more so in the moments of weakness, because the Bible says, in our weakness, he is stronger. So the weaker we are, the stronger he is. It really is a great balance that way. But we have to remember that and we have to believe it and tap into it in order for it to work. Okay. So keep

A Small Prayer In The Chaos

SPEAKER_00 2:39

that in mind. I remember one evening in particular, my kids were screaming. They still do that. I was exhausted, and everything in me craved that glass of wine. Every so often I was able to resist though. And I stopped for just a second and I thought, what if I asked God for strength instead of drinking this wine? Which actually felt really stupid. I was like, yeah, I'm sure, right? Like that's gonna help. But I did that night. I stepped outside, I took a breath of fresh air, which do not discount the importance of doing that, and I just whispered a prayer. It didn't make my kids be quiet. It didn't magically make my dinner appear, but something inside of me did shift. I was, I was reminded that I wasn't alone. And I was able to sort of just like get a small grip on the moment and just sort of like get a little bit empowered by having done that. Over

Healthier Evening Coping Strategies

SPEAKER_00 3:35

time, those little pauses add up. The more you do them, the better they get. The witching hour isn't easy still, but it became more bearable. And I found other ways to walk through it, healthier ways, things that didn't make me regret my decisions, things that didn't make it so at 9:30 when I was finally time to go to bed, that I wasn't passing out, that I wasn't feeling like garbage, that I wasn't hating myself like I like I used to. And maybe you've been there, whether you're a mom, a student, or just someone who has who hits a wall in the evenings. That moment of overwhelm is real. And the craving for relief, that is real too. This isn't something we're making up. Like we are doing a lot. We're busy, we, you know, we have stress in our lives. Like there's a reason that we feel that way, but the answer is not alcohol. I mean, it can be a temporary answer, but we know by this time that it is not the long-term answer we're looking for and that is not going to bring us the refreshment that we need. And there are other ways. Um, whether that is let's really reevaluate our lives and figure out where we can create some margin and a little bit of space, um, whether it's how can we make things easier? We don't if dinner is the problem, like can we get a meal kit? Can we pre-make um what's you, casseroles? Can we have cereal for dinner sometimes?

Grace, Tradeoffs, And Early Wins

SPEAKER_00 5:00

That's totally fine. I mean, in my family, that's totally fine. But there are other ways to make little shifts and changes in order to um to compensate for what you need. And sometimes, especially if you're just getting into this and it's the beginning, you do things temporarily. Uh, for me, when I first started quit drinking, I kind of allowed myself all the sugar I wanted. I'm not saying that's healthy and that might not be the right thing for everybody, but allow yourself um some grace in other areas as you get ahead of the game on this one, because this one is more detrimental than a lot of other ones because it affects you, your internal life, your faith life, your family, your motherhood, your work, even, and so much more about your daily life. Um, so that's just that's just a thought. But the good news is you don't have to face these witching hour moments alone and you don't have to numb them away. God is your refuge. He is always there, ready to help you if you're willing

God As Refuge In Weakness

SPEAKER_00 6:05

to just like look over at him. You know, it's like I think of um the woman that had the problem of bleeding in the Bible, and she just wanted to touch his robe. You know, he she just wanted to get close enough to touch his robe, believing that the power of touching Jesus' robe would heal her. So I am not asking you to go out on a 30-day uh fast and pray in the wilderness. That is great if that's something you can do. I'm asking you to stop for 30 seconds, turn your face towards God, ask for his help, and believe in humility that he is going to give that to you. Whether you drink sometimes or every day, you can always invite him into that moment and he's gonna meet you there. Here's something

A Simple Practice To Try

SPEAKER_00 6:53

to try. When the witching hour comes, instead of automatically reaching for a drink, step outside or step into another room for just a minute. Take a deep breath, whisper a short prayer, give me grace for the moment, God, and then go back in. That one pause, it may not fix everything, it may not fix everything right now, but it does open the door for God to be your refuge.

Closing Prayer For Overwhelm

SPEAKER_00 7:16

Let's pray. God, you see the overwhelm we face at the end of a long day. You know that moment, that feeling that I still can't define God, you know what that is. You created us, you created all emotions, you created all experiences. Thank you that you never tire of helping us. Thank you that you are always our refuge when we feel afraid and at our limit. Remind us that we don't need alcohol or anything else to get through the hour. We need you. In Jesus' name, amen.