BUZZ BOOK: A sober look at drinking
Sarah Levy was a young, twentysomething working in marketing in New York. On the outside everything looked great — good friends, a steady job, and an apartment. But she was quietly struggling with her relationship with alcohol.
“On paper everything looked ‘normal,’ but I turned to alcohol to numb and cope with emotions I wasn’t properly dealing with,” she tells the Post. “It was a vicious cycle. I drank because I felt uncomfortable in my own skin, and alcohol instantly made me feel like I was a better version of myself. But when I woke up the next day, I only felt worse.”
Levy knew she had a problem, so she set out on a desperate search for answers. She didn’t know anyone her age who didn’t drink, and she couldn’t find a single relatable book about someone who was functional yet struggling, the way she was.
By 28, she got sober, and she journaled her experience. “Somewhere along the way I realized this could be that book I once looked for, and maybe it could help someone else,” she says. In January she published her memoir, “Drinking Games,” exploring what adapting to life without alcohol looks like when it comes to everything from dating to friendships to wedding season.
Levy is hoping to reach “anyone struggling with a crutch or bad habit that isn’t serving them anymore and is curious about what’s on the other side.” She’s also sharing her story for young people in particular, especially amidst a mental health crisis.
“So many people are self-medicating with substances,” she says.
“I used to go to the gym, go to therapy, and then go to happy hour with my friends and wonder why I felt so anxious the next day. When I eliminated alcohol, my mental health got so much better.”
Levy hopes “Drinking Games” will bring hope and solace to people looking to establish a healthier relationship with alcohol — or nix it altogether.
“We have an outdated conception of what sobriety looks like, and I hope to help shed some of that stigma,” she explains. “The experience is not one-size-fits-all.”