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The Gen X/Z Exchange: Navigating Career, Purpose & Modern Life Across Generations
Ever find yourself wondering why you aren’t happier, where your career is going, or why life suddenly feels uncertain — even when everything looks fine on paper?
If you’ve ever felt stuck, off-track, or unsure what comes next, you’re not alone.
The Gen X/Z Exchange is a life navigation podcast where a Gen X dad and his Gen Z daughter explore the biggest challenges facing modern life - from career direction and purpose to relationships, wellbeing, identity and the changing world of work.
Across generations but facing many of the same questions, Chris and Lily bring honest conversations and real-world perspective to the uncertainty so many people feel today. Chris has navigated layoffs, career pivots and the realities of midlife change, while Lily is figuring out early career decisions, identity and adulthood in a fast-changing world.
Together, they bridge generational perspectives to help you:
- make sense of career and life transitions
- navigate work and purpose in a changing economy
- improve relationships and wellbeing
- feel less alone in the challenges of modern life
These aren’t expert lectures or quick fixes. They’re candid conversations about figuring life out - together.
If you’re navigating a career change, questioning direction, dealing with midlife or quarterlife uncertainty, or simply trying to understand how life looks different across generations, this podcast is for you.
Follow us now and join a growing community learning how to navigate modern life - one honest conversation at a time.
The Gen X/Z Exchange: Navigating Career, Purpose & Modern Life Across Generations
Sober Curious and wondering “Am I drinking too much?” – How to go alcohol free with Steve Kirchell
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
Ever caught yourself thinking, “Maybe I should cut back” or “Am I drinking too much?” If so, this episode is for you.
We sit down with Steve Kirchell, Alcohol-Free Performance Coach, to talk about what it really means to be Sober Curious - and why going alcohol-free might be easier than you think.
Steve shares his personal journey to becoming alcohol-free, the subtle warning signs your drinking might be becoming problematic, and the number-one reason people stay stuck on the fence. We explore how alcohol affects your brain, body, and behaviour - and how to build confidence in social situations without it.
You’ll learn:
- How to handle social pressure and challenge friends who push you to drink
- Whether moderation ever really works, or if it’s all-or-nothing
- The 'Joy of Missing Out' instead of ‘Fear of Missing Out’ and how to enjoy life alcohol-free
- How long alcohol stays in your system and what it’s doing to you
- Practical advice for navigating the Christmas Party season with confidence
Whether you’re curious about cutting back, questioning your habits, or ready to quit completely, listen in and discover how to redefine fun, confidence, and connection without the glass in hand.
Hit play now.
0.57 Chris and Lily’s thoughts on going alcohol-free
2.40 Steve’s journey to an alcohol-free lifestyle
5.50 Gen Z’s typical experience of drinking escalating
6.24 The warning signs that your drinking is becoming problematic
8.44 The stages of people drinking on a night out
9.33 Has social media made Gen Z more cautious about excessive drinking?
12.00 Will your friends support you?
12.54 Sober curious? Is it all-or-nothing or can you drink in moderation?
14.36 How long it takes for alcohol to leave your system
15.13 The effects of repeated alcohol consumption on your brain and body
18.50 How drinking gets normalised as you get older
19.19 How to get confident you can break ingrained habits
21.08 How to challenge a friend who might pressure you to keep drinking
21.58 The ‘Joy of Missing Out’
24.00 Considering alcohol-free? How to get over feeling alcohol is essential to loosening you up and making you feel more confident
25.50 The time we all had fun without alcohol
28.53 How going alcohol-free might be easier than you think
30.32 How Steve’s life is different now since stopping drinking
32.00 Other signs that you might want to reconsider your relationship with alcohol
33.40 How to find out more about Steve’s Alcohol-Free Blueprint
34.15 How Steve’s 1:1 support works
36.27 Advice for handling the Christmas Party season
Connect with Steve Kirchell:
https://alcoholfreeblueprint.info/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/steve-kirchell-8951a73/
https://www.instagram.com/steve_kirchell_coaching/
The Gen X/Z Exchange is a UK podcast exploring career change, purpose, wellbeing and modern life through honest conversations between a Gen X dad and his Gen Z daughter - helping you navigate life’s transitions with perspective across generations.
Send us a voice message on Speakpipe!
https://www.speakpipe.com/thegenxzexchange
Connect with us:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrisperkins172/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/lily-perkins-8446a82bb/
