7 Years 25 days Sober - Ask Boyle

7 Years 25 days Sober - Ask Boyle

Curious about how others handle sobriety while juggling kids, work and the odd identity crisis? Comedian David Boyle hits 7 years and 25 days sober and uses his trademark blunt humour to sort through all of it. Boyle is temporarily solo-parenting while his wife lives it up in Portugal, half-joking that the kids are running wild and that Jonathan Haidt’s ideas about letting children roam outside might just be the perfect excuse.

Between grumbles about holiday selfies and missing seafood, he slips in a heartfelt nod to single parents, admitting, “I have no idea how single parents do it… it doesn’t even fucking make sense.” The heart of this episode comes from an “Ask Boyle” question sent in by an Irish supervisor working in the Western Australian mines, who feels like an artist trapped in a high-paying but soul-sucking job.

Boyle instantly recognises the “golden handcuffs” problem and doesn’t sugar-coat the risk: if you stay too long in a job that kills your spirit, “eventually your spiritual death will cause a physical death.” From there, he talks frankly about Gen Z workers, arguing they’ve been shaped by screens, porn and lockdowns and deserve at least a bit of slack.

Then he lays out some rough-and-ready options: carve out time at work for creative projects, or plan a staged exit from the mines by cutting lifestyle costs and freeing up time for meaningful work, even if that means becoming a struggling poet or fiddle player. Under the swearing and jokes, there’s a serious message: everyone needs some kind of creative outlet to stay spiritually healthy.

As Boyle puts it, “There has to be output… take something that is within yourself and take it out of you and give it to the world.” If you’re sober, stuck and wondering what’s next, this one might hit a bit close to home – in the best way. What’s the “golden handcuff” you’re still wearing?