The Day Drinking Myth That Keeps You Stuck

Day drinking can look fun, classy, relaxing, and spontaneous from the outside.

Bottomless mimosas. Holiday weekends. Brunch with friends. Golf outings. Pool parties. Vacation drinks on a sunny patio. It can feel like the perfect way to make a day feel special.

But what happens after?

In this episode of The Alcohol Myth Podcast, Jonathan Ball and Ellen Beggs unpack the myth of day drinking and the way alcohol convinces us that it is adding fun, connection, relaxation, and celebration to the moment.

They talk about the alcohol math, trying to keep the buzz going, feeling irritable when the buzz wears off, the shame of wanting more, and the exhausting brain shenanigans that can follow a few “fun” drinks in the middle of the day.

They also explore a bigger question: what are you actually hoping day drinking will give you?

Connection? Escape? Rest? Celebration? Novelty? A break from responsibility?

Those are real needs. But alcohol often comes with consequences that steal the rest of the day, affect your sleep, damage your self-trust, and keep you stuck in the cycle.

If day drinking has ever left you wondering, “Why did I do that again?” this conversation will help you look at the pattern with more clarity and compassion.

You do not need to wait for rock bottom.
You do not need more willpower.
You just need a new way to understand what you are feeling and why you are reaching for that next drink.

If this episode sparked something for you, send your questions, stories, or ideas for future episodes to thealcoholmyth@gmail.com. We read every message. We really do.

Chapters
0:00 The brain shenanigans of day drinking
0:34 Welcome to The Alcohol Myth Podcast
1:15 Today’s myth: day drinking
2:10 The glamorized version of day drinking
3:02 Vacation, brunch, and daytime drinking culture
3:51 What happens after the fun part?
5:44 Paying the bill you forgot you signed up for
7:29 The “life hack” that does not work
8:22 Shame, secrecy, and wanting to keep drinking
10:41 Alcohol-free relief and keeping your integrity
11:11 Giving alcohol credit for the good time
13:05 Holidays, vacations, and the day drinking excuse
15:18 How media glamorizes the drinking aftermath
17:51 Why so many people feel alone in this
22:40 What need are you trying to meet?
29:21 A practical experiment for your next event

Connect with us:
Email: thealcoholmyth@gmail.com
Jonathan: https://livecreativeaf.com/
Ellen: https://ellenbiggscoaching.com/

Subscribe for more episodes pulling back the curtain on the alcohol myth.

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Transcript

The brain shenanigans of day drinking

SPEAKER_02 0:00

And I I remember I heard somewhere like you should stop drinking like three or four hours before bed if you want to get a good night's sleep. So I would like to convince myself this is a good idea to day drink. Then I can stop drinking by like five o'clock in the afternoon so I can get a good night's sleep. And it's like, oh my God, that just it that didn't really work for me. I don't think it works when you have like two bottles of wine during the day. I don't think that's enough time to like what have it wear off, even if you stop at 5 p.m. But it it just the shenanigans, the brain shenanigans around it are so exhausting.

Welcome to The Alcohol Myth Podcast

SPEAKER_00 0:34

Why does the world act like alcohol is the answer, even while it is creating problems of its own?

SPEAKER_01 0:39

On the Alcohol Myth podcast, we pull back the curtain so you can see what's really going on with alcohol and what life could be like without it.

SPEAKER_00 0:46

We are coaches trained in this naked mind and effective limital psychology who fell for the alcohol myth for decades. Now we help people take back control of their lives by changing their relationship with alcohol from the inside out.

SPEAKER_01 0:58

You don't need to wait for a rock bottom. You don't need more willpower. You just need a new way to understand what you are feeling and why you are reaching for that next drink.

SPEAKER_00 1:06

So let's dig in. All right,

Today’s myth: day drinking

SPEAKER_00 1:15

welcome back to the Alcohol Myth Podcast, where we examine those uh those myths, those stories, those beliefs that we've all been uh led to believe about alcohol, and we hold them up to the light of consciousness and we say, Hey, are you serving me anymore? The the topic that we're discussing today is uh is day drinking. So Ellen and I at the time of recording were on a long weekend. It's a holiday weekend. Um, Ellen is traveling the world, Globetrotter. Uh, and it we just kind of got to talking about how much day drinking used to play a role in our lives, especially when there was the time for it, right? Like when there was a holiday or when you were on vacation, this special occasion, like, ooh, yay, I get to do some day drinking. So, Ellen, um, take it away. What is what comes up for you when we start talking about

The glamorized version of day drinking

SPEAKER_00 2:10

day drinking?

SPEAKER_02 2:11

I loved day drinking. I thought I did, right? Like I that I was all about it. Well, I was all about it and I recognized the perils of it, but it was like, oh my gosh, if I could just block off a day and get to do the my favorite thing all day long, you know. This was kind of the way I looked in, looked at it. Um, of course, the reality of it is something different, right? There's like the glamorized version of kind of get dressed up, go to a bottomless mimosa or a bottomless cocktail free-flow brunch. That was one thing I like to do, or just like a barbecue that would start at noon, you know, that kind of a thing. And here I am now on vacation in Spain, and I I just spent a week in Valencia, which is a beach town on the Mediterranean Sea. And I mean, it doesn't matter the hour of

Vacation, brunch, and daytime drinking culture

SPEAKER_02 3:02

the day. Everyone is uh drinking, you know, on the outdoor patios. And there's a drink called Agua de Valencia, which is Valencian water, which is their um special oranges. They make this orange drink and it has cava, so like prosecco and gin and vodka and orange juice. And this is like what people are drinking just all day long. And um, and I mean, in my drinking days, I would have just been all over that, right? And and it's just so interesting. Here in Valencia, and everyone, every all the patios are like filled with people drinking this special Agua de Valencia. And I just remember traveling so many times or doing these daytime brunches. And it's like I would get so excited with the idea of, oh, I just get to sit and relax and eat and drink two of my favorite things,

What happens after the fun part?

SPEAKER_02 3:51

you know, and but what I forget when I'm like getting all excited about that is like the whole rest of the day, right? Like, so if you go to a brunch at 11 o'clock and say you stay there for three hours, four hours, right? Then it's three o'clock in the afternoon. And then what? Like you have to pretty sure that you have time to take a nap, or in my case, I might have to figure out a way to like keep the buzz going until bedtime, or I would get really crabby, or I would like come home and like need to eat a whole pizza to soak up all the alcohol. You know, it's just like the the combination of like bad things that happen after the event. Because I think the thing about drinking at night is when you're done, you just crash, right? You might not sleep well, but there's nothing else in the rest of the day. And I I think I just am realizing more and more like how much time, energy, commitment, you know, alcohol kind of steals, right? Like it because I'm comparing it to right now, I went to lunch, had a beautiful lunch, and ordered an alcohol-free beer, even had two of them, and then, you know, was totally fine for the rest of the afternoon. Might have been a little bit, you know, tired from a big lunch, but it wasn't like I had to write off the rest of the day. And, you know, especially when you're on holiday, it's like you think you, is that really what you want to do? Is like write off a whole half day and evening because you get to have a couple of hours of drinking during the day. It's just so interesting to me how I would have chosen that, kind of forgetting what it means after the fact, you know? It's just like our my brain wouldn't have gone to what happens after.

Paying the bill you forgot you signed up for

SPEAKER_00 5:44

Yeah, we're so con we're constantly paying the bill that we don't realize that we signed up to pay, I guess, right? Like, I mean, I just I I also relate very much to this topic. Like, I think about um, you know, a day that I could be day drinking was like I knew that that was gonna be a great day, right? I looked forward to them. Um, like, oh, I'm going golfing at noon. That means, right, because we scheduled tea time at noon, that means we can start drinking at 11 50, right? Like, that's you know, that's something to look forward to and celebrate. And then, like you, you know, I would definitely be thinking about okay, how can I extend this throughout the day? And I was doing the alcohol math on, okay, if I have this drink now, then I should be sober enough to drive home where I can then continue to drink at my leisure, right? Like it was constantly trying to figure out how I can squeeze in or optimize this day to maintain the buzz for as long as possible. And, you know, those days are some of the most um like, I mean, I look back at times where like I'd almost gotten in trouble or like had some kind of like bad outcome or whatever. Oftentimes that was as a result of day drinking because I'm stacking so many more drinks on the beginning of the day, and then by dinner time, I'm like, what is going on? I'm totally out of my head, where and I'm not like immediately going to bed, right? So yeah, just bad outcomes all around. But that's it's such a it's such a

The “life hack” that does not work

SPEAKER_00 7:29

I don't know. I just want to circle back to that idea of you know, we are thinking we've got this life hack or we've got this, you know, great opportunity, this this moment in time, this I can go to brunch with bottomless mimosas and get my drinking in early without realizing that it's it's still gonna have the same result, right? Like you're the difference is that you're probably gonna be conscious for it, and then you're gonna, like you said, feel so grumpy and so I I don't know. For me, definitely, I was so irritable if I couldn't figure out a good way to maintain my buzz until I fell asleep, right? Like it wasn't like a, oh, this is a nice off-ramp for the day. It was like a, you know, I've got to land this plane perfectly, or else I'm just gonna be grouchy.

Shame, secrecy, and wanting to keep drinking

SPEAKER_02 8:22

Yeah, and I think about too, like, because I would sometimes I would go with girlfriends, you know, that was something I would do without my husband because he was not a big day drinker because he didn't want to spend his whole day drinking. And so I would do it with girlfriends. But sometimes we would go for lunch and it would be like, oh, let's split a bottle of something, or you know, or we would sign up to one of these events where there would be drinks and he would probably have a couple, and I would end up having four, five, six, whatever. It was bottomless. I was just going for it. And then what would result is we would then go home and I would feel so much shame around the fact that I still wanted to keep drinking, you know, because he would be like, he would might take a nap or he might just go do something else because he wasn't so wrecked by it. And meanwhile, I was like, I either have to like, I'm gonna like strangle somebody or I'm gonna have to just keep drinking a little bit. So then I it would cause even more like secrecy, like I would sneak the drinking, but then I'm like clearly get, you know, I'm like trying to get keep my buzz, but not get so buzzed. It's so obvious that I'm it just it it I mean when you think about the trade-off, the balance of what I was looking forward to in this day drinking versus what my reality was for the rest of the day and how it would make me feel about myself afterwards, because I would definitely feel out of control and I would feel like what is wrong with me? I mean, those thoughts would certainly come up in the evening, right? And um and then I would and I I remember I I heard somewhere like you should stop drinking like three or four hours before bed if you want to get a good night's sleep. So I would like convince myself, this is a good idea to day drink. Then I can stop drinking by like five o'clock in the afternoon so I can get a good night's sleep. And it's like, oh my God, that just it that didn't really work for me. I don't think it works when you have like two bottles of wine during the day. I don't think that's enough time to like what have it wear off, even if you stop at 5 p.m. But it it just the shenanigans, the brain shenanigans around it are so exhausting.

Alcohol-free relief and keeping your integrity

SPEAKER_02 10:41

And I I just I I felt this overwhelming relief this week when I was like, oh my God, I get to go for lunch, have a couple of alcohol-free beers, and still have my whole afternoon and have my integrity intact. Because I think that's what kind of it would eat away at my my self-evaluation, right? It would be like, oh, I'm so fun and classy. I get to go for bottomless mimosas, but I mean, it was not classy. It though it just wasn't.

Giving alcohol credit for the good time

SPEAKER_00 11:11

Yeah. I think so much about it's it's a it's another perfect opportunity to point out that we give so much credit to alcohol for the fun that we're having, right? And so think about the times when you're likely to be day drinking. I'm out with friends at brunch, people I like and people that I choose to hang out with. And you know, we're going to have a nice meal together. That's fun by itself. That's fun full stop. And then we think that it's fun because we had bottomless mimosas attached to it, right? Or um, like at a festival or something like that, right? Like you're at a festival, maybe there's a great band, there's certainly interesting people, right? Like that's another opportunity where historically I'd have been day drinking. But being at a festival by itself is fun, full stop, right? Like that's the fun thing. And we just so we just we're so fast to give the credit to booze for the good time that we're having without realizing maybe the good time that we're having is the good time. And alcohol is actually like complicating it, messing it up, creating a bunch of problems down the line. We're racking up the bill that we're gonna have to pay off later. Like it just it uh it's kind of crazy to think about. Like all the times where I'd go golfing with my friends and you know, have a really great time, screw it around and golfing with my friends, and then think like that was great because I got to start getting my buzz early. It was actually that time was less fun in the end because I wasn't present in the moment and ready to like enjoy the time and connection and activity that we'd all selected to do. And instead, I was busy in my brain with alcohol math. Make it make sense.

Holidays, vacations, and the day drinking excuse

SPEAKER_02 13:05

I know. I was thinking that too, with like being on vacation, right? Like we equate being on vacation with getting to drink more or a three-day weekend, like it's Memorial Day weekend. So, what do people do? They they get all excited that they can they have three days where they don't. I mean, not they, I would get so excited that I would have three days where it was like kind of an excuse to just kind of start drinking during the day. It's a holiday, we got three days to, you know, and and and what do people really need, want when three days off work or three days off school or three days off? It's like you your body probably wants to de-stress, rest, hydrate, do something fun and different. Yeah, hydrate, sleep, eat, eat good food. Like and what do we do? We start earlier putting, you know, uh poison in our bodies, but it's the poison that everyone around is also doing and glamorizing. Like I this, you know, these special drinks, when every city you go to has their special drink, right? And every restaurant is like pushing it on you, and it doesn't matter what time of day, right? And it just we we as a society, it's like no wonder we all do it because it's everywhere. I mean, I'm beyond the point of having FOMO now whenever I see anybody drinking. I I definitely have Jomo, the joy of missing out, because I'm like, ah, I get to do all the same things they're doing, but just not feel crappy later. And it's it really is like a gin ninja Jedi mind trick or whatever that I feel like the alcohol industry and society has played on us to make us believe that the people that get to drink are the lucky ones, you know? Yeah, I mean, people everyone waits till they're 21, so they get to drink. Well, they don't wait, but they, you know, that's the idea. And it's like, why do we put so much glamour and prize on this thing that just makes us feel crappy?

SPEAKER_00 15:17

It's

How media glamorizes the drinking aftermath

SPEAKER_00 15:18

kind of wild. Like if you think just thinking about the marketing dollars and the you know how society is very quick to point out or like celebrate the like the good parts about drinking. I was I was watching a Netflix show, and the the hero is it's it was running point. It's the basketball show on Netflix right now. Anyways, so the main character, you know, they persevere season two, spoiler alert. Okay, spoiler alert, they win. And to celebrate, everybody's spraying champagne everywhere, and you know, like they're then they go out to the bar and they're just having shots and stuff like that. And it's like this, you know, big time. And then the next day, everybody's staggering around, the whole house is destroyed, everybody's dragging, looks terrible, and they're like, I want to die, and all that stuff. And even that, right? Like, it's a depiction of the aftermath, but it's at no point are the characters reflecting on how they got there, why they feel so terrible. Is this worth it? Did that champagne actually elevate the celebratory environment, right? Or is it all just this lie? It's so bizarre to me when I see representations in media, and it's like the the characters don't take the next step. Like 90% of the time, it's only the like, you know, woo-hoo, like you know, the first 15 minutes that gets shown, right? The other 10% of the time, the characters are like, oh, you know, must have had a great time because I don't remember anything. And there's never the third step of like, wait a second, is this worth it? And so when you start to ask yourself, like, is this actually worth it? Is day drinking worth it? Am I is this actually elevating the experience, or am I numbing myself? Am I in the grip of this addictive substance? It really is like seeing the matrix for the first time and stepping out of like the programming that we've all been kind of force-fed. It's wild, and then it becomes a superhero, a superpower, right? Like you, you when you can see what's going on, you get to operate on this different level that other people, you know, will start asking you, like, what's going on with you? Are you, you know, like what are you doing differently? And you're just like, I got the life hack, right?

Why so many people feel alone in this

SPEAKER_02 17:51

It's so true. And I think like when you were describing that show, I I mean, every show is like that, right? I mean, how many uh it just it's so uh and I think I I'm stuck on it because I'm like, dang, that that's actually really dangerous because that's what kept me really, really stuck for a really, really long time. Because I would see people getting drunk all around me, and I would see people maybe talking about how hungover they were and how what how that must have been a fun night. Definitely see it in media, but even with friends. And what I never saw was anybody saying, like, gosh, I I overdrank again. Like I didn't intend to drink that much, and I really just wanted to have a few and have fun. And why is it that every time I go out, I don't end up having a few, I end up having six. I don't know, that like that that lack of seeing what's on the inside of people's minds. I mean, it's the you know, I mean, I know that we only see everybody's outsides, but that is because it's so plastered everywhere that it's everybody's outsides are just fine when they drink a lot and often, and it's just it's I think it's dangerous because then if you're someone who's like, I don't know what's going on with me, this feels really out of control for me, and I'm scared and I want to stop. Like, who do you talk to then? You know, it just that's how I felt. I felt like, well, who am I gonna talk to? Because everybody seems to think this is just fun, and I must therefore be the only one that's drinking this much.

SPEAKER_00 19:40

Yeah, well, it's it's very much reminds me of the dichotomy of like there's normal drinkers or whatever, and then there's people in AA that have to go to meetings and they have a disease, and that's it, right? And so that kept me stuck for a long time too, where I was like, Well, I know that I am tending to drink way more than I actually want to or intend to, and I'm not having fun anymore, right? Like when I when I get to a point where I'm like, I'm on my 12th IPA and I'm not even intoxicated, I'm not getting even the the the quote benefit of those 12 drinks. I'm just taking in these calories and feeling compelled to, that's not fun anymore. But I also wasn't ready to be like, okay, I'm gonna go hang out a church basement and tell everybody that I'm broken. Like that just wasn't something that resonated with me. It wasn't, it didn't feel like an option. And so I was just kind of suffering in silence and just like you know, in my own head about it. And I didn't realize that there were tons of people just like me that were not happy with feeling out of control, not ready to do like a 12-step thing, and just not knowing what resources are out there, and so like that's part of the mission of this podcast, right? Like, is to be a resource and to be a voice saying, Hey, you are not alone in this experience. If you find that when you get a chance to day drink and you go way overboard and it ruins the rest of your day, and you start making decisions you're not proud of, like you are not alone. And um, that's what we're trying to do here is a you're not alone, b, you're not broken, like you became ensnared with an addictive substance. I think about how easy it must be to be a marketing professional for big alcohol. You're you're selling people an addictive substance that when they get a taste for it, they want more and more and more. And the natural trajectory of engaging with any addictive substance is more and more and more and more and more. How is that even a job? Like it's so it it would just boggle the mind that it'd be so easy, especially when culture is already doing so much of the heavy lifting for you, right? Um but yeah, it's just it's just uh I just for anybody listening to this, you're not alone, you're not broken. Maybe look at the addictive substance and not at, you know, like yourself to give yourself a little space and then you can start working on yourself. Like, what is it about this that I find so irresistible? What am I trying to accomplish with this? And how could I accomplish that another way? And that's what we're trying to

What need are you trying to meet?

SPEAKER_00 22:40

do here.

SPEAKER_02 22:40

Yeah, absolutely. I I, you know, like when I think about what it what what was I hoping for when I got to daydrink, right? It was just like a chance to like kind of escapism, like have a have a fun time with friends where I didn't have any responsibilities. I, you know, would probably get a babysitter for my kids when they were younger, or, you know, maybe a girl's time, right? Well, those are all, those are all really valid things to want and need and pursue. And we just get confused. I mean, I got confused that, you know, that it was like what I want, you know, I I I thought that alcohol was going to give me the thing that I wanted. And because I was stuck in the cycle of drinking every day, that that relief that I got from the negative feelings, it did feel like a relief from my life, you know, a relief from whatever worries I had or experiences I had. But I mean, what I've come to realize on this side of it is like what would be really healing and restorative would be to like spend time with a very close friend and maybe go for a walk or maybe even go for a really nice meal and have a conversation where I felt seen, heard, understood, supported, you know. And if I wanted something fancy, like, yeah, you can get dressed up and and go somewhere. But I think that whole like the idea of, oh, I want something fancy was so tied up in alcohol for me. It's like one of the things that's been shocking to me is I don't actually care as much as I thought I would about getting dressed up and going somewhere fancy. It was always about the alcohol for me. I'd really rather just like go for a walk with a really close friend and have a connecting conversation. And like I think I would have called myself boring, you know, in my drinking days, but it's like I feel more filled up from that than I ever did with a boozy lunch.

SPEAKER_00 24:47

Mm-hmm. Yeah, I want to circle back to that idea of you know, what need are you trying to have met with the day drinking? I'm trying to experience, I'm trying to have a celebratory experience, I'm trying to connect with my friends, I'm trying to be engaged in the moment, I'm trying to elevate the um mundane, right? Like all of that makes sense, right? Pay attention to all that. The problem is that when we have this like one solution for everything, and that's to pour some alcohol on it, right? You you start to lose sight of what's what need is actually being um brought to your attention. What need are you actually trying to fulfill? Is there some is there a better way to fulfill that need? Like for so long, I was using alcohol to solve every single problem. And it quote unquote solved some of those problems, but it didn't do anything well. It did the same thing across everything, which was like, let's just numb it, let's just numb it, let's just numb it, right? Like it's that's all it can do. It's just it's just what it is, right? It's just a depressant in your system. But because I kept reaching for that same tool and using the same tool to fix everything, that it prevented me, a, from um growing in my capacity or upskilling in other ways to find other tools that would be able to solve those quote problems even more effectively. Uh, and it kept me stuck, right? Like, because it did a fine job at doing what I felt like I needed it to do. So I was like constantly settling for less than what could have been. And like, who wants to live their life settling for less? That sucks, right? Like every every single person deserves um better than what alcohol can offer them. But alcohol is just it's it's very um very persuasive in you know what it's saying that it can do, but with with greater awareness, with some reflection, you can really kind of unpack like, is this actually doing what I think it's doing? Or or am I am I stuck in autopilot with this?

SPEAKER_02 27:13

Yeah, and I think it was a way to start to get some clarity on this too is like if you are listening to this podcast, you are probably somebody that is um worried about their drinking or is experiencing some negative consequences from drinking, right? So if what you're wanting to experience is, you know, fun or connection with a friend, it might feel like alcohol is giving you that in the moment. And it comes with all kinds of consequences, right? Otherwise, you wouldn't be interested in this podcast. You're you're experiencing negative consequences. So a question to start asking is like, how can I get the thing that I want with fewer consequences? And, you know, often for me, what I would try and do is, well, just drink less. And okay, like, yeah, if you can, great. You know, for me, that was really hard. I would I would have that intention and it wouldn't happen very often. So, I mean, that is a way to do it, right? So if that is working, then that that is an opportunity. But I would also say that you're still limiting yourself because you're still using the same substance that has negative consequences. Like, what if you opened up your world to the idea of like, what else is out there? What else can I do? And our brains are problem-solving machines. So when we start to ask questions like, how can I experience connection with my friends without alcohol? Your brain will start to look for answers. You know, it how can I uh get a little bit of escape from my daily life that I just feel like I want to escape from every once in a while without alcohol? Like you're you'd be surprised what your brain comes up with because so often we don't even ask that question. We just are on autopilot and we're like, well, that's the way. That's the way I've always done it. That's the way I know. It's a surefire effective way. And we miss out on so many other uh possibilities.

A practical experiment for your next event

SPEAKER_00 29:21

I love the practicality of that suggestion, Ellen. Like, you know, we we like to close our episodes with some takeaways, some really real, this is something you can do right now to to take action on the concepts that we've talked about. And your question, like asking yourself the question of how can I get what I want? How can I get my needs met with fewer consequences? We know that alcohol comes with all these consequences, right? Like we we I mean, to to our health, to our uh mental well-being, to our relationships, to our identities, right? Like just everything. And so I love the clarity of that. Um, if I were to give a piece of advice for somebody thinking about the the day drinking thing, is to see what it's like to experience the event, even if it's just the first 15 minutes without reaching for a drink, right? Like take the if you're at a festival, if you're golfing with friends, if you're at a pool party, if you are um, you know, out to brunch or something, maybe let everybody else get the first round and drink water and then say, hmm, ask yourself honestly, if you would normally be drinking at this event, what is it like right now for me to be 15 minutes in? Do I honestly, honestly still want this? Or is the fun of the experience such that I'm not really thinking about it so much? Um, and thinking about like, oh, I'm not going to drink at all can be daunting. Or thinking about like, I'm gonna take a month off, or I'm gonna take XYZ time off. But thinking about the first 15 minutes of an event where you would normally be drinking, I think even in my drinking days, I'd have been like, well, I can do 15 minutes. And um, if you honestly assess at the end of that 15 minutes, then you have a decision to make. But it's just building in that little bit of time, that little that moment of mindfulness where you get to be in control. You've broken the pattern even just a little bit, and that's where it all starts.

SPEAKER_02 31:42

I love that. And I just as a little like other thing that you could do for those 15 minutes is just have an alcohol-free beer first. Like tell yourself, I'm gonna, I'm gonna start with a mocktail, I'm gonna start with an alcohol-free beer and see how it feels. Cause then, you know, I it's always awkward when you don't have a drink or you only have water and everybody else is doing. So give yourself something good to drink that feels festive. And um, yeah, and then just observe. Observe yourself, observe others, see how you feel. And it's it's an exploration, right? It's an experiment. And um, and if it feels okay, give yourself another 15 minutes. You know, it can be a very gentle, gentle and progressive experiment.

SPEAKER_00 32:30

Absolutely. Um thank you all for joining us on this episode of The Alcohol Myth as we're holding up and examining the idea of day drinking, this supposedly super fun thing. Is it worth the consequences? Um, as you go through this week, think about how you can get what you want, get your needs met with fewer consequences. I think that's a great takeaway. And that's it for the alcohol myth. I've been Jonathan.

SPEAKER_02 32:55

Hey, I'm Ellen. Thanks for hanging out with us.

SPEAKER_00 32:59

Have a beautiful day. Thanks for listening to the Alcohol Myth Podcast.

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If this episode sparked something for you, we'd love to hear about it.

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Send your questions, stories, or ideas for future episodes to thealcoholmyth at gmail.com.

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We read every message. We really do.

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Take good care of yourself. We'll see you next time.