6 Years 360 days - Holiday from Holiday

6 Years 360 days - Holiday from Holiday

What drives someone to seek a life without alcohol? For long-time listeners of **I'm Quitting Alcohol**, Boyle keeps answering that question in his own sideways, sweary way. This short episode drops you straight into his day: battered from Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, juggling parenting, and plotting a “holiday from a holiday”. You’ll hear Boyle talk about being an older bloke on the mats, rolling with mostly higher belts and struggling to dial down the intensity.

He jokes about his fight-or-flight instinct kicking in during Jiu-Jitsu: if he taps, his brain acts like he might actually die, so he goes hard, even if it means a few accidental headbutts and bruised egos. Away from the gym, he shares his plan for “pre–Mother’s Day” freedom: dropping the kids at a YMCA programme, forking out $25 a head, and grabbing a rare kid-free dinner somewhere close by instead of wasting their precious couple time in traffic.

It’s very much the parenting version of harm reduction. The big chunk of the chat is about summer holidays and money. Boyle walks through the maths on flying the family to Spain and Ireland versus paying for pricey summer camps in Boston. Against his better judgment, the numbers push them towards Madrid, then on to Dublin and Cork, where he hopes to do some gigs and see friends.

The tone is fast, raw and funny, with Boyle openly admitting he neither needs nor deserves another break, but he’s taking one anyway: "I absolutely, absolutely do not need one or deserve one. But that's just how the world works." If you like recovery framed through everyday chaos, sore joints, and family logistics, this episode might have you asking where your own “holiday from your holiday” really comes from.