Take the Sober Road with Judy Cook
Episode 140
This week’s podcast guest is Tribe Sober member Judy Cook. A Headmistress who describes herself as a Functioning Alcoholic – loving her job and still managing to run her school efficiently even though her alcohol dependence was increasing. Like many of us Judy has been blown away by the benefits of sobriety and the warm connection we find in the Recovery Space.
In this Episode
- Judy was a late developer when it came to alcohol – at the age of 18 she couldn’t see the point of going to the pub unless you were thirsty!
- However by the age of 28 her wine habit began to get established – a drink when she got home from work (as a reward) and a glass while she did the cooking..
- Alcohol is so insidious – the way it creeps up on us – that’s why it’s so important to do a regular dependence check with an alcohol free challenge – go to tribesober.com and join our annual fundraiser for your dependence check – 30 days of online and community support
- People were either “normal drinkers” or they were “homeless alcoholics” who needed to go to AA – there was no recognition that it was a spectrum… a slippery slope that we could step off before we lost everything!
- Over the years alcohol became her best friend and she was undaunted about the prospect of ending her 32 year marriage because she always had her “wine” to keep her company
- Such a red flag when we build a relationship with alcohol and our ideal evening is to stay home alone with a bottle of wine – that’s why we encourage our members to write Goodbye to Alcohol letters which you can find on tribesober.com under the “podcasts and more” dropdown menu
- Judy found lots of reassurance that drinking was normal – after all everyone on tv dramas was drinking, there were press articles saying that “red wine is good for us”
- You heard Judy say “Why didn’t anyone tell me that it was poison?” and I so empathise with that – if you know my story then you will know that I nearly drowned in my bath due to an alcoholic blackout when I was in my 20’s – but nobody told me I should get help – on the contrary we turned it into a funny story
- Judy made sure to book holidays where the alcohol was included – and even took a suitcase of bottles with her on one trip! Meals out were more about the wine than the food of course.
- She talked us through her arrival home from work – husband waiting with a glass of wine, the first of many – evening of drinking would end with a glass of wine by the bed
- Waking up she couldn’t remember what they had eaten or watched on tv the previous evening
- Her first thought on waking was around how much wine she had in the house and how many bottles she needed to buy
- Judy’s wake up call was when she woke up with tingling in her fingers and toes
- This is a symptom of alcoholic neuropathy. Alcohol is toxic to nerve tissue and can damage the nerves which transmit signals between the body, spinal cord and the brain. Yet another example of the toxic nature of alcohol.
- So Judy’s mind was made up – she had to stop – now it was about the how – AA was out of the question as she didn’t want to bump into anyone she knew so she went onto FB and found Sober Coach Simon Chapple
- I love the way the modern recovery movement has evolved over the last decade – Judy may have stayed stuck in her drinking if AA was the only solution but now there are so many options
- I loved her story about picking up her little dog and her mobile and going into the woods for a long conversation with Simon
- She skipped home from that call feeling SO much lighter – and that’s exactly how we feel one we’ve shared our story – the relief is huge and we know there is a way out
- As Simon told her she had a
Published on 3 years ago