Pressure & Performance Series — Part 4 of 8
Part 1: The Hidden Pain of Overworking and Self-Neglect
Part 2: Work Habits That Lead to Burnout and the Bottle
Part 3: How Long Working Hours Hurt Sobriety (and Productivity)
Part 4: Managing High Stress Without Alcohol ← you’re here
Part 5: The "Whatever It Takes" Approach to Decompression Without Drinking
Part 6: The Social Pressure Trap: Drinking to Fit In at Work Events
Part 7: Financial Pressure: A Dangerous Excuse to Drink
Part 8: Work-Life Balance: Rebuilding Enjoyment Outside of Work
Stress Isn’t the Enemy, Unmanaged Stress Is
Stress is not optional.
If you’re building something, leading people, making tough calls, or chasing big goals, stress is part of the deal. You already know this. You don’t expect life to be easy.
But there’s a big difference between using stress as fuel and letting it run your life.
When stress becomes constant and unmanaged, it doesn’t just hurt performance. It hijacks your nervous system. It shuts down your clarity, your empathy, and your decision-making. It makes alcohol, or any quick escape, look like the most rational choice.
This isn’t weakness. It’s biology.
What Stress Really Does
Stress isn’t always a short spike during a tough moment. For professionals in high-stakes roles, stress can become the background noise of daily life.
Eventually, your baseline shifts. You get used to feeling:
- On edge
- Short-tempered
- Wired but tired
- Foggy
- Drained
These aren’t flaws. They’re signs of a stress response that never turns off.
When you use alcohol to shut that loop down, it works in the moment. But it doesn’t solve the problem. It just postpones the crash.
The Science in Simple Terms
Here’s a quick breakdown of what’s happening inside you:
- Cortisol: Keeps you sharp under pressure. But when it stays high too long, it wrecks your sleep, weakens immunity, ramps up anxiety, and drives burnout.
- Adrenaline: Great for emergencies, but constant deadlines keep it elevated. You feel wired all day and can’t relax.
- GABA and Serotonin: These balance mood and calm your system. Alcohol gives you a quick artificial boost, but over time it lowers natural production, making it harder to calm down without a drink.
When you drink to manage stress, you’re borrowing calm from a system that’s already running short.
Why High Performers Reach for Alcohol
We don’t reach for a drink because we’re bored. We reach for it because:
- Our brains won’t shut off after a long day of decisions
- We carry the weight of teams, businesses, and families
- There’s no natural “off” switch in our schedule
- We’ve trained ourselves to push past fatigue and emotions
Alcohol becomes the shortcut to silence. But every time we use it, we reinforce the message: I can’t handle this without help. That belief eventually feels like truth.
Manage Stress All Day, Not Just at Night
The biggest shift is to stop treating stress like a monster you escape from at night.
Instead, bleed it off throughout the day so it never piles high enough to overwhelm you.
This can be as simple as:
- Three deep breaths after a tense call
- A quick body scan between meetings
- Standing and stretching every 45 minutes
- Pausing to name an emotion before the next task
These don’t take long, but they work because they interrupt the buildup before it turns into overload.
A Stress Toolkit That Works
1. Breathe First
When stress spikes, your breathing turns shallow. Reverse it with:
- Box breathing: Inhale 4, hold 4, exhale 4, hold 4
- Extended exhale: Inhale 4, exhale 8
- Sigh breathing: Two short inhales, one long exhale
Just a minute or two can reset your system.
Once your breath is back under control, the next step is to move.
2. Move to Reset
Your body is built to move when under pressure.
- Shake out your arms and legs
- Walk around the office
- Do a few pushups or squats
- Roll your shoulders slowly
Movement tells your brain: we’re safe now.
3. Use Your Senses
Stress pulls you into your head. Sensory input brings you back.
- Rinse your hands with cold water
- Chew gum or smell peppermint
- Hold an object with texture
- Listen to grounding music
4. Label the Thought
You don’t need to solve every thought. Just name it.
- “That’s anxiety.”
- “That’s fear about money.”
- “That’s worry about what others think.”
Labeling gives you distance so the thought doesn’t run the show.
Don’t Save It for Later
A common trap is thinking, I’ll deal with this when I’m done. By then, you’re maxed out, and if alcohol was ever your coping tool, that’s when cravings hit hardest.
Instead, weave stress regulation into your workflow:
- Before a call: 3 slow breaths
- After a meeting: quick body check-in
- Between tasks: 30-second pause
- Midday: step outside for air
Make these automatic. Not because you’re fragile, but because you’re smart enough to prevent the fire before it spreads.
The Words You Use Matter
The way you describe your day shapes how your body experiences it.
Swap phrases like:
- “I’m slammed” → “I’m focused”
- “This is chaos” → “This is intense, and I’m managing it”
- “I can’t handle this” → “This is hard, but I’ve done hard things before”
This isn’t fake positivity. It’s accurate framing. Your nervous system believes what you tell it.
Stress Is Inevitable. Suffering Isn’t.
You won’t get rid of stress completely. Not if you’re building, leading, and showing up big in the world.
But you can remove the belief that alcohol is the only answer. You can bleed stress off during the day with breath, movement, language, and small resets.
When you do, sobriety stops feeling like a fight. It starts feeling steady, clear, and even calm.
Stress doesn’t have to take you down. You just need a system to keep you steady enough to face it.
— Brent
→ Next in this series: The "Whatever It Takes" Approach to Decompression Without Drinking