Melissa has been alcohol free for the past four years. She is the founder of the wonderful sober/sober curious community SoberSocial.ie. Initially in her teens, she used alcohol to connect, relieve anxiety and enjoy herself. At 24 she began a PhD in Queens University Belfast, she then began to use alcohol to relax and unwind. After many attempts to give up alcohol, she achieved her goal in May 2020.  Removing alcohol improved Melissa's life so drastically that going back to drinking was no longer appealing. She created a community because she just wanted to meet new people with similar interests and hence sobersocial.ie was born! Enjoy!

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Meet Stephanie, who began a sober curious journey two years ago. She is the founder of the incredibly successful Babes With Beers Community with organises meet ups for people who are sober, sober curious or those who just want to drink less. Stephanie reflects on the learning and evolution that has happened since she chose to rethink how she drinks. Enjoy!
Follow this amazing community @babeswithoutbeers

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Meet Gillian, who has been alcohol-free for the past 4 years. Gillian is a coach who specialises in burnout recovery. She began questioning her relationship with alcohol when she noticed that drinking had moved into her home especially around during the pandemic. She gave up alcohol after joining a 66 day challenge with her friend. Giving up alcohol has given Gillian a great sense of freedom, incredible clarity and she is really enjoying becoming more and more herself in the years since. She enjoys the clarity that has come with this path and is incredibly proud of herself. Enjoy!

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Meet Lisa, who has been alcohol-free for the past 14 months. Lisa is the mother of two girls and works as a journalist here in Ireland. She offers a really candid account of how she has used alcohol to deal with anxiety, panic and grief.  A series of events, including a health issue, led to Lisa giving up alcohol. She did One Year No Beer in 2020 and that was the beginning of her sober curious journey. She credits reading QuitLit as a big inspiration to keeping her motivated. The clarity, energy and joy she has experienced since giving up alcohol has been revolutionary! She is really confident now that her life is way better without alcohol. Enjoy!

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Meet Dec who gave up alcohol 15 years ago. As a sensitive soul, he feels that alcohol never suited him, it took too much away. But this is a hard realisation to make in Ireland! Many profound changes have happened in the past 15 years and Dec is now halfway though a PhD in behavioural health with an emphasis on addiction and recovery. Dec is gas and a right laugh! Enjoy!

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Meet Amy, who has been alcohol-free for almost a year. Amy spent 10 years in Canada before returning to her native Cork. She found that alcohol made her mind spiral and she felt that as she got older the more anxious she got. She made a conscious decision to remove alcohol to improve her overall feelings of clarity and well-being. The time, space, energy and creativity that followed spurred Amy on to open her business, a boutique shop selling beautiful, premium non-alcoholic drinks.
You can follow Amy @idrinknolo or on
An exquisite selection of non-alcoholic drinks in Ireland – DrinkNolo.ie

For more information on Alcohol Free Living,
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Melanie is an accountant and entrepreneur. She gave up alcohol 3 years ago after a breast cancer diagnosis and she has never looked back.

She assessed her relationship with alcohol, looking at and questioning the low mood she experienced after she drank. This questioning led to her discovering lots of freedom and choice after she removed alcohol. Melanie felt empowered by this new way of living. She wakes up every day full of energy and new ideas and she is sharing her experience in the hopes of inspiring others. Enjoy!

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Today's episode is Catherine a mother of 3 from rural Donegal who decided that after drinking for 30 years there had to be more to life than the morning after. She gave up drinking in 2020 in the height of the pandemic and shares her journey in the most eloquent, thought-provoking and natural way. Enjoy!

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Meet Anna, 43,  married with 2 kids and off the booze almost 5 years. The changes that followed giving up alcohol were so transformational for Anna that she retrained as a sober coach. She is really engaging, funny and honest and peppers our chat with so many tips on how to navigate the world alcohol free. Enjoy!

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Aideen is 38 and is living in Dublin. She has been alcohol-free since June 2020 over 3.5 years. For a long time she thought that alcohol was a big part of her identity but now as she reflects back, she realises that alcohol slowly chipped away at her confidence and self-belief. She credits giving up alcohol with unleashing a new perspective on her life and her abilities.  She has gained a new lease of life, oodles of self-belief and is here to tell us that giving up alcohol will only add to your life, not detract. 

For more information on Alcohol Free Living,
Follow Olivia on Instagram @greyareadrinker
Visit Olivia's website www.greyareadrinker.ie