Tanya J Part 2: When Grief Tests Your Sobriety

She Wasn't Like the Other People in the Room

If you've ever sat in a therapist's office for months working on everything except the thing you do every single night — same. My friend Rebecca Nelson Lubin has almost 14 years sober, and she told me about going to therapy for the panic attacks she got driving over the bridge, and somehow the drinking just never came up. We get into the weekends that started Thursday and ended Tuesday, and the day at ten years sober when she hit an emotional rock bottom and picked up the phone instead of a drink.  @RebeccaNelsonLubin Watch this pod at YouTube [https://www.youtube.com/@Drunk-ishPodcast]

The Diary of a Twenty Five Year-old Alcoholic

If you’ve ever woken up with an injury you couldn’t explain and just… made up a story about it, Elli gets it. She had her first drink at 13, her first blackout at 14, and then blacked out almost every time she drank for ten years, the whole time deciding she was just a bad person instead of a kid who couldn’t stop. We get into the fake Twitter account a group of girls built to bully her at 16, her mom showing up to graduation in an ankle bracelet, and the genuinely unhinged thing that finally made her quit. You can find Elli Rose Cikovic's book The Diary of a Twenty Five Year-old Alcoholic on Amazon [https://www.amazon.com/Diary-Twenty-Five-Year-Old-Alcoholic-Elli-Cikovic/dp/B0G1JCKND4/ref=sr_1_1?crid=OT8D2CQ7FO3A&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.NC_MZeC2onhea7Y-2lb8CcT1yDXmCbdl8E7_UZOoT0x3v2PS0UuvCY751YpHAkdn.84Bve3VRay8j-PVMdObhOh-EP4UxOeNw5rFReuXVhjI&dib_tag=se&keywords=the+diary+of+a+twenty-five-year-old+alcoholic&qid=1781542660&sprefix=diary+of+a+twenty%2Caps%2C194&sr=8-1]for right now. Follow Elli on IG @ellirosecikovic

The Truth About Sobriety and Mental Health

If you've ever assumed sobriety would turn you into a calm, well-adjusted person who makes good decisions and drinks green juice while journaling at sunrise, Sara Christine Berelsman would like a word. We talk about drinking, bipolar disorder, shame, marriage, motherhood, writing your way through the hard stuff, getting judged by small-town boss babes, and why telling the truth can be terrifying but also deeply useful which is pretty much our brand around here.  Sara is the author of My Last Rock Bottom and can be found on her Facebook page Sara Christine Berelsman. Please check out this episode and more on our YouTube page at Drunk-ish [https://www.youtube.com/@Drunk-ishPodcast]

Tanya J Part 2: When Grief Tests Your Sobriety

Tanya J is back for Part Two, and I would strongly suggest listening to Part One first unless you enjoy walking into the emotional equivalent of a movie halfway through and asking, “Wait, why is everyone crying?” Tanya’s story goes from sober parties and family Thanksgiving to grief, trauma, motherhood, court, recovery, and the very rude discovery that life does not stop being life just because you quit drinking. We talk about staying sober when “all bets are off,” and why playing through the drink is not just a slogan — it’s survival.

The Fixer Finally Asked for Help

This week on Drunk-ish, I’m talking with my friend Tanya J, whose sobriety story does not begin with teenage keg stands or dramatic college beer pong. Her drinking took off later, wrapped up in marriage, wine with dinner, perfectionism, parenting, adoption stress, family chaos, and the deeply annoying belief that if you’re the “responsible one,” you must be fine. Tanya shares how fear, control, caretaking, and white wine all tangled together — and how rehab, recovery, sponsorship, and a very inconvenient amount of crying helped her start rebuilding her life. This is Part One, so yes, we are making you come back.