Episode 323 – I have to say I feel less isolated in a pandemic than I ever did drinking.  It has been so good to go through a pandemic sober.   Lauren took her last drink on December 19, 2018.  She lives in Canada and is 37 years old.    This is her journey of living alcohol free (AF).   Shout out to Jeni’s ice cream who is one of the sponsors of our Bozeman retreat.   https://jenis.com/   Finding Your Better You – Odette’s weekly message.   Odette reflected on a March NPR article titled, “A sharp, off the charts’ rise in alcoholic liver disease among young women.   https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2021/03/16/973684753/sharp-off-the-charts-rise-in-alcoholic-liver-disease-among-young-women   It’s important this article is placed in a bucked about the global crisis, the COVID-19 pandemic.   The article referenced a 30-year-old woman who was diagnosed with alcoholic hepatitis.  She drank nearly a liter of liquor every evening.  Doctors are seeing patients whose drinking has edged up in the last year.  In conversations, physicians recognize it’s astronomical and life threatening.  The survival rate for alcoholic hepatitis and cirrhosis varies but can be as low as ten percent.  The CDC has not compiled additional statistics since the pandemic began, however physicians are aware of the upswing as they see more hospitalizations and fatalities.  While men have consistently driven the statistics, young women are driving the numbers up.    Many are crossing the bridge from normal drinking to problematic drinking.  What are the signs?  The rock bottom aha moments?   Sobriety isn’t easy, but Odette is no longer living a double life.  Odette wants to do more to help those who are struggling with alcohol addiction.    [8:27]  Odette introduces Lauren     Lauren took her last drink on December 19, 2018 (sobriety date 12/20/2018).  She has been sober for 750 days (as of this recording).  She has several friends she has met through 12-step programs that are going through the same things.   Lauren is from Ontario, Canada and is 37 years old.  She lives with her partner and they co-parent his children.  They have a cat and are adopting a dog.  Lauren is a housing work and helps homeless people in her community which is even more challenging due to COVID.  Lauren enjoys running, hiking, reading, art, painting, and travel.  Her reading comprehension has improved with sobriety.   [14:19] Tell us about your history with drinking?   Lauren had a normal childhood and started drinking in high school.  She remembers in her last year of high school a friend saying he had never seen her sober outside of school.  At the end of University, she knew she had a problem, because she was happier staying at home and drinking the way she wanted to in her room.  After school, she moved to a big city and leveraged alcohol as a social lubricant.   [16:04]   Did you attempt to change aspects of your relationship with alcohol?   Lauren knew her drinking was a problem, but thought she was too young to deal with it.  She was regularly drunk, hung over and had no money.  She did reach out and went to three rebabs, several detoxes and the psych ward.   [17:07] What wasn’t working during those multiple attempts to quit?   When it finally clicked, Lauren realized she had used alcohol to manage her emotions.    On December 19, 2018, Lauren said she stopped digging.  She called in sick to work for the third day in a row at work.  She realized she had three options:  1). Keep going knowing things wouldn’t get better; 2) End it all (Lauren had multiple suicide attempts);  3) Stop drinking and give sobriety and honest chance.  Once she made that decision, she stopped.  It took her six years of trying before it finally clicked.  She says, ‘don’t give up.’  She is learning what she is capable of with sobriety.  The first month was difficult due to the wreckage of her past, but she now sees it is worth it.   [23:06] What worked for you that first month?   Lauren said accep