Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Dryland: One Woman's Swim to Sobriety
    Dryland: One Woman's Swim to Sobriety
    Dryland: One Woman's Swim to Sobriety
    Audiobook7 hours

    Dryland: One Woman's Swim to Sobriety

    Written by Nancy Stearns Bercaw

    Narrated by Donna Postel

    4/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    For swimming champion Nancy Stearns Bercaw, the pool was a natural habitat. But on land, she could never shake the feeling of being a fish out of water. Starting at age two, Nancy devoted her life to swimming, even qualifying for the 1988 Olympic Trials in the fifty-meter freestyle event. But nearly two decades later, when she hung up her cap and goggles, she was confronted with a different kind of challenge: learning who she was out of the lanes.

    In this honest, intimate memoir, Nancy reflects on her years wandering the globe, where tragic events and a lost sense of self escalate her dependence on booze. Thirty-three years after her first sip of alcohol, the swimmer comes to a stunning realization while living with her husband and son in Abu Dhabi—she’s drowning in the desert. Nancy looks to the Bedouin people for the strength to conquer one final opponent: alcohol addiction.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherBrilliance Audio
    Release dateApr 18, 2017
    ISBN9781536655445
    Dryland: One Woman's Swim to Sobriety
    Author

    Nancy Stearns Bercaw

    Writer and national champion swimmer Nancy Stearns Bercaw is a seventeen-time NCAA All-American athlete and was inducted into the University of South Florida’s Athletic Hall of Fame in 2009. Her writing has appeared in publications around the world, including the New York Times, the Huffington Post, the Korea Herald, U.S. News & World Report, Abu Dhabi’s Tempo magazine, and ScaryMommy.com. She is the author of Brain in a Jar: A Daughter’s Journey Through Her Father’s Memory and a contributor to Chicken Soup for the Soul: Living with Alzheimer’s and Other Dementias. She lives in Vermont with her husband and son.

    Related to Dryland

    Related audiobooks

    Personal Memoirs For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      Hold Your Drink

      Mar 8, 2020

      Hold Your Drink
      5 min read

    • Article

      DRINKING YOURSELF TO Death

      Jan 22, 2020

      DRINKING YOURSELF TO Death
      5 min read

    • Article

      The Life of an Addict

      Nov 20, 2017

      The Life of an Addict
      17 min read

    • Article

      SOBER Sex

      Feb 16, 2020

      SOBER Sex
      7 min read

    • Article

      Something Is Bru-ing

      Mar 23, 2023

      Something Is Bru-ing
      4 min read

    • Article

      TOWN & COUNTRY

      Aug 27, 2020

      I feel sorry for aqua-holics. How the hell did they survive lockdown without being hooked up intravenously to a bottle of wine at the end of every day? The only danger to enjoying the odd tipple is bottle fatigue. It’s best not to become thunker than

      3 min read

    • Article

      Exhaling

      Dec 7, 2021

      Around me are fifty or so men, in whose company I will sit and be silent for ten days. I eye them discreetly, wondering who among them is going through a crisis. Who, like me, has a family. Who’s single, who’s been dumped, who’s poor or unhappy. Who’

      52 min read

    • Article

      Can Habits

      Sep 15, 2022

      Can Habits
      4 min read

    • Article

      A Brand-new ending

      Jan 29, 2022

      A Brand-new ending
      7 min read

    • Article

      Silver Hair and Silver Linings

      Feb 20, 2024

      Julia and I and our fishing buddies, Cory and Dan, were recently invited to Costa Rica to fish with Capt. John Adams aboard Griffin, one of our 65’s. Silly as it may sound, I had never been out upon the Pacific before. Those warm breezes and flat-cal

      5 min read

    • Article

      Why I’m Giving Up The Booze

      Oct 4, 2022

      I remember when I was pregnant with my first child, who is now 13, and I realised we had a whole year of weddings to go to, sober. I had just turned 30 and it seemed as though everyone we knew was getting married. As someone who is usually first to h

      3 min read

    • Article

      Last Drop: On Wine And Grief

      Nov 10, 2020

      Last Drop: On Wine And Grief
      1 min read

    • Article

      My #MeToo

      Jul 17, 2020

      My #MeToo
      6 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for Dryland

    4/5

    20 ratings3 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 5/5
      Great book! Well written and engaging. Very educational on topic of alcohol abuse.
    • 4/5
      SummaryNancy is an alcoholic expat, living in Abu Dhabi with her husband Allan who works for a film company. Nancy, a competitive swimmer in her younger days has also been a heavy drinker since 9th grade. But, hey...she gets up every morning, gets her son David to school, and holds down a full time job. What's the problem?Alcohol gives her courage and keeps her fears at bay. Fear of the past, present, and future.Sitting in a pharmacy one day after a long night of drinking, Nancy thinks about her life up to this point. Where she's been, how she got there, lessons she's learned, people she's met, people she has lost, and cultures she's experienced in every way imaginable. Could there be another way to live this life? Could she stop fighting the "war of her own making"? What I LikedNancy's bravery and adventures as a young woman. My mind was blown by the countries she'd visited and lived in by the time she was an expat living in Abu Dhabi. The expat lifestyle has always been interesting, exciting, and scary all at the same time to me. Nancy's life experiences in different countries, navigating the languages, cultures, climates, laws, etc. did not disappoint.Literary references - Guy de Maupassant, Bob Dylan, West with the Night by Beryl Markham, A Good Man in Africa by William Boyd, Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Hans Christian AndersenThe mostly equal attention and detail that Bercaw gives to life in recovery as she did to her growing alcoholism. This is the part I think is missing for a lot of people who need to hear these stories. Recovery is possible. It's not easy, and it's a lifelong process, but it's worth it. What I Didn't LikeFor someone who drank most every day of her life over many many years, making the decision to stop drinking without medical assistance was very dangerous. It happens, yes. But, Nancy was lucky. I was even more surprised that she was so concerned about withdrawal symptoms from a 20 mg. anti-depressant than she was (or seemed to be) about withdrawal from alcohol. She does mention that alcohol withdrawal usually includes "tranquilizing medication and medical support," but then she chooses to go her own route.I'm not trying to lessen what Nancy did. I'm really not. But, people die from alcohol withdrawal. I wish that she would have at least mentioned how dangerous her choice was.Overall RecommendationNancy's story is an important one, not just for other alcoholics and recovering alcoholics, but the rest of the world too. As a recovering alcoholic myself, I firmly believe there are many more women like Nancy and myself who have a problem with alcohol and either are ashamed or afraid of admitting it. It's also difficult to decide whether or not one truly has a problem with alcohol living in a society soaked with it. And even if someone does decide he/she has a problem, what happens next. The stigma has to end, and authors like Nancy who are brave enough to share their stories will keep that hope alive.
    • 5/5
      The author is living in Abu Dhabi where she needs a certificate to prove she is a non-native that can purchase alcohol in a country that forbids it consumption. The former swimming champion finally faces the fact she is an alcoholic and has to stop drinking. The story jumps between her days training to become an Olympic level swimmer to those as a married woman, mother of a son, working in a foreign country. She used determination that helped her become a world-class athlete to deal with psychological and physical impediments to become sober. I was randomly chosen through a Goodreads Giveaway to receive this book free from the publisher. Although encouraged, I was under no obligation to write a review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.