Show Notes
It’s October… so why are we already telling ourselves we’ll sort our drinking out in January? In this episode, I’m talking about the weird permission slip we give ourselves towards the end of the year: Christmas is coming, there’s no point starting now, I’ll enjoy myself and deal with it in the New Year. But what if you didn’t wait? This isn’t about quitting today, swearing off alcohol forever or trying to have the “perfect” sober Christmas. It’s about getting curious now instead of handing t...
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Maybe You Don't Need Another Reason to Stop You've read the books. Listened to the podcasts. Googled whether you drink too much. Promised yourself you'll cut back, take a break or stop altogether. So what if more information isn't actually what you're missing? In the first episode of Season 4, I'm talking about that strange place where you already know alcohol isn't really working for you anymore, but you keep searching for another answer, another reason, or something that will finally make c...
What do you do when you’re worried about a loved one's drinking? In the final episode of Season 3 of The Sober Connection, I’m joined by New Zealand journalist and broadcaster Corin Dann for a conversation from a perspective we don’t hear from nearly as often – the person standing alongside someone whose relationship with alcohol is becoming a concern. Corin’s wife, Lotta Dann (a guest in Season 1), has just celebrated 15 years of sobriety. Corin shares what her drinking looked like from his ...
When you first stop drinking, sobriety can feel like the entire project. You count the days. You plan for weekends. You think about triggers, cravings, social events and what you’ll say when someone offers you a drink. But eventually, something can shift. Alcohol gets quieter. Not drinking becomes less something you’re actively doing and more simply part of who you are. And that leaves space for a much bigger question: If staying sober isn’t the goal anymore… what is? In this episode, I’m tal...
Sam Phillips is just days away from celebrating five years sober, but his journey to get here was anything but straightforward. Sam started drinking at just 13, discovering very quickly that alcohol could quiet the health anxiety and intrusive thoughts he’d been struggling with for years. What began as weekend drinking eventually progressed to daily alcohol use, cocaine and a cycle of addiction, sobriety and relapses that lasted for years. In this episode, Sam shares incredibly openly about h...
You decided you weren’t going to drink. You were doing well. And then… you drank again. So now what? In this episode of The Sober Connection, I’m talking about what happens after a slip, and why the story you tell yourself afterwards can matter just as much as the drink itself. We’ll talk about the all-or-nothing thinking that can turn one night into a weekend, a month or longer; how to look at what happened with curiosity rather than shame; and why the alcohol-free days that came before it s...