The Night John Robins Knew He Had to Quit Drinking
6/1/202653 min
Award-winning comedian and broadcaster John Robins tackles the fundamental question: are alcoholics born or made?
In this episode, John opens up about his 20-year struggle with chronic alcohol use, the childhood signs that hid in plain sight, and why every "moderation spreadsheet" failed until he accepted that one drink was the real problem.
The conversation moves past the "why" of addiction to focus entirely on the "how" of recovery. John shares the exact moment a podcast changed everything, the reality of rock bottom, and how he uses a toolkit of 12-step meetings, meditation, and running to build new neural pathways. It’s a raw, deeply honest look at the daily practice of sobriety and the liberating truth that you can only ever get one day sober in a day.
This episode covers the following themes: Addiction, Acceptance, Denial, Moderation, and Recovery.
John's book Thirst: Twelve Drinks that Changed My Life is out now: https://amzn.eu/d/0ahkSNch
Need Support?
Samaritans: Call 116 123 or visit samaritans.org
Narcotics Anonymous: na.org
Alcoholics Anonymous: alcoholics-anonymous.org.uk
Mental Health Mates: mentalhealthmates.co.uk
Shout: https: giveusashout.org
IAPT: https://www.england.nhs.uk/mental-health/adults/nhs-talking-therapies/
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Clips
Transcript preview
First 90 secondsMatt Willis· Host0:00
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John Robins· Guest0:04
For so long, I had these two forces, which was the fear of drinking and the fear of not drinking. I'd started doing CrossFit. That hadn't stopped me drinking. My GP telling me I need to sort my [censored] life out, direct quote. And I just thought, "I have nothing left. I've absolutely nothing left in my power to d- to, to get on top of this."
Matt Willis· Host0:28
Hi, everybody. Welcome back to On The Mend. This is a podcast where we look back at life's toughest moments to figure out how we move forward. Today, we have John Robins. I'm very, very excited to have you on. Thank you so much for coming on, mate.
John Robins· Guest0:41
You're welcome. Thank you for having me here.
Matt Willis· Host0:43
Um, it's... I'm really excited. My wife talked to you last week on the radio- Yeah ... and she said lovely things about you.
John Robins· Guest0:48
Oh, that's very nice.
Matt Willis· Host0:48
Which was really nice.
John Robins· Guest0:49
Yeah, I was talking to her about, about the book, and also about the marathon.
Matt Willis· Host0:52
Right.
John Robins· Guest0:53
And then I had to pick a show tune.
Matt Willis· Host0:54
Oh, did you?
John Robins· Guest0:55
[laughs] And I just hadn't... I didn't know what that meant. [laughs] Um, 'cause I'm, I'm not big in the, the sort of the, the West End/Broadway world.
Matt Willis· Host1:03
Are you not? Damn.
John Robins· Guest1:04
But I managed to, uh, sort of scour my past for a show tune.
Matt Willis· Host1:08
Right.
John Robins· Guest1:08
So we managed to, managed to s- And what did you pick? Uh, Another Suitcase In Another Hall.
Matt Willis· Host1:13
Oh, wow. Okay, great.
John Robins· Guest1:14
The, the Barbara Dickson version- Okay, great ... from, I think, Evita.
Matt Willis· Host1:16
Right. Wow, great. Nice.
John Robins· Guest1:18
Yeah.
Matt Willis· Host1:18
Great. So that went well.
John Robins· Guest1:20
But it was... Yeah, it was lovely to chat to her. She's really nice.
Matt Willis· Host1:22
Oh, nice. Great. Um, I read something from your book. It kind of blew my mind when, when I read it in the, in the show