Learning How To Be Old

I was born in 1940 and I'm learning how to be old. So Lotta Dann talks here about sobriety in old age. Everything is different when you’re older, and that includes why we drink, how we drink, and the social environment in which we drink. Lotta Dann made a huge impression on New Zealand and abroad with her secret project to give up drinking: alcohol, that is. She wrote a daily diary as a blog describing her struggles, which became a best-seller book: Mrs D is going without. She now carries on with what is now her passion: helping others who want to change their drinking habits. With kindness! Lotta was only 40 when she gave up drinking. She speaks with compassion and understanding about people who might have a little voice in their heads that says, you need to rethink the way you drink, this is not right for you personally — for whatever reason. I have also transitioned into sobriety, but it was sobriety in old age (I was over 80) and for different reasons. Just because I'm old, alcohol was giving me less pleasure and bothering me physically. My taste buds, my brain and my digestive system were protesting. Even so, there were some challenges. I learned how even the loveliest friends can take a while to understand your change — and I was ambivalent myself, to start with. The pressure from your social circle can be intense or subtle, defensive or well-meaning. Any time is a good time to look at how your country, your culture and your social group treat alcohol. New Zealand is a particularly weird place in that way, largely because for 50 years (1929–1979) pubs closed at 6pm, training Kiwis to drink fast, drink up, drink to get pissed in the 'six-o'clock swill.' It's wrong to blame yourself if you're drinking too much because there's so much pressure from business, history, society to do so — and alcohol is addictive. I have seen people begin drinking heavily in old age. But I'd like to know how many people shift to sobriety in old age, like me. Head to Lotta's website for information and advice and company, if this topic interests you: Living Sober: advice, tools, experts, and a caring community Mrs D is going without: Lotta Dann's historic blog, still online, with good reason! Reading a podcast transcript Podcasts on Apple Podcasts have a transcript running at the same time. That can be handy, especially if you're hard of hearing. If you listen to it on my website, you can read the transcript here. It's pretty long — just keep scrolling! Transcript of episode 49. Thinking about sobriety in old age: Guest Lotta Dann Hello, I'm Rachel McAlpine. I was born in 1940, so I'm learning how to be old. And with me today is Lotta Dann, who made a huge impression in New Zealand and abroad with her day-by-day account of her struggle to give up drinking. Alcohol, that is. And she now carries on the good work. She runs the Living Sober website with the New Zealand Drug Foundation. I'll give you the URL in the notes. I'm very interested because everything is different when you're older and that includes why we drink, how we drink, and the social environment in which we drink. So welcome, Lotta. I'm so very glad to have you here in my podcast studio. In other words, sitting on the couch in my sitting room. Hello lovely to be here. Yes bathed in sunlight. Yes and with a cat let's hope she behaves. Now it struck me that you and I are both good subjects for a compare and contrast exercise. Did you do that at school? Compare this poem with that poem or? Probably yes. And contrast what's alike because we both gave up drinking but at completely different times of our life and for different reasons and different methods. Yeah, because how old are you? Not at all? I'll be 55 this year. Yeah, and I'm 85 so that's enough of a difference to have a contrast. Oh for goodness sake, I'm not 85. I'm 86. I want to know how old you were when you gave up drinking. I was 3