7 Years 75 days Sober - Environmental Home7 Years 75 days Sober - Environmental Home
I'm Quitting Alcohol
Comedian David Boyle shares a raw, funny account of reaching 7 years and 75 days sober while enduring stressful family travel to Ireland. He reflects on feeling at home in Cork’s green landscape and the exhausting chaos of visas, airlines and near-missed flights.
7:56•29 Jul 2026
Green Fields, Visa Chaos and Staying Sober in the Motherland
Episode Overview
- Long-term sobriety can coexist with chaotic, stressful life events like complex travel days.
- A strong sense of connection to a physical environment, such as Ireland’s green fields and cloudy skies, can bring comfort in difficult times.
- Hidden travel costs and airline rules can add significant stress, especially when travelling with family.
- New electronic visa requirements and tight timelines can turn an airport trip into a high-pressure race against the clock.
- Even after uniquely difficult days, rest and a familiar, comforting place can feel like a form of recovery in itself.
“I evolved drunk and cold in a field.”
What can we learn from those who have battled addiction? In this short, sharp episode of "I'm Quitting Alcohol", comedian David Boyle shares a jet-lagged, expletive-laced snapshot of life at 7 years and 75 days sober, as he lands back in what he calls the "motherland" – Ireland.
Boyle talks about staying just outside Kinsale near Cork, crashing at his wife's friend's place from Bangalore, and instantly feeling like his body finally matches its surroundings: rolling green hills, cloudy skies, and cool summer air. As he puts it, "I evolved drunk and cold in a field" – a rough but honest nod to his past and his deep sense of belonging in this environment.
Between catching up with comedian mates Mark O'Keefe and Richie Sheehy at a Cork pub and realising just how small the world is, the episode also captures the brutal reality of travel with a family. He vents about hidden costs, Ryanair chaos, early-morning airport queues, surprise visa requirements for England, and the nail-biting wait for electronic approvals that nearly cost them their flight. Even without alcohol in the picture, the stress is intense.
Boyle is blunt about being completely drained, describing the last three days as "uniquely difficult" before pinning his hopes on rest and the soothing comfort of Ireland’s "rolling green hills" to nurse him back to health. For anyone in recovery who thinks life suddenly becomes calm and orderly, this episode offers a very different picture: sobriety doesn’t erase chaos, but it does give you a clear-eyed way to talk about it, laugh at it, and still keep going.
It might leave you asking yourself where you feel you truly belong – and what keeps you going when everything feels like too much.
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