Skip to main content

i have alcohol intolerance? storytime AI transcript and summary - episode of podcast anything goes with emma chamberlain

· 35 min read

Go to PodExtra AI's episode page (i have alcohol intolerance? storytime) to play and view complete AI-processed content: summary, mindmap, topics, takeaways, transcript, keywords and highlights.

Go to PodExtra AI's podcast page (anything goes with emma chamberlain) to view the AI-processed content of all episodes of this podcast.

anything goes with emma chamberlain episodes list: view full AI transcripts and summaries of this podcast on the blog

Episode: i have alcohol intolerance? storytime

i have alcohol intolerance? storytime

Author: emma chamberlain
Duration: 00:37:57

Episode Shownotes

this week, i came to the conclusion that i have to go completely sober from alcohol. this is not a choice that i made completely on my own. if it had been a choice that i’d made on my own, i think i'd feel a bit more excited about it.

i was forced to make this decision against my own will. let me explain. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Summary

In this episode, Emma Chamberlain reflects on her journey to sobriety, catalyzed by her alcohol intolerance and experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic. She shares her initial struggles with drinking and the ensuing physical reverberations, such as rashes and nausea. Emma discusses how the pressure of social drinking led her to question her choices and ultimately recognize the necessity of cutting alcohol from her life. Despite feelings of sadness and loss surrounding the societal expectations of drinking, she expresses optimism about the health benefits of sobriety and her commitment to this lifestyle change.

Go to PodExtra AI's episode page (i have alcohol intolerance? storytime) to play and view complete AI-processed content: summary, mindmap, topics, takeaways, transcript, keywords and highlights.

Full Transcript

00:00:00 Speaker_00
So, this week, I came to the conclusion that I have to go completely sober from alcohol. Completely sober. Like, no little glass of wine here, tequila soda there. I'm talking completely sober.

00:00:17 Speaker_00
I'm talking, I go to a bar and order a sparkling water with lime. Sober. possibly for the rest of my life. Now, I know what you're thinking. Wow, that's great. That's amazing. That's beautiful. In a lot of ways, I agree with you.

00:00:34 Speaker_00
However, this is not a choice that I made completely on my own. If it had been a choice that I had made completely on my own, I think I'd feel a little bit more excited about it. I was forced to make this decision in some ways against my own will.

00:00:51 Speaker_00
Let me explain. This episode is brought to you by Airbnb. One of my favorite trips is a trip to Palm Springs with my friends. You know, I don't live very far away from Palm Springs. It's a short two hour drive away.

00:01:08 Speaker_00
But what made it so special was our Airbnb. It was just a little weekend trip, but getting to stay all together in one house made it particularly memorable. It was the perfect balance of privacy and community.

00:01:21 Speaker_00
And we were able to sort of live normally, cook dinner, watch TV. We all hung out by the pool together. Airbnb also has something called guest favorites.

00:01:31 Speaker_00
all of the most loved homes on Airbnb based on reviews and reliability and are rated above 4.9 stars on average. I've used this many times when booking Airbnbs because it sorts it through to the best.

00:01:43 Speaker_00
I am very much looking forward to my next Airbnb trip. I'll let you know where I go. This episode is brought to you by PayPal. If you're like me, I know you're always doing a million things at once.

00:01:54 Speaker_00
running errands, grabbing coffee, online shopping at like 2 a.m. for like who knows what, getting some work done, but then getting distracted, but then going back to work and now, oh my God, it's 4 a.m. What's happening? It's chaos, but it's our chaos.

00:02:06 Speaker_00
And that's why PayPal will always be that girl, because PayPal makes it super easy to pay for everything you need everywhere you go.

00:02:15 Speaker_00
And now with the PayPal debit card, just tap to pay in store with your digital wallet and earn 5% cash back on up to $1,000 spent in the category you choose each month. I mean, who wouldn't love a good thrift store run with some cash back?

00:02:30 Speaker_00
Like, that's literally cash back for absolutely no additional work. So if doing a million random things at once sounds like your vibe, make sure to check out the new PayPal. Every payment, everywhere, every time. Don't just pay, PayPal.

00:02:44 Speaker_00
Terms and cashback limits apply. See PayPal app. This card is issued by the Bank Corp Bank, N.A. pursuant to a license by MasterCard International, Inc. and may be used everywhere MasterCard is accepted. This episode is brought to you by Squarespace.

00:03:01 Speaker_00
Even business websites get judged on their looks. And that's why Squarespace developed their tech to help you put your best foot forward.

00:03:08 Speaker_00
You can go straight from building a beautiful customized website with Squarespace's Blueprint AI to seamless checkouts for customers.

00:03:16 Speaker_00
With Squarespace's e-commerce tools, you can accept credit cards, PayPal, and Apple Pay, and in eligible countries, offer customers the option to buy now and pay later with Afterpay and Clearpay.

00:03:29 Speaker_00
Head to squarespace.com slash Emma for a free trial and use code Emma to save 10% on your first purchase Head to squarespace.com slash Emma for a free trial and use code Emma to save 10% off on your first purchase. It all started in 2021.

00:04:27 Speaker_00
In the midst of COVID, Emma is drinking a lot of alcohol. Okay. Emma was drinking a lot of alcohol. I wouldn't say I was abusing it by, I mean, I think maybe a little bit, but I wouldn't say any more than the average college student.

00:04:45 Speaker_00
It's very common for kids, you know, in their early 20s to drink a little bit too much, right? That's not out of the ordinary. Does it make it right? Does it make it healthy? Absolutely not. But it's to be expected in a way, right?

00:05:00 Speaker_00
I was drinking a lot of alcohol, particularly vodka. I mean, when five o'clock would hit, I was making a drink at best and taking shots at worst. You know, COVID was rough. I think a lot of us were drinking. And so I was one of them. I was one of them.

00:05:18 Speaker_00
And I didn't see it as a problem at the time. I saw it as normal. And I still in a way, see it as normal, but now hindsight being 20-20, I look at it and I'm like, just because everyone else is doing it, doesn't mean it's okay for you to do it, right?

00:05:32 Speaker_00
Just because everybody else drinks a lot in their 20s, just because everybody else was drinking a lot because it was the pandemic and everybody was feeling nihilistic and confused, doesn't mean it's okay that I did it.

00:05:47 Speaker_00
Not everybody makes that choice, so I don't give myself a pass because everybody else was doing it. I still see that as problematic and unsustainable behavior. Anyway, I was drinking a lot. 2021.

00:06:00 Speaker_00
And at a certain point, I started to develop rashes and hives, particularly on my face, whenever I'd drink. I actually wouldn't say whenever I'd drink because I was drinking kind of a lot and I wasn't getting rashes every single time.

00:06:18 Speaker_00
But I would say 75% of the time when I'd drink, I would develop hives. And it was really frustrating for me because I'd be drinking and then all of a sudden my face would start to feel really hot.

00:06:34 Speaker_00
And if I wasn't wearing makeup, you could very quickly start to see red patches all over my face and on my neck. And my face would swell up a little bit.

00:06:46 Speaker_00
And not only was it incredibly uncomfortable and hot, like my face just felt hot and swollen, but it looked kind of jarring. Like you'd look at my face and be like, oh, she's definitely not doing well. Like something's going on.

00:07:00 Speaker_00
And this would happen, you know, after two drinks, right? And for a long time, I was perplexed by this because it wasn't happening every single time.

00:07:10 Speaker_00
I think if it had been happening every single time I would drink, I would have paid closer attention to it. But at the time, I wasn't in a particularly protective state of mind, whereas now I'm very protective of myself.

00:07:23 Speaker_00
When something starts to go wrong or go awry, I immediately am checking in on it. If I feel like something's off in my body, I listen to it. because I care about my well-being today. But there's been times in the past where I haven't.

00:07:39 Speaker_00
And in 2021, I wouldn't say I really cared about myself very much. So me getting hives was the least of my worries.

00:07:45 Speaker_00
I was like, I just want the hives to go away so I can keep having fun and have another tequila soda or have another vodka seltzer, you know? Like, that's what my priority was more than anything.

00:07:58 Speaker_00
I was like, I just want to keep drinking and having fun and escaping. and I want to look cute and having hives all over your face and getting kind of puffy doesn't look very cute.

00:08:07 Speaker_00
Even when I was wearing makeup, you could still kind of tell that something was wrong with my face a little bit, but it would eventually pass. And yeah, it was very odd, but it wouldn't happen every time.

00:08:20 Speaker_00
So I was like, it can't be that big of a deal if it's not happening every time I drink. Like it was sort of Russian roulette. I didn't know when it was going to happen.

00:08:30 Speaker_00
And I think, in retrospect, it's bizarre to me that I didn't pay more attention to that.

00:08:37 Speaker_00
Like, when your body has a reaction like that over and over and over again, even if it's not every single time, that's still a sign that something's wrong, right? Something's not right.

00:08:47 Speaker_00
But because drinking was such a non-negotiable part of my life at that time, Like, it was a huge source of entertainment for me. It was how I spent time with those that I spent time with during that time.

00:09:00 Speaker_00
Like, not my family, but, you know, my friends, significant others. Like, that was very much the center of what we were all doing together. Again, which is normal, right? Because we're at college age. Partying and drinking is a big part of that, right?

00:09:20 Speaker_00
So it's not completely out of the ordinary. But again, that was my number one priority was to maintain that. as a part of my routine in life.

00:09:29 Speaker_00
So, like, to look at alcohol as potentially a problem for me physically, like, health-wise, it was like, I don't even care.

00:09:37 Speaker_00
Like, it wasn't even something I was giving any attention to because I was like, this is such a big part of my life right now, there's no way I'm gonna stop. It was, like, weird, but it was all subconscious.

00:09:48 Speaker_00
I was like, so in the routine of drinking a lot that it was like, yeah, like stopping or cutting back at the time, like didn't even cross my mind. Okay. And then that sort of continued 2021, 2022, then around 2023,

00:10:07 Speaker_00
I stopped drinking vodka and I started drinking tequila. In addition to that, I stopped drinking as much. Okay? So my habits around drinking started to shift. I was still drinking relatively frequently, but it wasn't as much of a habit.

00:10:24 Speaker_00
It wasn't as big of a part of my life. And the rashes sort of stopped. I kind of stopped getting the rash. I would get them occasionally, but before it was like frequently. I would get a rash almost every time I'd drink.

00:10:39 Speaker_00
You know, it was sort of unpredictable, but it was more frequent than it wasn't. When I cut back and started drinking tequila, they pretty much stopped completely. And alcohol slowly exited my life, like it wasn't playing as big of a role.

00:10:56 Speaker_00
I wasn't relying on it as much for entertainment. I was starting to realize, hey, you know, I kind of have relied on alcohol to be social for a while now. Maybe I should take off the training wheels and be social without it, like a big girl.

00:11:16 Speaker_00
And so, yeah, my relationship to alcohol improved and it seemed I wasn't having any adverse reactions to it. And it was kind of great. And now 2024, where we are today. I mean, we're at the end of 2024 when I'm recording this, but 2024.

00:11:35 Speaker_00
This episode is brought to you by Bumble. Dating can be exhausting. Even just getting to the dating stage is a little bit overwhelming. You know, I'm not somebody who loves casually dating. I like to be in a relationship.

00:11:49 Speaker_00
Finding somebody you're attracted to is challenging enough, but then making sure that you're compatible is a whole other challenge. Well, Bumble is helping take some of the pressure off. Now you can make the first move, or not.

00:12:02 Speaker_00
It's entirely up to you, thanks to Bumble's new feature, Opening Moves. It's a simple way to start conversations. Just choose a question and let your matches reply to kick off the chat. Try opening moves on the new Bumble. Download Bumble now.

00:12:17 Speaker_00
This episode is brought to you by Nordstrom Rack. Just in and so good. Thousands of new winter deals are at Nordstrom Rack stores now. Save up to 60% on Sam Edelman, Sorrell, Free People, Cole Haan, and more cold winter finds. Great brands, great prices.

00:12:36 Speaker_00
That's why you rack. In the beginning of the year, I was still on my tequila soda grind. Like, that's what I was drinking when I was going out, you know?

00:12:49 Speaker_00
And then as the year progressed, I kind of stopped enjoying drinking hard liquor and I started getting into wine. And for majority of this year, I was drinking a lot of wine, okay?

00:13:04 Speaker_00
I became a wine girl and my desire to feel drunk or buzzed pretty much went out the window and it was all about the experience of drinking the wine. I like the flavor of wine, I like

00:13:17 Speaker_00
the, you know, different types of wine and like being like, Oh, I'm gonna order this one. Oh, this one sucks. I'm going to get a different glass next, next time the waiter comes back.

00:13:26 Speaker_00
Like I loved the experience of wine and it became more about the experience of like having wine with food, having wine at a wine bar, you know, drinking it slowly, savoring it, not really getting drunk anymore, barely even feeling buzz, but like enjoying the experience.

00:13:44 Speaker_00
I absolutely fell in love with wine. Everything about it.

00:13:47 Speaker_00
The culture around it, the experience of drinking it, the taste of it, the way it pairs with food, the, you know, going into wine shops and picking out bottles of wine, splitting a bottle of wine with somebody.

00:14:00 Speaker_00
Like, I just fell in love with wine, okay? Like, a complete fucking person entering their mid-twenties, okay? Like everyone does, I started to love wine.

00:14:11 Speaker_00
And I think ultimately it was a really healthy thing for me because it made my relationship with alcohol healthier than it's ever been.

00:14:20 Speaker_00
It made it about a beautiful experience, not about getting super drunk, not about, you know, using it to help with the nerves. It was more about providing third spaces for me to hang out at, like a wine bar.

00:14:35 Speaker_00
It was about having something fun to order with my dinner at a restaurant. It was about the places that wine would take me, okay? The fun little wine shops in LA that I would find. It was about that. It wasn't about getting drunk, you know?

00:14:51 Speaker_00
And I really loved that about it. And I was like, wow, this is adulthood, you know? This is maturity. This is beauty. This is the beauty of, you know, of wine. I get it now. I'm in. Then there's something about it, like, reminds me of coffee, too. It's like,

00:15:08 Speaker_00
There's a ritual to it. It's just, it's just beautiful. Anyway, but this summer during the heat of my wine craze, something kind of odd happened. I was on vacation in the South of France and I was drinking a lot of wine on this trip.

00:15:27 Speaker_00
Not a lot of wine, but I was like having, you know, a glass of wine in the afternoon and then having another glass of wine at dinner. Like I was having wine.

00:15:36 Speaker_00
And one of the days on the trip, I have two glasses of wine, white wine, nothing out of the ordinary at all. And I get back to the hotel that night and I'm feeling incredibly nauseous. Okay. And I'm confused. Cause I'm like, I had two glasses of wine.

00:15:56 Speaker_00
Like this is not anything out of the ordinary. You know, what is going on? And I'm in my hotel room and I'm feeling progressively more and more nauseous.

00:16:06 Speaker_00
But I'm becoming progressively more and more confused because I'm like, I've thrown up from alcohol before. I've drank too much before for sure. That is not what's going on here at all. I had two glasses of wine and I ate a lot that day. too.

00:16:21 Speaker_00
Because I know, you know, obviously your sensitivity to alcohol goes up when you haven't eaten food. I had eaten so much that day. I had a lot of stuff in my stomach. Okay. So that wasn't a concern. It was not adding up to me why I was experiencing like

00:16:38 Speaker_00
horrific nausea after two glasses of wine, but yet I knew it felt like alcohol nausea, you know? And so I was like, what? This is so weird. I ended up, sorry if this is TMI, sorry if you get grossed out by this, I did end up throwing up.

00:16:52 Speaker_00
And when I threw up, it was like, it was not just like a cute little throw up. This is so gross and TMI, I'm so sorry. If this is something that grosses you out, just skip ahead like 20 seconds.

00:17:04 Speaker_00
my body wanted the wine out of my body so badly that like I was really throwing up like projectile you know what I mean like it was like with force like my body was like get this shit out and was like pushing pushing you know like you know when you're sick and you're throwing up it's like hard to throw up kind of

00:17:25 Speaker_00
It was, like, easy. Like, my body wanted this out, right? So I threw up. I felt so much better. I went to sleep that night, and I woke up the next day, and everything was fine. And I kind of just wrote it off as, like, a weird one-off sort of thing.

00:17:40 Speaker_00
I was like, all right, well, that was sort of weird, but... Whatever. Maybe I had food poisoning, or maybe it was from the wine, or I just didn't know. But it didn't happen again, and I continued to drink wine, and it didn't happen again.

00:17:53 Speaker_00
So I was like, all right, we're good. Now, that was during the summer, OK? So that was like probably August, like July or August, right? Actually, it was July. That was July. OK. Fast forward to the last month and a half, two months, OK?

00:18:09 Speaker_00
October, November of this year, the same year. The last few times that I've had wine, I have gotten horrible nausea, horrible nausea. Okay. And it's really weird because I'm not drinking a lot of wine.

00:18:27 Speaker_00
I'm having a glass or two max over the course of like five, six hours over the course of like a dinner and then going out for one more glass of wine after. Okay. Extreme nausea, like overwhelming. And last weekend the nausea got so bad.

00:18:47 Speaker_00
that I threw up again after, okay, the night that I threw up, I had one glass of wine with dinner and I ate a lot of dinner. So it was like, it should have been happy in my tummy. Right. And then another half glass of wine.

00:19:01 Speaker_00
So not even a full two glasses. It was a glass and a half projectile vomiting into the toilet. Okay. And I was like, all right, something's going on. And then I sort of was paying attention to my body. Like what else am I feeling? My heart was racing.

00:19:18 Speaker_00
My head was hurting. I was like, something's really wrong. I had a glass and a half of wine. You know, like, what's happening? But then I thought about it, and I was like, the last few times I've drank, I've gotten extreme nausea.

00:19:30 Speaker_00
Like, something weird's going on. And then it clicked. Why does my own mother not drink alcohol? Because she has an alcohol intolerance. What is an alcohol intolerance, you may ask?

00:19:45 Speaker_00
Alcohol intolerance is caused by a genetic condition in which the body can't break down alcohol efficiently. The only way to prevent these uncomfortable reactions is to avoid alcohol. Now, what are the symptoms of alcohol intolerance?

00:20:00 Speaker_00
Facial redness, flushing, sound familiar? Red, itchy skin bumps, hives, sound familiar. Worsening of preexisting asthma, I don't have asthma.

00:20:11 Speaker_00
Runny or stuffy nose, weirdly enough, that has happened to me many, many times after a night of drinking, just having like weirdly bad allergies. Low blood pressure, I'm not sure what that feels like, but I probably have experienced it.

00:20:27 Speaker_00
Nausea and vomiting, sound familiar. And diarrhea, doesn't sound familiar probably, but Not to tell you too much, that has always been a part of the drinking experience for me. Oh, I might be experiencing alcohol intolerance.

00:20:42 Speaker_00
So I looked into it and basically it's interesting because apparently this is caused by inherited genetic traits. having hay fever, allergies from the seasons and stuff, which I do have very badly, that is a risk factor.

00:21:02 Speaker_00
And according to the internet, having a mild intolerance to alcohol or something else than alcoholic beverages might not require a trip to the doctor. Simply just avoid alcohol, limit how much you drink or avoid certain types of alcoholic beverages.

00:21:20 Speaker_00
So now I'm faced with a choice. There's definitely something going on with me and with alcohol. So now I'm faced with a really harsh reality, which is that alcohol simply does not agree with my body.

00:21:38 Speaker_00
Now, I could go to the doctor and get it checked out and potentially understand, like, if there's certain types of alcohol that impact me worse, or if I should just avoid everything altogether.

00:21:49 Speaker_00
Like, I could get some sort of confirmation from a doctor. Or I could save myself an afternoon and just take this as a sign that maybe I shouldn't drink at all anymore. This episode of Anything Goes is brought to you by Amazon.

00:22:05 Speaker_00
I will admit gift-giving is not my love language. However, there are many people in my life who do care about gifts. Gifts is their love language. And so when it comes to gift giving, I love a one-stop shop.

00:22:21 Speaker_00
And that's why Amazon is so phenomenal, because it truly is a one-stop shop. I mean, you can really find everything all in one place. Whoever you're gifting for, there's something for them on Amazon.

00:22:34 Speaker_00
Shop Amazon gifting deals now on toys, fashion, home, gift cards, and more at amazon.com slash holiday. This episode is brought to you by Marc Jacobs. Finding a perfect gift for that special someone can be difficult.

00:22:49 Speaker_00
So if you're looking for inspiration this holiday season, gift the remarkable with Marc Jacobs range of perfume gift sets.

00:22:57 Speaker_00
Whether you're after something they'll know and love, like the iconic, daisy, and perfect, or maybe something a little more adventurous, like the all-new Daisy Wild, Marc Jacobs perfume gift sets include everything a girl needs to feel special, from her favorite fragrance to the matching travel spray.

00:23:15 Speaker_00
Holiday gifts don't get much more perfect than this. Gift the remarkable this holiday season with Marc Jacobs. This episode is brought to you by Iams Pet Food.

00:23:25 Speaker_00
If you're an animal lover, you're obviously going to get picky when it comes to what your pets eat. So here's why Iams wants you to choose their dry dog or cat food.

00:23:35 Speaker_00
Healthy energy in five days, healthy digestion in 10 days, and healthy skin and coat in just 25 days. Satisfaction for you and them, guaranteed or your money back. Feed Iams dry dog or cat food and see a visible difference.

00:23:51 Speaker_00
Visit IMES.com slash difference to learn more. Now, when I first came to this conclusion, I was like, that's not really that big of a deal.

00:24:00 Speaker_00
And then about five minutes into coming to that conclusion, I genuinely started to mourn the loss of alcohol in my life. Like genuinely, I was, I genuinely began to feel sad.

00:24:16 Speaker_00
Number one, because, and this is not like morally the most admirable thing I'm ever going to say, but I don't have a lot of fun stuff left, okay? I used to have a really severe nicotine addiction. That's something that I've been working on.

00:24:34 Speaker_00
over the past year. I've come a really long way. I'm not ready to talk about it yet because I want to make sure I'm really in a good space before I discuss it, but let's just say that I'm not consuming nicotine on a consistent basis anymore.

00:24:45 Speaker_00
Like, I'm going weeks and weeks and weeks without having any nicotine at all. I don't even drink to get drunk anymore. Like, I was just drinking for the experience of alcohol.

00:24:57 Speaker_00
Like, I can't smoke weed because, like, it gives me panic attacks and it's actually given me, like, it's triggered some really unfavorable mental health challenges for me, smoking weed, like, eating edibles.

00:25:13 Speaker_00
I've had some really bad experiences that have left lingering effects for me mentally. Like, what do I fucking have? Like, everybody has their vice, you know? Like, they smoke cigarettes, they have a vape, they drink wine, they, you know, smoke weed.

00:25:29 Speaker_00
Like, it's—and none of these things are good. None of these things are healthy. But I feel like everyone fucking has at least one And every single fucking one for me, it doesn't work with my body.

00:25:42 Speaker_00
And maybe it doesn't work with anyone's body and I'm just more sensitive than others, but part of me is like, for fuck's sake, let me have a vice, goddammit. I look up to the heavens above and I say, where's mine? Okay?

00:25:55 Speaker_00
Like, now I can't even have a glass of fucking wine? Are you kidding me? Like, I feel like I've... Holy shit. Like I'm somehow by some miracle, almost completely like eradicated my nicotine addiction.

00:26:08 Speaker_00
And like the one thing I had that I liked was having a glass of fucking wine on the weekends. God damn it. Now what? I was overcome with anger being like, where's my vice. It honestly made me want to go back to nicotine. I was like, this is so unfair.

00:26:22 Speaker_00
But then, you know, I picked myself back up and I was like, Emma, no, No, you can't look at it like that because none of this stuff is healthy and you aren't owed any of these, you know what I mean? Like, that's a weird way of thinking about it.

00:26:38 Speaker_00
Like, you don't need to have a vice. In fact, you should be striving to not have one. And in a way, it's sort of a blessing that my body's reacting negatively to these things because it's so much harder to quit when your body's not, right?

00:26:54 Speaker_00
Like, honestly, quitting nicotine became easier once I realized that not having nicotine in my system made me less anxious.

00:27:02 Speaker_00
And I was struggling with such severe anxiety that once I realized that my body felt better without it, even though I was still having withdrawals and I was still like fiending for it in a way, like, you know, it made it easier knowing that like it was having a negative effect on my body.

00:27:18 Speaker_00
if I had not started like throwing up from wine and if I hadn't gotten hives from vodka years ago and I hadn't connected the dots today and been like, okay, obviously there's a reoccurring theme here and it's progressively, it's getting more and more frequent, you know, I would keep drinking forever.

00:27:35 Speaker_00
However, you know, if you read any article today about alcohol, there's no argument that alcohol is healthy for you at all. You know, like there's more and more studies coming out being like, no, you just shouldn't drink alcohol at all. Right?

00:27:50 Speaker_00
Like there's, there used to be sort of claims like, you know, red wine is good for you. Now it's like, no, no. The healthiest amount of alcohol is zero. No exceptions. Right? That's what I've seen on the internet and scientists talking about and stuff.

00:28:06 Speaker_00
So as you can tell, I experienced a mix of emotions. feeling sort of bad for myself in a weird way, like, oh, poor Emma, she doesn't get to have any vices, you know?

00:28:19 Speaker_00
Like, no smoking cigarettes for her, well, I never smoked cigarettes, but no vaping for her, no nicotine for her, no marijuana for her, now not even a fucking glass of wine with dinner for her, like, she gets, I mean, for fuck's sake, I feel like I'm like a nun or something, you know?

00:28:35 Speaker_00
It's incredible. And I don't even, I'm not here by choice. I'm, I'm like here because my body has made the choice for me. And in some ways it feels challenging and unfair. Like, why don't I get to have these fun things?

00:28:49 Speaker_00
But then in other ways, I'm like, what a fucking miracle, because these things are unhealthy, dangerous and horrible for your health and overall physical and mental wellbeing. So it's complicated. And I'm sharing the fact that I,

00:29:03 Speaker_00
feel sad that i don't get to have any vices it seems anymore because that's the true like that's that's a true honest reaction to this reality for me if i came on here and said it's really a miracle because this stuff's so unhealthy So I'm so glad.

00:29:20 Speaker_00
In what way would that be helpful to you or to anyone? Because then when you are faced with quitting various vices in your life and you feel like, fuck, I need a vice. I can't lose all my vices. I need my vices.

00:29:35 Speaker_00
When you're struggling with that feeling, maybe you can think of me. You know? I know what you're feeling. It's one of the hardest parts of it all. It's like, come on, don't I get an emotional crutch? Like, come on, we need emotional crutches.

00:29:51 Speaker_00
I can't take all of mine away. But you can, and you should. It's a lot easier said than done, though. But you know what I mean. Like, it's like, this almost, in a way, like, triggered me to be like, oh, I want to buy a vape now.

00:30:05 Speaker_00
because I can't have wine. So I want to buy a vape so that I can have something that gives me that weird feeling that I can't even explain of satisfaction on the weekends when I want to celebrate, you know?

00:30:18 Speaker_00
It's like, there's something about a glass of wine. There's something about having nicotine that like, it makes you feel really good. It makes you feel celebratory.

00:30:27 Speaker_00
It makes you feel loose, like there's all these things about it that just make you feel good. And it's really hard, I think, for many of us to imagine a life without these things.

00:30:38 Speaker_00
And so even though I was aware and I am aware that this is ultimately a net positive in my life, and this is actually kind of an amazing thing, in the moment I was mourning the loss of this, the realization was challenging for me to accept

00:30:58 Speaker_00
it came more uncomfortably than I expected. Like, I've always preferred, say, nicotine over alcohol, you know? So like, it's only now that I don't have nicotine and now I don't have alcohol. It's like, oh my God, I have nothing. I have nothing.

00:31:13 Speaker_00
And I was thinking about it, I was like, what is the thing I'm really going to miss the most?

00:31:19 Speaker_00
And what I realized was more than anything else, more than the celebratory feeling, more than the chemicals that it releases in my brain that make me feel good, more than anything else, I'm going to miss the third space, going to a bar.

00:31:38 Speaker_00
I love going to a fucking wine bar on a Saturday night and sitting and having two glasses of wine over the course of a few hours, talking to friends, meeting new people randomly. Like I fucking love that.

00:31:54 Speaker_00
And it's one of the things I look forward to all week, you know, like having a glass or two of wine at a wine bar after dinner. I could not adore that more. And now I'm going to feel weirdly fraudulent in this environment.

00:32:09 Speaker_00
Like going to a bar and ordering a sparkling water is like, it's fine by the way. And if anyone has anything to say about it, they're a piece of shit. It's totally fine.

00:32:20 Speaker_00
But it does feel a little bit like you don't feel like you're participating in the environment that you're in. You do feel kind of fraudulent. You feel like, well, why am I even here? I'm not even purchasing something of value from this business.

00:32:35 Speaker_00
You know what I mean? Like, what do I do? And, you know, luckily at my favorite wine bar, they sell other things. They have like apple cider and stuff, but it's like, do I even fucking like apple cider? Not really. I don't like juice.

00:32:50 Speaker_00
I don't like drinking juice. Okay? Like that's not my vibe. I don't like that shit. So it feels pointless.

00:32:56 Speaker_00
It's hard to find purpose in like going to that third space now and hanging out when I'm not even participating in the activity that that place has to offer. And I think, you know, now more than ever, I personally really value third spaces.

00:33:13 Speaker_00
And if you don't know what a third space is, it's like not your work, it's not your home, it's a third space. It's like a place to hang out, meet people, be social, that's not a part of your daily routine. Work and home, you know?

00:33:28 Speaker_00
So, you know, can I still go to these third spaces, go to a bar and order a sparkling water with lime and just sit there? I mean, yes, but I don't know, like something about it feels weird.

00:33:43 Speaker_00
And so now I'm sort of faced with this dilemma of like, what am I going to do with my weekends, I guess. And, you know, I've already thought about it a little bit.

00:33:54 Speaker_00
You know, instead of drinking on the weekends, put more emphasis on going out for a yummy meal and then going to bed maybe a little bit earlier.

00:34:04 Speaker_00
You know, I didn't come on here today and tell you this story with some sort of beautiful conclusion prepared. I'm just sort of sharing this new reality that is honestly kind of hard for me to swallow.

00:34:19 Speaker_00
Like, you know, as I'm recording this, is it Friday? It might even be Friday when I'm recording this. It is fucking Friday. Okay? It's fucking Friday. And all I want to do is go out and have a glass of wine. And I can't. I can't.

00:34:32 Speaker_00
And I'm fucking sad about it, to be honest. I'm still sad. And, you know, I have a plan, like, you know, maybe I'll go out to dinner this weekend, or maybe I'll go see a movie, or, you know, I have lots of amazing people to spend my time with.

00:34:46 Speaker_00
Like, it's all good, right? But, like, I'm fucking sad. So consider this part one of my sort of non-voluntary sobriety journey. I really do think that not drinking will ultimately have a positive effect on my life.

00:35:05 Speaker_00
I don't really know what that's going to look like yet. I'm excited to share that with you one day and hopefully come to you with inspiring results that will maybe inspire you

00:35:14 Speaker_00
to potentially consider the lifestyle yourself, even if your body does not hate alcohol and it's fine with it, but maybe it's the move anyway. I mean, it's definitely the healthiest option.

00:35:26 Speaker_00
So listen, hopefully I can come to you soon with more, a more inspiring story. But for right now, I'm just being honest. Like this is a reality that I just found out about myself and I'm feeling a little bit bummed out about it, but I'm going

00:35:39 Speaker_00
to make the most of the experience. And hey, you know, as tough as it is, I'll tell you, my body is going to be healthy from this. It's going to be healthier from this. And that's at least a good thing. So that's it. That's all I have for today.

00:35:55 Speaker_00
Just a little update on my alcohol consumption. Can't drink anymore. So I'll let you know what kind of boring shit I get into, such as, I don't know, like building things out of Legos or maybe going to like movie streamings in the park.

00:36:15 Speaker_00
You know how they do that sometimes in like local parks? They'll like play a movie onto like a big projector screen in the park and there's like a bunch of five-year-olds there.

00:36:23 Speaker_00
Maybe I'll start getting into that or maybe I'll, you know, start getting into like,

00:36:28 Speaker_00
coding or something maybe I'll fucking go to college maybe I'll go back to college definitely won't do that actually but like maybe and maybe I'll fucking become a doctor with all this fucking free time I'm gonna have not drinking alcohol and not puffing on my vape anymore I'm gonna I like I might become the next fucking Einstein I'll talk to you guys later

00:36:50 Speaker_00
I love you all. I appreciate you all. And I can't wait to come back to you in like six months and say sobriety from alcohol is fucking awesome. I know I'll come to you and say that in six months. So that's something to look forward to.

00:37:03 Speaker_00
But at least I'll have a story to back it up. All right. I love you all. I appreciate you all. Thanks for listening and hanging out. I'll talk to you guys very soon. New episodes every Thursday and Sunday. Social media and anything goes.

00:37:15 Speaker_00
Find me at Emma Chamberlain and find my coffee company ChamberlainCoffee.com or at Chamberlain Coffee. Love you. Talk to you soon and bye.