Drinking Out of Boredom

Drinking Out of Boredom

From This Naked Mind Podcast by Annie Grace

August 29, 2026 · 43 min · Episode 936

About this episode

Brenda shares her journey of overcoming boredom drinking after retirement and the turning point that led her to quit alcohol.

Trigger Warning: This episode includes mentions of a medical emergency and a homicide. Sunday morning, and Brenda can't get out of bed. Her head is pounding hard enough that she genuinely believes she might die from it, so she turns over and doesn't get up again until one in the afternoon. She'd been retired for years by then, a daily schedule and routine filled with wine instead, and what she labeled relaxing was really drinking out of boredom. A couple of glasses had turned into a full box, then a bottle most nights, one more way to use up hours a twenty-year police career used to take up on its own. A week later, she threw that box of wine in the trash. Brenda and Coach Cole discuss: Starting the police academy, getting married, and quitting drinking, all in the same month, years apart Why retiring in 2013 removed the one thing that had kept her drinking in check Naming the voice in her head Dave, and talking back to him out loud in the car The pink cloud moment driving home along the lake six weeks after her last drink The Sunday morning hangover that convinced her she was dying, and why it became her turning point Why she filled her newly empty days with sewing for her local…

People in this episode

Host: Annie Grace

Guest: Brenda

Topics covered

Keywords

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: SPCA

Books & works: Alcohol Freed

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