New Year, New Podcast
My first episode of the new The Mindful Drinking Podcast is out now on the NASM Podcast Network
There comes a time in every media-facing person’s life when a faint breeze tickles the outer rim of your ear and carried in the wind is the soft whisper of a word as though sung by Homer’s sea nymphs, “pod-cast.” And you have to decide whether to heed the siren call or use better judgement and keep typing away at Substack, sans vocals, knowing well that the world is littered with the chatter of a thousand podcasts that no one listens to and no one cares about.
Amongst podcasts, there are very few Andrew Huberman’s whose three hour monologues on a single subject can keep their audience in rapture. For most of us, we’re lucky if people give us 12 seconds on Instagram.
It’s not always the fault of the subject or even the person. People’s attention is often caught in a daily agglomeration of the demands of work, family obligations, endless streams of content, and our very real but sometimes less-attended to hopes and dreams. In some ways, I’m grateful to get any attention at all. And I wouldn’t even ask for it if I didn’t think there was something important to say.
I want to teach America how to drink mindfully, and my unique experience has prepared me for the job. For one, my life has been shaped by alcohol, from a young child when my father left because of his alcohol use to the present day where I stand on a string of awards for bartending and cocktails. My most elevated heights and heart-wrenching lows have been presaged by the bottle. I even once boasted that without alcohol I wouldn’t have a hobby, career, or friends. And it was true, though I’ve thankfully grown beyond that stage.
With all the good and bad, none of it has convinced me that alcohol is evil or drinking it is wrong. If you have come here to hear that alcohol is a vile poison to be scorned and drinking is some grave offense, you’ll be let down. I don’t want to condemn alcohol so much as I want to help create the conditions where choice is possible. For those who suffer from problem drinking and alcohol use disorder, that is another story––that is beyond my scope. But for the majority of us, drinking alcohol has become de riguer, it pervades our social life. And we often drink out of peer pressure, habit, and conformity.
But what choice do we really have? I mean, not toast the married couple at a wedding, sit at home and avoid work happy hours, don’t go out on dates for fear that your suitor or suitress will question why you don’t drink alcohol? These don’t feel like choices. For those who don’t drink alcohol, or are reducing the amount of alcohol, these feel like traps. I want to offer choices instead. I want to be the one to say it’s OK for you to make those choices for yourself, be social, and where possible present alternatives. If I can do that by pen or podcast, so be it. This podcast is just another medium to explore.
With all the buildup, where’s the pitch? I won’t make it. I would love for you to listen to my podcast, but I also don’t mind if you don’t. In some ways, I’d rather you attend to your hopes and dreams.
But if those hopes and dreams are somehow stifled by the pressure or habit of drinking alcohol then perhaps connecting with others and hearing a reassuring voice, with tips and suggestions on how to drink mindfully, might be the thing that helps you get to the a position of drinking (or not drinking) alcohol in line with your goals, the very defintion of mindful drinking. I also plan to speak to some pretty interesting people—from bartenders to musicians––and offer suggestions for no- and low-alcohol cocktails. Wellness coach or not, I’m still a bartender at heart.
If you do decide to listen, here’s a link (though feel free to use your favorite podcast platform). The first episode is about my own experience and how to define mindful drinking. I also give a suggestion on getting started. My next episode is about some helpful strategies for drinking mindfully and will feature my acronym RATE. Both episodes are around 20 minutes, a smaller investment than many podcasts and yet still meatier than an Instagram reel.
Derek Brown is an author, award-winning bartender, NASM-certified wellness coach, and founder of Positive Damage, Inc.
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