Episode 48: When’s the last time you had a girl’s night out and alcohol wasn’t part of the scene?
Or the last time you got together with family or friends for a BBQ and didn’t feel like you needed a few glasses of wine to relax and get through it?
Alcohol is a prominent part of being social (similar to diet talk). It can take the social anxiety edginess off. And it’s normalized especially in mom culture and midlife.
When I was a teenager, I remember my Mom saying (justifying) that she drank wine every night (multiple glasses) because she had a teenager – like I was so difficult she needed the wine to get through those years.
I’ll admit I wasn’t a saint and at times pretty awful to my Mom. What teenage girl isn’t? But hearing that she needed alcohol to cope always stuck in my mind – even if she’d been partially kidding when she said it.
I get it raising teens, trying to hold down your career, maintaining a healthy relationship with your spouse or partner, and trying not to lose your cool when you’re socializing all while you’re going through the menopause transition is hard.
But what do you do when you start noticing that alcohol isn’t serving you as well anymore?
Maybe it’s helping to numb out the awkwardness, uncomfortableness, and social anxiety. But what happens when you notice that the effects of alcohol trigger more perimenopause symptoms like hot flashes and meno-moods?
What do you do next to help you beat burnout symptoms? How are you going to get through your next social event or the next 5-7 years without your class(es) of wine?
Beat Burnout Symptoms
Wendy McCallum, LLB, is a burnout and alcohol coach and wellness expert. A fellow podcaster and host of the Bite-Sized Balance Podcast, Wendy teaches busy professionals (who are nearing burnout and often using alcohol to cope) how to reclaim time for themselves, reduce stress, build healthier habits, and increase their daily joy.
No stranger to burnout, Wendy spent 12+ years working as a lawyer, then partner,
in Calgary. As a busy litigator and mom of two young children, she struggled to
find her “work-life” balance. In 2008, she left law to create a life she didn’t need to
escape from.
In this podcast interview, Wendy talks about her journey from being a partner in a large law firm to helping others beat burnout without alcohol.
We dive into how burnout in midlife can feel like a collision of stress, overwhelm, hormonal imbalance, and uncertainty. And what you can do to help beat burnout and calm the chaos without using alcohol to cope.
Finally, Wendy shares her advice for women in midlife who have relied on alcohol as a part of social connections for years, and how they can still be the life of the party (and remember it tomorrow) without relying on alcohol.
Alcohol-free since January 2018, Wendy is also a Senior Certified Naked Mind
Alcohol Coach. You find Wendy at www.wendymccallum.com, follow her at @beatburnoutandbooze on Instagram, and catch the latest episode of the Bite-Sized Balance podcast to learn more about her work.
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