# Ep 114:  Who Am I If I Don't Drink? | Alcohol Coaching |

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-big-drink-rethink-6691442/ep-114-who-am-i-if-i-don-t-drink-alcohol-coaching
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-big-drink-rethink-6691442/ep-114-who-am-i-if-i-don-t-drink-alcohol-coaching.md
Podcast: [The Big Drink Rethink](https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-big-drink-rethink-6691442)
Published: 2026-03-19T01:30:00+00:00
Episode link: https://www.thebigdrinkrethink.com/podcast
Audio file: https://episodes.captivate.fm/episode/b5005d97-abea-47d3-a6bf-fe43b274fe2c.mp3
Processing state: not_requested
JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/the-big-drink-rethink-6691442/episodes/ep-114-who-am-i-if-i-don-t-drink-alcohol-coaching
Duration seconds: 1301

## Resource

Who are you, really, if you remove alcohol from your life? In this deeply thoughtful solo episode, Anna Donaghey takes on the big, unsettling question: “Who am I if I don’t drink?” Rather than focusing on willpower or missing out, Anna Donaghey explores the real, often unspoken identity shifts that happen when we rethink our relationship with alcohol. With psychological insight, lived experience, and practical tools, she explores why alcohol feels like more than a habit, it becomes a social uniform, a signal for belonging, and even a “scaffolding” for how we move through life. Exploring topics like “identity lag,” belonging, and the power of meeting your true self, Anna Donaghey guides listeners through the discomfort and liberation that can come with letting go of drinking. She offers gentle reframes, challenging listeners to consider not just what they’ll lose, but the strengths and surprises they might gain. This episode is for anyone feeling curious about life on the other side of drinking. Here are the Highlights: 00:00 Intro: Rethinking your relationship with alcohol 01:03 “Who am I if I don’t drink?” - the question beneath the fear 03:29 Drinking as a “social passport” - ritual, friendship, and fitting in 04:34 The need to belong and why challenging alcohol can feel threatening 06:14 Alcohol as a uniform, how it signals our role in different settings 07:16 Meeting yourself as an adult without alcohol for the first time 08:25 Identity lag: why our sense of self changes slower than our behaviour 10:06 How alcohol helps us perform or buffer feelings 12:55 Ask: “Who have I not allowed myself to be?” 13:32 Outgrowing old coping strategies 14:38 Using alcohol as armor, scaffolding, or stabilisers 18:47 Liberation and alignment, shifting from performance to true self 2…

## Actions

- request_transcript: `POST https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/the-big-drink-rethink-6691442/episodes/ep-114-who-am-i-if-i-don-t-drink-alcohol-coaching/transcription-requests` — Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode.
- read_markdown: `GET https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-big-drink-rethink-6691442/ep-114-who-am-i-if-i-don-t-drink-alcohol-coaching.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.