In this episode, Louise and Dr Helene explore Louise’s coping mechanisms over the past few years and how an intense life of hard work and constant pressure, often led to her partying harder than she had wanted to on the weekends. Whilst initially seemingly innocent, Louise started to understand that whilst she didn’t classify herself as having a traditional ‘problem’ with alcohol, her relationship with alcohol wasn’t as healthy as it could be, often ending up in awful hangovers, bad decisions and added stress when Monday came around.⠀Louise and Dr Helene explore why, unfortunately, Louise had to come head to head with a traumatising event one evening whilst intoxicated before she decided that it was time to face up to her relationship with alcohol and sleeping pills. ⠀Since that evening, Louise embarked on a journey of sobriety and it has now been 2 years and 8 months since she decided to stop drinking. Until now, Louise has never shared this personal story, but is today sharing in the hope that it may be comforting for others who have been in a similar situation, and potentially inspiring for those who are sober curious and interested in exploring a life without alcohol and drugs.⠀In this episode, she discusses how her relationship with alcohol and sleeping pills developed throughout her 20s, whether she ever classified this as a problem and why it took so many years for her to come to the decision to finally stop drinking.⠀Louise & Dr Helene also discuss how she went sober, whether she did it with professional help or on her own, and how she has managed to stay sober in a world full of party animals and normalisation of drinking.⠀In a touching and uplifting episode, Louise reflects on how far she has come and the incredible positives she has gained from her journey over the last few years - and the message she wants to share with anyone who is listening or has gone through a similar journey.⠀This episode is for anyone - the people who love drinking but hate the hangovers, the people who end up making bad decisions and wish they could stop but don’t know how, those who self medicate with alcohol and drugs to distract from reality, and those who would just be interested in knowing what it might be like to not drink for a day, week or month.⠀In this episode - everything is on the table - and we hope that you enjoy as we breakdown society’s relationship with alcohol, as well as Louise’s. How is your relationship with alcohol? Is it something you would like to work on? Would you one day consider going sober?⠀Love the podcast? Did our message resonate with you? Be sure to subscribe and leave a 5 star review! We appreciate your support in bringing therapy and human communication and connection to the masses!⠀Trigger warning - this episode contains information regarding sexual assault⠀Connect with Louise on social: ? @iamlouiserumball⠀Connect with OPENHOUSE: ? @openhouselife⠀ www.thisisopenhouse.com⠀––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––⠀Vibe With Me by Joakim Karud http://soundcloud.com/joakimkarud⠀Music promoted by Audio Library https://youtu.be/-7YDBIGCXsY⠀–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––