# Grey Area Drinking: When You’re Not Rock Bottom But Not Okay Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/one-for-the-road-the-quit-drinking-podcast-3741204/grey-area-drinking-when-you-re-not-rock-bottom-but-not-okay Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/one-for-the-road-the-quit-drinking-podcast-3741204/grey-area-drinking-when-you-re-not-rock-bottom-but-not-okay.md Podcast: [One for the Road: The Quit Drinking Podcast](https://stenobird.com/podcast/one-for-the-road-the-quit-drinking-podcast-3741204) Published: 2026-02-06T06:00:00+00:00 Episode link: https://shows.acast.com/one-for-the-road-1/episodes/steve-smith Audio file: https://sphinx.acast.com/p/open/s/64a1692cfc86ab00111f2ce6/e/6984ca4ea49843361360e2f3/media.mp3 Processing state: not_requested JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/one-for-the-road-the-quit-drinking-podcast-3741204/episodes/grey-area-drinking-when-you-re-not-rock-bottom-but-not-okay Duration seconds: 3712 ## Resource In this episode, I sit down with Steve Smith to talk about a side of drinking that often gets overlooked. Life can look good on the outside—work, responsibilities, everything in place—but underneath, something feels off. Low energy. Poor sleep. Always needing something to take the edge off at the end of the day. Not rock bottom. But not where you want to be either. We talk about what it looks like to question your drinking, even if you wouldn’t call it a serious alcohol problem, and how that “grey area drinking” can quietly hold you back. Some of the things we get into: The subtle signs alcohol is holding you back Feeling “fine” but not fully yourself Using alcohol to cope with stress and shut the day off What actually changes when you quit drinking If you’ve ever wondered whether it’s time to stop drinking, or asked yourself,  “Do I have a drinking problem?” —this one will probably hit. Going alcohol-free didn’t change who Steve was — it changed what he believed was possible. Instagram:  @Steve Smith Website : www.soberilliant.com Linkedin:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/steve-smith-5917519a/ If you want to connect with me via Instagram, you can find me @Soberdave  https://www.instagram.com/soberdave/ or via my website  https://davidwilsoncoaching.com/ Provided below are links for services offering additional help and advice. www.drinkaware.co.uk/advice/alcohol-support-services https://nacoa.org.uk/ Show producer- Daniella Attanasio-Martinez Instagram - @TheDaniellaMartinez https://www.instagram.com/thedaniellamartinez/ www.instagram.com/grownuphustle Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. ## Actions - request_transcript: `POST https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/one-for-the-road-the-quit-drinking-podcast-3741204/episodes/grey-area-drinking-when-you-re-not-rock-bottom-but-not-okay/transcription-requests` — Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode. - read_markdown: `GET https://stenobird.com/podcast/one-for-the-road-the-quit-drinking-podcast-3741204/grey-area-drinking-when-you-re-not-rock-bottom-but-not-okay.md` — Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource. A page view does not enqueue transcription. Agents should invoke `request_transcript` explicitly when they need this episode processed. ## Transcript Full transcripts are not published on public pages unless there is a clear rights basis.