#25: How Being Sober Can Enrich Your Life at Midlife with Lori Massicot [PODCAST]

Sep 07, 2019

There’s nothing like coming home from a long hard day at work and pouring yourself a glass of wine, is there?

You slip off your shoes, relax back on your sofa and feel the worries of the world slip away with every sip.

Before you know it, that glass becomes empty so you reach out and pour yourself just one more small glass. “It won’t make much of a difference,” you tell yourself. “Besides, I deserve it.”

Before you realise, drinking that glass of wine becomes your salvation.

You can’t get through a week or weekend without having a drink. It gives you courage, helps you feel braver and more confident. Helps you relax. It’s not like you’re an alcoholic, is it?

But as this week’s podcast guest and health coach Lori Massicot discovered, ‘just’ a glass of wine or two can spiral into a problem that feels easy to hide from the world but can be just as problematic as becoming a stereotypical alcoholic.

We sit down together to talk about everything from her dependence on alcohol, where it all started, how social anxiety and trauma played a role, how her drinking impacted her self-esteem and her weight and how life can change once you decide to take control.

She’s a woman who believes that laughter is the best medicine and runs an online coaching business for perimenopausal and menopausal women who want to be sober too.

Listen to this episode to find out…

Why she started drinking in the first place (glass of pink champagne)
Why you don’t need to be a typical ‘alcoholic’ to be dependent on alcohol (binge drinking counts too)
The huge warning signs that you’re drinking too much that you need to watch for
Why alcohol became her crutch through the trauma in her life
What was her catalyst for quitting alcohol after more than 30 years of drinking
How a random conversation with her husband opened her eyes to the full extent of her problem
The reason why there’s a huge grey area when it comes to addictions and why labels don’t work
Why life is indeed too short, but not for the reasons we normally tell ourselves
How the dynamics of her relationships with friends and family changed when she quit alcohol
The challenges of enjoying a night out without alcohol
How the perimenopause and menopause change how you feel about yourself and what other people think
Why socialising with other women is important, but not over a glass of wine!
How hangovers, overeating and wasting the entire weekend aren’t the best way to spend your time
The effect that alcohol has on your hormonal balance and experience of the menopause