Episode 84 | Sarah Rusbatch — Grey Area Drinking, Mummy Wine Culture & the Morning Her Daughter Asked What Happened to Your Face

Sarah Rusbatch grew up in Scotland in a household where alcohol was simply part of life — grandma offering sips of wine at nine, her dad’s beer froth, men in kilts addressing the haggis on Burns Night. By the time she was fourteen and had moved to five schools in eight years, alcohol was the answer to a question she hadn’t quite formed yet: how do I fit in?

She went to university in Hull, got deep into the nineties dance scene, moved to London, climbed the career ladder in recruitment — where in 1997 the fourth stage of every job interview was a pub session with tequila shots to see if you could handle your booze. She wore her capacity for alcohol as a badge of honour. She was lit up like a Christmas tree the moment she had a drink, and she didn’t stop until the sun came up.

Then came the baby, the move to Perth with no friends and no family, the loneliness that nobody talks about when everything on paper looks perfect, and a bottle of wine a night that slowly became the only thing in her toolbox. In 2017, she fell at a party, smashed her face, and was woken the next morning by her five-year-old daughter standing beside the bed asking what had happened to her face. There was dried blood and congealed vomit around her mouth.

She did 100 days sober. She went back to drinking. She was back to exactly where she’d been within a month. She tried again. And again. Until 2019, when she finally understood it wasn’t a her problem. It was alcohol.

Now seven years sober, Sarah is one of Australia’s leading grey area drinking coaches, the author of Beyond Booze, and the host of Stronger Bolder Wiser. She works with women aged 40 to 65 who are ready to change their relationship with alcohol — and she does it with a directness and warmth that makes this one of the best conversations we’ve had on the podcast.

You can find Sarah on Instagram at:

https://www.instagram.com/sarahrusbatch

Sarah’s other links here:

https://www.instagram.com/sarahrusbatch

Sarah’s 100 things to do instead of drink:

https://www.instagram.com/sarahrusbatch

Sarah Rusbatch – Beyong Booze:

https://amzn.to/3U1EHmo

Sarah’s Stronger, Bolder, Wiser – Podcast

https://open.spotify.com/show/0NgeQwAek802stoj6ZfzYm

Soberful Podcast:

https://open.spotify.com/show/0Xll4Cyn6m18n5p24FXdhE

My Instagram is:

https://www.instagram.com/recovery_jimmy

And you can find all my other links at:

https://linktr.ee/jimmythistle

Buy me a coffee…

https://buymeacoffee.com/afterhourswithjimmyt

Alcohol Explained – William Porter

https://amzn.to/4uMmkyB

This Naked Mind – Annie Grace

https://amzn.to/4eC6L6z

A Million Little Pieces – James Frey

https://amzn.to/44jOV3i

Donate:

https://motiv8.im/donate/

https://nacoa.org.uk/get-involved/donating/donate/

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