Winged Victory spent years drinking but discovered sobriety without AA or rehab. She grew up in a loving family but her parents divorced when she was young and her dad was soon out of the picture. Winged Victory was raised by her mum and they experienced a family tragedy when her brother died when she was 17. As Winged Victory grew up she became a musician working her way up to play in the Symphony Orchestra. She loved her career and didn't actually drink much when she was younger because of her dedication to her job.

But as time went on she looked around at her friends and realised none of them drank like she did. She would not call it alcoholism but she did acknowledge that it had to stop. However, like many of us that have a family, career and are high functioning she just kept justifying her behaviour.

Winged Victory

Winged Victory didn't see the wood through the trees until her drinking became truly dangerous. She was drinking more and her blackouts were increasing. She would wake up at 3 am after 2 bottles of wine and not remember what had happened. On the podcast, she took us back to a time when her perspective truly changed. It was 7:30 at night and she fell down the stairs after a bottle and a half of wine. She couldn't get up, so just laid there, completely helpless and called for her husband. In the morning she woke up in bed with a vague recollection of what happened. He went down and spoke to her partner and asked if she fell down the stairs. He said yes but all was ok. She looked at him and said 'no it's not ok'. Then the next day she had her last drink.

In her sobriety, Winged Victory did not want to go to meetings or rehab because she didn't have the time or money. So she found an online community and took the first step by publically acknowledging exactly what she was doing with her first post. She received an outpour of people who were just like her and it demystified what she was going through. Winged Victory also used lots of books which I have listed below. But she attributed the majority of her behaviour change to the honesty, passion, understanding and commonality that she found in others, Mothers, Fathers, Doctors, Teachers and Lawyers. High functioning people just like her.

Now Winged Victory is retired from work but pours all her energy and time into her own community, the Boom community and her blog Boozemusings. It is her passion so she does not do allow advertisements, this keeps her motives clear allows trust among members to blossom.