Sobriety and the French! with Stacy Leshner

Episode 83

Tribe Sober - inspiring an alcohol-free life!

Quite a few people in our tribe found their way to us after hearing me chat to the fabulous William Porter on his Friday Night Live spot which you can see HERE

I met this weeks podcast guest when I was hanging out on the Alcohol Explained Facebook group – Stacy is a moderator on that group

The French have a reputation for being “moderate drinkers” but that is actually a bit of a myth – they come in at number 11 on a global league table for heavy drinking with UK and SA coming in below!

Stacy lives in France and works with William Porter – she’s been helping him to promote the French version of Alcohol Explained and also runs an IG group called "Alcool Explique" so if you are French or living in France please follow her

Stacy has also helped William to create his online course and now she is helping me to put our workshops on line..

In this episode

Stacy is only 34 years old so her Drinking Career was not that long – but it was intense
She grew up in the US where the legal drinking age is 21 so when she spent a semester of her university course in France she found herself with unlimited access to booze
Stacy began drinking with enthusiasm – no doubt heady with the combination of leaving home in the US and being free to drink as much as she wanted to
Drinking was certainly normalised in her college crowd but she accepts she was one of the “heavier” drinkers
As her contempories graduated and transitioned into grown up life many of them drank less – but not Staci! that’s when she realised that she had become dependent
That’s what happens for many of us – we don’t even realise the extent of our dependency until we try to cut down – alcohol is insidious and we need to watch out for red flags
If you are not sure what a red flag is then you need a copy of our PDF called “30 signs you may have a problem with alcohol” – just email janet@tribesober.com to get a copy
Stacy eventually got a job as a part time teacher in France which left her with plenty of free time – for drinking..
Her drinking ramped up and she found herself setting (and breaking) rules around her drinking
She also googled “am I an alcoholic” although of course she knew the answer!
Her drinking sent her anxiety sky high until one day she had a melt down – her doctor put her on anti depressants but as she was still drinking they made no difference
Like many of us Stacy had no “off” switch and she would drink until she blacked out – one day turning up for her waitressing job blackout drunk – unsurprisingly she got fired on the spot!
She went to her doctor who told her she must take a 3 week break from alcohol and if she could do that then she was ok – so she white knuckled her 3 weeks (with the help of Xanax which her doctor had given her)
And went back to drinking – she explained that having a drinking problem is France is “complicated”
You are either an “alcoholic” or you are fine – a well dressed professional woman just did not meet the stereotype of an “Alcoholic”
Looking back on her drinking she realised it got worse and worse over a period of 9 years
That’s the thing with alcohol dependence – once you’ve crossed a line with your drinking it will never get “better” – it’s a bit like being in an elevator when the only way it goes is down
That’s why moderation is not an option for many of us – we just have to ditch the stuff and learn to enjoy our alcohol free lives
Stacy was waiting for a sign – waiting for a rock bottom and it came during lockdown
The bars were closed and she was working from home – so she stocked up on wine boxes and got stuck in – her weekends became a black hole of drinking an

Published on 3 years, 10 months ago

Podcast Episode Details

Sobriety and the French! with Stacy Leshner