22 Years Of Drinking, Why I Finally Chose Sobriety - Steven Mitchell
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What early experiences shaped Steven’s drinking habits?
Welcome to the Talking Tradesman podcast. This is a space where people talk honestly about their lives, the highs, the lows, the pressure, and their mental health. No scripts, no filters, no pretending. Hosted by me, Russell Payne. Let's talk. Welcome to the latest episode of The Talking Tradesman. In the studio with me today, all the way from north of the border, is Stephen Mitchell from Alcohol Free and Me, which is his Insta tag. So go and check it out in due course. But Stephen, first of all, mate, big thank you for the big effort in coming down here. I know you've just had a, was it over seven hour...
Yeah,
better traffic this morning. Seven hour drive. For those of you listening, at whatever time you're listening, this is a Friday in the first week of the summer holidays in England. So hence the traffic. Was there more traffic going down or coming up? so it
was both
ways both
yeah i could see it both ways it was a few accidents as well so
i
think that was part of the issue but it took me an hour and a half to drive 20 miles there really just from overhampton basically
oh mate it's always always tough around that well big thank you for coming down and to anyone else listening please don't be put off with coming down um mate your story obviously It's a little bit of giving away in the title, isn't it? Alcohol freeing me. So you're on a sober journey. You're going to have a story as to why and how that came about. So, mate, let's get straight into that. Tell us a little bit about who you are and what you do first, I think.
So my name's Stephen Mitchell, as you said, from a place called Musselboro, just outside Edinburgh. So borders on to Edinburgh. So I used to drink quite heavily. Like... Constantly, basically. I still worked, obviously. I'm a plumber to trade, but I've got a building company, so we do exchanges, renovations, that kind of stuff. So I used to get stressed out at work. Was it an addiction, the drinking?
Yeah, definitely,
100%. So any time I wasn't working... I was drinking, more or less. I would spend time with my family. At the time, I thought I was being present by spending time with them, sometimes during the day. I was never there at nights, really, because I've got three kids. So, like, Monday nights, I would go and take my dog a walk. My wife would phone me later on, where are you? I'd just pop into the pub, sort of thing.
Oh.
That would happen quite frequently, so...
The dog was well known in some of the pubs around. Do you know what, Steve? You saying that has just brought back a memory. My dad's a drinker, right? So when I was a kid, I spent a lot of my childhood in the pub. That was it. Again, I won't bore you with my story, but my mum and dad split up when I was eight and I stayed with my dad. And he was a drinker, so my childhood was in a pub. But there was a guy, and I remember... And they used to be like, oh, so-and-so's in. And he used to do that every day. During the week, there was an older guy, and he would come with his dog into the pub, and he would order two... large glasses of wine together. So it was almost, it was over half a bottle of wine going in.
And then he would literally neck them back within 10 minutes and then he'd be gone again. And I remember saying to my dad once, I was like, why is he doing that? He was like, because his missus don't know. She thinks he's walking the dog. So yeah. just brought back a memory for me
so that would be me obviously there were some days I wouldn't drink obviously but that would be because I would be hungover basically
and then some
days I would be the weekend was Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday then Mondays again, maybe Tuesdays just random nights I would sometimes go out so it's always been a part of my life in Scotland growing up you're kind of born into wanting to drink. The first thing people want to do is become 18 so they can get into the pub. But you know yourself, everybody starts drinking a bit younger. So I think we were about 13 when we started drinking down the park, which is quite a long time to be having a drink.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What early experiences shaped Steven’s drinking habits?
0:00–8:02
2
When did Steven realize alcohol had become a problem?
8:02–16:07
3
How did family and fatherhood become the ‘why’ for his sobriety?
16:07–24:34
4
What impact does drinking culture have on tradespeople?
24:34–32:57
5
How did Steven replace alcohol with running and mountain climbing?
32:57–40:58
6
What strategies does he use to handle social situations without drinking?
40:58–50:22
7
How has sobriety transformed Steven’s relationships and mental health?
50:22–58:32
8
What advice does Steven give to others wanting to quit drinking?
58:32–1:01:08
Speakers
1 identifiedMore from The Talking Tradesman
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