Tribe Sober - inspiring an alcohol free life!

When Sobriety means Coming Out....again with Andrew Addie

 
This week my guest is from Australia.  Andrew Addie is the CEO of an organisation called Untoxicated which is a registered charity.  They are a thriving tribe of sober and sober curious people -passionate about having a laugh, meeting new mates and smashing social norms along the way!
In a nutshell they teach people how to socialise without alcohol which for many of us was a whole new skillset
In this Episode
Andrew recommends telling people - getting on the front foot as he calls it
Take charge, tell people in advance that you are a non drinker
We agreed that alcohol controls much of the world – it’s almost like a cult and operates as a well-oiled machine
Big alcohol, governments and the marketing industry - all working together to keep us drinking!
Andrew was still recovering from the trauma of coming out as gay and then he had to come out as a non-drinker – which was in fact MUCH more difficult..!
If anyone had made homophobic remarks to him as a gay man he always felt he had the weight of the community to support him but when he would explain that he didn’t drink he was often met with astonishment and there was no support at all!
Andrew explained that research has shown that the LGBQT community do drink much more than the heterosexual community – and much of that drinking is due to a feeling of not fitting in
Andrew shared his story about being a binge drinker – his weekends would disappear as he was either wasted or sleeping – and gradually the drinking started creeping into the weekdays..
He went through what he describes as a “perfect storm” – a difficult break up triggered a serious depression.
He managed to hold it all together and would set rules – even taking a month off the booze now and again – but then he would go back to it – harder than ever..
We agreed that these sober months (like Dry January) can sometimes be counterproductive – people tend to white knuckle their way through them, there are few real benefits and the subconscious mind just registers sobriety as a miserable place to live.
I certainly used to do Dry January every year just to prove that I didn’t have a problem – and then like Andrew I would make up for lost drinking time the following month!
With years of sobriety under our belts we can testify to the numerous benefits of not drinking – but you have to keep going longer than a month to experience them.
Going back to Andrew’s story he started to work on his mental health – he went to a psychologist but refused the advice to stop drinking – he started to take anti depressants to cope.
Anti depressants and alcohol are not a great mix and Andrews drinking grew worse and he had a breakdown.
Through sheer luck he met a GP who got him into a program – he did a home detox under supervision from a clinic, used medication to help with the withdrawal symptoms and got through a couple of months of sobriety.
It really struck me when he said that he felt OK sometimes – instead of feeling dreadful all of the time
I heard a lady in our community say that it was so nice to wake up in the morning feeling ok instead of terrible…
It’s amazing how we get used to feeling rubbish every morning and just kind of accept it!
Just because we have to give in to that urge to drink that hits us during the day…
Andrew began to participate in sober online communities which he found really helpful for sharing tips…
Then he saw an Untoxicated event – he was very nervous but went along anyway
There were about 20 people with nothing in common but their struggles with alcohol – he discovered that magic connection – he’d found his people
Like me Andrew went through a bit of a low in early sobriety – he tried to hang out with the same people but started getting bored
It was time to find new interests – Andrew got into swimming and eventually took over Untoxicated as their CEO
We have both discovered the joy of connection and of helping others!
You can follow Andrew on Instagram untoxicated_aus
I know we have some listeners in Australia so why not go to the website which is untoxicated.com.au and check out the social events..More Info
Subscription membership – you can join up HERE.
To access our website, click HERE.
If you would like a free copy of our “Annual Tracker” or our e-book 66 Days to Sobriety, please email janet@tribesober.com.
If you would like to come to our Saturday afternoon Zoom Cafe as a guest and meet our community, just email janet@tribesober.com.
Episode Sponsor
This episode is sponsored by the Tribe Sober Membership Program.  If you want to change your relationship with alcohol then sign up todayRead more about our program and subscribe HERE
Book a Discovery Call with me to find out if our membership would help you
Help us to Spread the Word!
We made this podcast so that we can reach more people who need our help.  Please subscribe and share.
If you enjoyed the podcast, then please leave us a 5-star review on Apple podcasts.
Take a screenshot of your review, and DM it to Tribe Sober’s Instagram page – see PS below for instructions. We’ll send you something special to say thank you!
We release a podcast episode every Saturday morning.
You can follow Tribe Sober on Facebook, Twitter, TikTok and Instagram.
You can join our private Facebook group HERE.
 
PS: How to Leave a Rating/Review in Apple Podcasts (on an iOS Device)
Open the Podcasts app. EASY.
Choose “Search” from the bottom row of icons and enter the name of the show (e.g. Recover Like a Mother) into the search field.
Select the show under Shows (not under Episodes).
Scroll down past the first few episodes until you see Ratings & Reviews.
Click Write a Review underneath the displayed reviews from other listeners. You’ll then have the option to rate the show on a 5-star scale and write a review (you can rate without writing too but it’s always good to read your experience).

Kickstart your Sober Life! with Janet Gourand

This is week I'm doing a solo episode about our online course which is called Kickstart Your Sober Life!
In this Episode
We've been running workshops since 2015 so have plenty of experience - almost 100 workshops on how to quit drinking!
With my 25 years of corporate experience in training and development I've designed an online version of our workshop
To ensure that people remain motivated and engaged throughout the workshop we've built in touchpoints
You begin the course with a Zoom call with me so I can explore your relationship with alcohol and guide you through the course - another Zoom call for a mid course review and then you'll be booked in for a coaching session at the end 
The course content is divided into 7 lessons - each lesson begins with an overview video from me and then we drill down into the topic with relevant podcasts, Facebook Lives and Reading Recommendations
At the end of every lesson is a multiple choice test to ensure that you've understood the principles of that lesson
Lesson 1 is about mindset - about exploring and overturning the limiting beliefs we hold in our mind about alcohol
Lesson 2 is about alcohol and your health - overview video and podcasts on immune system and cancer risk plus a BBC doccie called "Is Binge Drinking really that Bad?"
Lesson 3 is about how alcohol works - includes podcasts about "hangxiety" from William Porter and "dependence" from Ken Middleton, plus overview video, FB lives and reading recommendations
Lesson 4 is about finding your why - Finding Your Why is the key to getting (and staying) motivated - Tribe Sober team member Lucy will take you through an exercise to "Find Your Why" and Lynette does a video on "Loving Your Why"
Lesson 5 is about the toolkit - the heart of our courses - 15 tried and tested tools and strategies to enable you to quit drinking and then to go on and thrive in your alcohol free life 
Lesson 6 is about coaching - our Recovery Coach Lynette will explain what coaching is and how it can help you navigate those early tricky months of recovery - backed up by podcasts and lots of reading about coaching
Lesson 7 is about getting started - an overview video from me with advice on how to take all this theory and apply it to your life - also podcasts on beginning the healing journey with yoga, nutrition, meditation and various therapies
The course ends with you creating an Action Plan and booking yourself in with Lynette for a coaching session to enable you to start the implementation of everything you've learned
To get our PDF 10 steps to kickstart your sober life just email janet@tribesober.com
More Info
Subscription membership – you can join up HERE.
To access our website, click HERE.
If you would like a free copy of our “Annual Tracker” or our e-book 66 Days to Sobriety, please email janet@tribesober.com.
If you would like to come to our Saturday afternoon Zoom Cafe as a guest and meet our community, just email janet@tribesober.com.
Episode Sponsor
This episode is sponsored by the Tribe Sober Membership Program.  If you want to change your relationship with alcohol then sign up todayRead more about our program and subscribe HERE
Book a Discovery Call with me to find out if our membership would help you
Help us to Spread the Word!
We made this podcast so that we can reach more people who need our help.  Please subscribe and share.
If you enjoyed the podcast, then please leave us a 5-star review on Apple podcasts.
Take a screenshot of your review, and DM it to Tribe Sober’s Instagram page – see PS below for instructions. We’ll send you something special to say thank you!
We release a podcast episode every Saturday morning.
You can follow Tribe Sober on Facebook, Twitter, TikTok and Instagram.
You can join our private Facebook group HERE.
PS: How to Leave a Rating/Review in Apple Podcasts (on an iOS Device)
Open the Podcasts app. EASY.
Choose “Search” from the bottom row of icons and enter the name of the show (e.g. Recover Like a Mother) into the search field.
Select the show under Shows (not under Episodes).
Scroll down past the first few episodes until you see Ratings & Reviews.
Click Write a Review underneath the displayed reviews from other listeners. You’ll then have the option to rate the show on a 5-star scale and write a review (you can rate without writing too but it’s always good to read your experience).

Recovery Nutrition with Lindsey Beveridge

 
My podcast guest this week is Lindsey Beveridge who I met 7 years ago at a "how to quit drinking" workshop in London!  We were both hungover and grumpy so we didn’t even connect on that day so it’s been amazing to meet her again here in Soberland.  Shout out to Club Soda who ran that workshop as we are both 7 years sober now!  Not only are we sober but we both help other people to quit drinking and then to go on and thrive in their sobriety. 
Lindsey qualified as a nutritionist in 2019 and helps people to implement changes to their diet and lifestyle so they can feel better.  She uses a functional medicine approach to enable her clients to change their patterns of behaviour.
In this Episode
Lindsey was a teenage drinker and enjoyed the confidence it gave her
Like many of us her drinking got heavier as she got older until she became dependent
At the age of 47 she was taking “Are You an Alcohol?” quizzes and ticking all the boxes
Her excessive drinking began to frighten her and as a single parent she feared that her young daughter might find her dead one day
Lindsey realised that she should go for a medically assisted detox but she was afraid to do this in case her daughter was taken away from her
She tapered off her drinking to avoid the worst of the withdrawal symptoms but she would not recommend tapering to anyone
We discussed how difficult tapering is and how similar it is to the moderation battle
In retrospect she realises she should have gone to rehab for a detox
We agreed that for anyone with a serious drinking problem Rehab for a week and then connecting with a community to keep them on track was the best strategy
I always say to people that for the first few months they need to make their sobriety a priority and “throw the book at it” and Lindsey certainly did that!
As you heard she listened to podcasts, read books, did yoga, ate well and spent quality time with her daughter.
Lindsey agreed that we need projects to keep the dopamine triggered in early sobriety – for Lindsey it was exercise, learning new things and voluntary work that kept her happy.
She used this time to explore lots of different things and during that exploration she found some things that she absolutely loved.
Early sobriety is indeed a journey of self discovery and here at Tribe Sober we’ve set up a 7-step journey for our members - so they can try out things like coaching, yoga, hypnotherapy, meditation, art therapy - either for free or at significantly discounted rates.  Just CLICK HERE and check out what we can offer you.
Year 1 was tough for Lindsey – she was tired all the time – nutritionally lacking with gut issues – so she had to build herself up again
Year 2 was about dealing with the underlying trauma that she’d been drinking away for years – she went through a lot of intense therapy but
By Year 3 it was done a dusted and she felt great!
This is so important to hear for those people who have been sober for a while but don’t really feel they are thriving or enjoying life more – the message here is to be patient
Remember how long you’ve been drinking for and remember the guideline we learned from Dr Dawn (podcast number 61 – Sept 2021) – From her extensive experience as a rehab doctor Dawn has observed that it takes a month of recovery for every year that we drank for all of the benefits to manifest
As you do the maths and come up with 40 months (as in my case) don’t be discouraged as you will start to feel better almost immediately and of course for those people who are already a couple of years sober this is great news as it means that the benefits will just keep coming!
Lyndsey is a qualified and experienced nutritionist so she gave us some really useful advice about:-
Menopause – drinking during menopause will disrupt our endocrine system and make us more oestrogen dominant which can lead to breast cancer – that’s a fact that I wish I’d learned before I got my breast cancer!
In fact alcohol disrupts all our hormones, it throws out our thyroid, it affects our insulin levels and also prevents us from absorbing vital nutrients from our food.
The resulting nutritional deficiency affects our DNA replication and repair which of course has implications for cancer
As Lyndsey explained taking a handful of supplements will do nothing if we are drinking – the alcohol will simply cancel out any benefits – a bit like taking meds and drinking.
Of course we talked about gut health – the fact that alcohol affects not only our gut lining but also the microbiome which in turn affects many other parts of our body
Another interesting fact that I learned from Lyndsey was the fact that some of us have naturally low levels of dopamine so we turn to alcohol to make us feel good
Other people (including Lyndsey) have low levels of Gaba (the calming neurotransmitter) so will use alcohol to calm themselves down.
So in early sobriety we need to build up those neurotransmitters – if we tend to be dopamine deficient we can do more exercise to raise it and if we used alcohol to calm ourselves we need to find calming activities – like yoga, meditation or having or even having a hot bath.
We talked about the effect alcohol has on cognitive function – of course we all know that alcohol kills brain cells and the scary fact is that just as women’s drinking has increased significantly over the last 40 years, so have the number of dementia cases in the female population.
When I asked Lyndsey to list her benefits of sobriety she quite simply said “It changed everything” – she loves her work as a nutritionist, she loves her yoga, she got married and has better relationships.
Lyndsey has the most amazing Instagram feed which is packed with information which will help you in that first year of recovery – her Instagram is called recoverynutrition and her website is called www.recovery-nutrition.co.uk/
This episode comes out on 23rd July – Lyndsey is a guest speaker at our Saturday Zoom Café so if you would like to join then just email me at janet@tribesober.com – I will record Lyndsey’s talk  so if you cannot attend the live talk I can send you the recording
More Info
Subscription membership – you can join up HERE.
To access our website, click HERE.
If you would like a free copy of our “Annual Tracker” or our e-book 66 Days to Sobriety, please email janet@tribesober.com.
If you would like to come to our Saturday afternoon Zoom Cafe as a guest and meet our community, just email janet@tribesober.com.
Episode Sponsor
This episode is sponsored by the Tribe Sober Membership Program.  If you want to change your relationship with alcohol then sign up todayRead more about our program and subscribe HERE
Book a Discovery Call with me to find out if our membership would help you
Help us to Spread the Word!
We made this podcast so that we can reach more people who need our help.  Please subscribe and share.
If you enjoyed the podcast, then please leave us a 5-star review on Apple podcasts.
Take a screenshot of your review, and DM it to Tribe Sober’s Instagram page – see PS below for instructions. We’ll send you something special to say thank you!
We release a podcast episode every Saturday morning.
You can follow Tribe Sober on Facebook, Twitter, TikTok and Instagram.
You can join our private Facebook group HERE.
PS: How to Leave a Rating/Review in Apple Podcasts (on an iOS Device)
Open the Podcasts app. EASY.
Choose “Search” from the bottom row of icons and enter the name of the show (e.g. Recover Like a Mother) into the search field.
Select the show under Shows (not under Episodes).
Scroll down past the first few episodes until you see Ratings & Reviews.
Click Write a Review underneath the displayed reviews from other listeners. You’ll then have the option to rate the show on a 5-star scale and write a review (you can rate without writing too but it’s always good to read your experience).

The Push and Pull of Recovery with Jeanna Fox

 
My podcast guest this week is Jeanna Fox – she’s a sobriety coach, podcaster, and writer.
As a college professor she inspired thousands of young adults to pursue their dreams. These days she uses her own experience to help women recover from addiction and childhood trauma.
In this Episode
Jeanna was a late starter with her drinking – in fact it wasn’t until after her gastric bypass operation at the age of 36 that she started to develop a drinking problem
Many people who have this operation to lose weight go on to develop a problem with alcohol – because alcohol becomes a new alternative to overeating.
Not only did Jeanna turn to drinking instead of eating to numb her feelings but she struggled to regulate her intake – sometimes she would pass out after one drink and other times she could have several and be fine – her reactions to alcohol became unpredictable
She had lots of blackouts so of course she introduced the “rules”
Only drinking at certain times, restricting to certain amounts, tipping barmen to ensure all her drinks were alcohol free – and no texting. Of course like all of us who set rules around our drinking she then went on to break them!
Tragically Jeanna lost her son to suicide and turned to alcohol to numb the pain –she drank for seven straight months and had several drinking related accidents which ended up in hospital
She also got arrested for drunken behaviour so was in real trouble
However one day she came across a Medium who helped her to feel a connection to her son.
This was a spiritual experience which became part of her recovery.
She got sober with AA and almost immediately wanted to help others.
Geanna had been abused as a child and she felt that this experience combined with her alcoholism gave her the insight she needed to help others.
She explained how she loves to use Plato’s allegory of the Cave – and how as we escape from our addiction it’s our duty to go back in and get people out!
We talked about AA and the way that they don’t like to talk about childhood abuse in the rooms – which annoys Jeanna because its one of the causes of her alcoholism – and for many others as well
Jeanna is working with her partner Vince to set up a membership program
The membership is for families of alcoholics – we agreed that many people go to rehab, then return to the family. The family expect them to be “cured” but in fact the whole family needs to work together to make things change.
Jeanna has a byline on her Linkedin Profile that says “If you’re successful with alcohol just imagine what you could be without it” – I love that and think its so true – even if alcohol doesn’t destroy us it will stop us reaching our potential
We talked about how pleasure and pain are big motivators – in early sobriety we are motivated by pain as our memories of the trouble alcohol caused us are fresh – but as those memories fade we are at risk at convincing ourselves we can have “just one”
William Porter describes this as Fading Affect Bias
The Challenge is to push through this and then the pleasures of sobriety will take over as the motivator – and the awesome thing is those pleasures keep coming as you discover the “surprising joy of being sober”
We talked about warning signs and agreed that feeling that you may have a problem with alcohol is a big one – the fact that you are listening to this podcast is a bit of a clue…
Jeanna’s advice to someone trying to get started is to join a community and just listen and learn – even if you carry on drinking just listen and learn for a while…
Jeanna has a podcast (Backporch Chats) and a website nowsobercoach.comMore Info
Subscription membership – you can join up HERE.
To access our website, click HERE.
If you would like a free copy of our “Annual Tracker” or our e-book 66 Days to Sobriety, please email janet@tribesober.com.
If you would like to come to our Saturday afternoon Zoom Cafe as a guest and meet our community, just email janet@tribesober.com.
Episode Sponsor
This episode is sponsored by the Tribe Sober Membership Program.  If you want to change your relationship with alcohol then sign up todayRead more about our program and subscribe HERE
Book a Discovery Call with me to find out if our membership would help you
Help us to Spread the Word!
We made this podcast so that we can reach more people who need our help.  Please subscribe and share.
If you enjoyed the podcast, then please leave us a 5-star review on Apple podcasts.
Take a screenshot of your review, and DM it to Tribe Sober’s Instagram page – see PS below for instructions. We’ll send you something special to say thank you!
We release a podcast episode every Saturday morning.
You can follow Tribe Sober on Facebook, Twitter, TikTok and Instagram.
You can join our private Facebook group HERE.
 
PS: How to Leave a Rating/Review in Apple Podcasts (on an iOS Device)
Open the Podcasts app. EASY.
Choose “Search” from the bottom row of icons and enter the name of the show (e.g. Recover Like a Mother) into the search field.
Select the show under Shows (not under Episodes).
Scroll down past the first few episodes until you see Ratings & Reviews.
Click Write a Review underneath the displayed reviews from other listeners. You’ll then have the option to rate the show on a 5-star scale and write a review (you can rate without writing too but it’s always good to read your experience).

Building Recovery Capital with David Collins

 
David Collins is well known in the recovery world.  He is the founder of the Foundation Clinic and U-ACT here in South Africa.  He is a Master Recovery Coach with a keen sense of social responsibility.  Through his Ubuntu Addiction Community Trust he’s trained a team of Recovery Coaches who are addressing South Africa’s need to build recovery capital.
In this Episode
David’s father was an alcoholic and he told us the touching story of creating a picture of his family in school at the age of 10 – then a classmate looking at the picture and saying that his parents were drug addicts.
That makes me think of our last workshop. There were several people there who had alcoholism in the family.  There was also a young guy who had small children and he told us that just listening to the sad stories from people who had grown up with an alcoholic parent had made him determined to change.
David made the decision that he would never be like his father – so he turned to hard drugs rather than alcohol!
We talked about the false beliefs we all have about addiction – the stories we tell ourselves – for example that wine is “better” than cocaine – but of course its all drugs..
He told us that it took about 3 years for him to go from “I’ve got a problem” to “This is hell and I need help” -  I’ve often talked about the average length of time for people it takes someone with an alcohol problem to reach out for help being 11 years so it seems that hard drugs will take you down faster!
David hit his rock bottom when he became addicted to heroin and crack cocaine and lost his kids to foster care.
As the result of a medical at the Japanese bank where he was working David was sent to his first rehab but it took a few rehab stays before he got clean.
He began his journey into recovery 26 years ago – when there was nothing else available except the 12 step approach.
However the 12 step model worked for him and he was abstinent for 15 years – in fact he called himself Captain Recovery and collected all the chips and keyrings going!
He was back in banking, remarried and was ticking all the boxes for a happy life – the only problem was that he wasn’t happy!
David did some personal development with the Mankind Project and then studied business coaching. It occurred to him that the coaching model would fit very well into recovery processes
As he explained the discipline of the 12 steps kept him clean for 12 years but then he needed more – rather than being told to keep to the steps he was ready to be empowered to discover what recovery actually meant for him – and recovery coaching was the perfect mechanism for that.
The role of the recovery coach is to facilitate the growth of Recovery Capital.
David explained that Recovery Capital is about building internal resources so that we can stay clean and be fulfilled in our lives
Here at Tribe Sober we enable you to quit drinking and then to go on and thrive in your alcohol free life – we have our own Recovery Coaches who can help you to build those inner resources needed to thrive
David talked about shame – the internal shame we all feel when we are struggling – and the communal shame felt by the family – and then of course the stigma society places on addiction which perpetuates the problem – we have to find a way to lift the shame and let the healing begin
We talked about the wider problems of alcohol and drug abuse here in SA and David is personally involved in training and sending recovery coaches into communities.
He strongly believes that recovery capital is key and research has shown for every $1 spent on education there is a saving of $7 ($3 on medical costs and $4 on criminal justice interventions)
That’s a pretty impressive return on investment!
With the work he does in the world of recovery David feels that he has connected to his soul's purpose
You can find out more about David on his website which is  https://davidcollinscoaching.com ., he’s on Instagram and I also spotted him doing some crazy stuff on TikTok the other day so do check him out!More Info
Subscription membership – you can join up HERE.
To access our website, click HERE.
If you would like a free copy of our “Annual Tracker” or our e-book 66 Days to Sobriety, please email janet@tribesober.com.
If you would like to come to our Saturday afternoon Zoom Cafe as a guest and meet our community, just email janet@tribesober.com.
Episode Sponsor
This episode is sponsored by the Tribe Sober Membership Program.  If you want to change your relationship with alcohol then sign up todayRead more about our program and subscribe HERE
Book a Discovery Call with me to find out if our membership would help you
Help us to Spread the Word!
We made this podcast so that we can reach more people who need our help.  Please subscribe and share.
If you enjoyed the podcast, then please leave us a 5-star review on Apple podcasts.
Take a screenshot of your review, and DM it to Tribe Sober’s Instagram page – see PS below for instructions. We’ll send you something special to say thank you!
We release a podcast episode every Saturday morning.
You can follow Tribe Sober on Facebook, Twitter, TikTok and Instagram.
You can join our private Facebook group HERE.
 
PS: How to Leave a Rating/Review in Apple Podcasts (on an iOS Device)
Open the Podcasts app. EASY.
Choose “Search” from the bottom row of icons and enter the name of the show (e.g. Recover Like a Mother) into the search field.
Select the show under Shows (not under Episodes).
Scroll down past the first few episodes until you see Ratings & Reviews.
Click Write a Review underneath the displayed reviews from other listeners. You’ll then have the option to rate the show on a 5-star scale and write a review (you can rate without writing too but it’s always good to read your experience).

Walking Talking Blackouts with Anneke Roussel

 
Anneke Roussel is a Tribe Sober member who knows all about the work hard/play hard culture.  She worked overseas in Afghanistan and Somalia and often found herself sharing bottles of scotch with her male colleagues in Mogadishu.  The combination of retirement from her exciting career and the isolation of the pandemic saw her continuing with her scotch but adding a couple of bottles of wine into the mix.
In this Episode
Anneke married an alcoholic – he stopped drinking via AA and Anneke went to AA so she became well aware of the 12 steps and became a sponsor
She never imagined that she would become an alcoholic herself which shows that we should never become complacent
Anneke had a corporate career but she also owned a restaurant which became the heart of her social life
She had a severely disabled child and turned to alcohol to cope with the stress of managing her career and looking after her child.
Tragically her daughter died at the age of 10 and Anneke turned to drink to try to numb the pain
She took a job in Afghanistan where she worked with a bunch of hard drinking men. Only whisky was available so that’s where she learned to love her whisky.
She moved from Afghanistan to Somalia where she stayed for 5 years – another high stress job where sitting under the trees drinking whisky with her colleagues was the daily after work activity.
Anneke returned to South Africa planning to retire and then travel the world – however Covid hit which meant that she had to live on her farm which was fairly isolated
She managed to keep to her father’s rule of no booze before 5pm but at 5 it was a whisky followed by two bottles of wine.
We talked about how we get to the stage where we actually prefer drinking alone than being with other people – which is a real warning sign of dependence
It means we are creating a relationship with alcohol, its fast becoming our best friend.
Anneke felt that drinking had become part of her identity – that happens to many of us and that’s why our friends are so horrified when we say we are going to quit drinking!
Like me Anneke suffered from walking talking blackouts – and like me she was horrified to learn that those kind of blackouts mean that the brain become so soaked in alcohol it cannot even make memories – its not just that we have forgotten stuff!
It was lockdown and SA’s alcohol ban that made Anneke realise the severity of her problem. She found herself searching for liquor on the black market and didn’t care how much she paid.
She would go out to a restaurant, drink a bottle of wine alone and then purchase another bottle to bring home.
She went to look at a rehab but the 12 steps didn’t appeal to her as she definitely didn’t feel powerless over alcohol
At Tribe Sober we believe in putting down our glass and taking back our power!   
So at Tribe Sober Anneke found “her people” and an approach that worked for her. Tribe Sober coach Lynette helped her to find her power and to learn to be kind to herself.
She’s worked on her “inner child” – or inner children perhaps we should say – Anneke still has the saboteur and the inner critic - she now visualises them as children sitting in a bus – but these days Anneke is in the driving seat and just tells them to be quiet!
These days she is thoroughly enjoying her retirement and is so relieved that she made a conscious decision to quit so that she doesn’t risk drinking her retirement away like so many people do
If you are a bit older and worried about your drinking have a listen to my interview with British Psychiatrist Dr Tony – Tribe Sober podcast episode 35
She is now in her second year of sobriety so I asked her why she stuck around with the tribe – she had 3 reasons1.   She gets a reminder of just how hard it used to be when she sees new members starting out.2.  She loves the connection – with a group of people who understand you straight away3.  It keeps her grounded and reminds her never to think that she might be able to moderate!More Info
Subscription membership – you can join up HERE.
To access our website, click HERE.
If you would like a free copy of our “Annual Tracker” or our e-book 66 Days to Sobriety, please email janet@tribesober.com.
If you would like to come to our Saturday afternoon Zoom Cafe as a guest and meet our community, just email janet@tribesober.com.
Episode Sponsor
This episode is sponsored by the Tribe Sober Membership Program.  If you want to change your relationship with alcohol then sign up todayRead more about our program and subscribe HERE
Book a Discovery Call with me to find out if our membership would help you
Help us to Spread the Word!
We made this podcast so that we can reach more people who need our help.  Please subscribe and share.
If you enjoyed the podcast, then please leave us a 5-star review on Apple podcasts.
Take a screenshot of your review, and DM it to Tribe Sober’s Instagram page – see PS below for instructions. We’ll send you something special to say thank you!
We release a podcast episode every Saturday morning.
You can follow Tribe Sober on Facebook, Twitter, TikTok and Instagram.
You can join our private Facebook group HERE.
 
PS: How to Leave a Rating/Review in Apple Podcasts (on an iOS Device)
Open the Podcasts app. EASY.
Choose “Search” from the bottom row of icons and enter the name of the show (e.g. Recover Like a Mother) into the search field.
Select the show under Shows (not under Episodes).
Scroll down past the first few episodes until you see Ratings & Reviews.
Click Write a Review underneath the displayed reviews from other listeners. You’ll then have the option to rate the show on a 5-star scale and write a review (you can rate without writing too but it’s always good to read your experience).

Boozy Chefs with Dennis Berry

 
Dennis Berry is a Life Mastery Coach and has been working with people worldwide for over 15 years.  He has been sober since April 8, 2003 during which time he became a successful businessman, athlete, and family man. His journey in recovery helped him find his mission in life, which is to help others achieve inner peace and success, and master every area of their lives.
In this Episode
Dennis took us behind the scenes of what he calls the “vampire lifestyle” that he led when he was working in restaurants – vodka and coke stashed in the freezer
He was caught in a vicious cycle – waking up feeling awful and resolving to go straight home after work, drinking all day during his shift at the restaurants and then finding himself at the bar after work – again – over and over – he didn’t know how to escape
He got out of the restaurant trade at the age of 27 and got sober at 31 when (as he puts it) his life began…
Dennis got sober by going to rehab and doing the work – he did absolutely everything they recommended and it worked
At Tribe Sober we recommend that people prioritise their sobriety and “throw the book” at it – listen to the podcasts, read the quitlit, stay connected with the community – do everything you can for at least 6 months and your life will change..
As we says rehab is discovery but its only when he left that his recovery began – at the age of 31 Dennis was hungry for life
He made the very interesting point that although ditching the booze can help us “recover” ourselves, for people like Dennis - he had to learn to live their lives for the first time!
That made me think of the fact that our emotional maturity stalls at the age that we start drinking heavily – so if we start drinking at a young age we never get the chance to learn how to handle our feelings and our emotions.
We agreed that although AA can be a good start we need to do the work and then go out and live – we can’t spend 30 years going to the rooms for meetings!
He feels that the best thing about AA is the community and all sobriety groups can offer this – connection is the opposite of addiction
Fix the drinking and then you can address other parts of your life – this is called the Domino Effect - check out Tribe Sober episode 52 for more info.
Dennis came up with a nice analogy – if we are going through a divorce, an addiction, financial problems we sometimes feel as if our life is falling apart – but we should try reframing that because often it means that our lives are actually falling into place – it’s the beginning rather than the end
That made me think of the JK Rowling quote: Rock Bottom became the foundation on which I built my life
Dennis discovered that helping others gave him purpose – he wanted a life of service
In his book “Funky Wisdom” Dennis uses the acronym HOW – Honesty (admit there is a problem) O = be open minded  W= new way of life
We’ve been taught that asking for help is a sign of weakness but in fact it’s a sign of strength
He explained that when a normal drinker feels a bit tipsy that will be a red light for him to stop – whereas for us dependent drinkers we get a green light to keep going!
We talked about how the whole world is manipulated by various forms of marketing and he raised the interesting point about the placement of tv commercials – the news will pump fear into us for 10 minutes and then show us an ad for booze or junk food to trigger us to numb the pain
As Dennis said our subconscious mind is “running the show” and those limiting beliefs we hold about drinking being fun etc will keep us drinking BUT the good news is that we CAN reprogram our subconscious which is what we teach in our 4-hour Zoom workshops
Dennis talked about the dangers of cross addiction – to smoking and eating sugary foods for example. They are just another distraction to numb our feelings. 
In fact smoking and sugar will damage our immune system – and a strong immune system will help us to cope with cravings.
We need to stop the harmful habits and add in healthy habits and which can take up to a year.
Dennis believes in starting his day by getting “centred” and his 6 steps (which he explains in Funky Wisdom”) enables him to get and stay centred.
These days he uses meditation, mindfulness and CBT to process his feelings so he no longer feels the need to numb them away.
We talked about the importance of having a project when we get sober – we have to start building something worthwhile rather than just waiting for life to happen and
Building a purposeful and healthy life takes years whereas drinking is just a quick fix..More Info
Subscription membership – you can join up HERE.
To access our website, click HERE.
If you would like a free copy of our “Annual Tracker” or our e-book 66 Days to Sobriety, please email janet@tribesober.com.
If you would like to come to our Saturday afternoon Zoom Cafe as a guest and meet our community, just email janet@tribesober.com.
Episode Sponsor
This episode is sponsored by the Tribe Sober Membership Program.  If you want to change your relationship with alcohol then sign up todayRead more about our program and subscribe HERE
Book a Discovery Call with me to find out if our membership would help you
Help us to Spread the Word!
We made this podcast so that we can reach more people who need our help.  Please subscribe and share.
If you enjoyed the podcast, then please leave us a 5-star review on Apple podcasts.
Take a screenshot of your review, and DM it to Tribe Sober’s Instagram page – see PS below for instructions. We’ll send you something special to say thank you!
We release a podcast episode every Saturday morning.
You can follow Tribe Sober on Facebook, Twitter, TikTok and Instagram.
You can join our private Facebook group HERE.
 
PS: How to Leave a Rating/Review in Apple Podcasts (on an iOS Device)
Open the Podcasts app. EASY.
Choose “Search” from the bottom row of icons and enter the name of the show (e.g. Recover Like a Mother) into the search field.
Select the show under Shows (not under Episodes).
Scroll down past the first few episodes until you see Ratings & Reviews.
Click Write a Review underneath the displayed reviews from other listeners. You’ll then have the option to rate the show on a 5-star scale and write a review (you can rate without writing too but it’s always good to read your experience).

On the Rocks with Thando Pato

There are so many inspiring quit lit memoirs out there but very few from South Africa.  Apart from Melinda Ferguson's "Smacked" and Sam Cowen's "From Whisky to Water" there has been a distinct lack of inspiration coming from the Southern Hemisphere.However that’s all changed thanks to my podcast guest Thando Pato who has just published her Quit Lit memoir - "On the Rocks".  When Thando wanted to get sober she struggled to find a book by someone she could relate to.  So she has put this situation right by becoming the first black South African woman to write a QuitLit memoir. 
As it says on her book cover:-
"Thirty-nine year old Thando is living in complete denial about her drinking. On the surface, her life appears aspirational – she has an enviable job, a cool apartment and a snazzy car. But behind the facade she harbours a dark and shameful secret – she can’t control her drinking."
In this Episode
Like many of us Thando’s drinking career got started at University – that combination of being away from home with access to cheap booze and drinking buddies gets to many of us.
However she was not at all worried about her drinking as it just felt normal.
In fact she displayed a very sensible attitude towards alcohol as she ditched it for a year while she was doing her post grad at Rhodes - she was paying for her own studies and well aware of the heavy drinking reputation at Rhodes.
However by 2012 she had got into the habit of drinking a bottle of wine at home most evenings of the week
Still not particularly concerned but when her therapist told her she was an alcoholic she stormed out of the room and promptly sacked her – Thando was still in denial about having a problem but the therapist had definitely planted a seed!
Thando’s drinking accelerated in 2016 when she had two personal setbacks.
Using alcohol to deal with disappointments can easily become our default and it's actually a big sign of progress when we can deal with our lows (and even our highs) without reaching for the booze.
Thando described 2016 as a bit of a blur – often having to leave her car and collect it the next morning, not remembering the journey home, awful hangovers, feeling a lot of shame etc..
I think many of us can identify with that blurry stage – that’s when you really need to make a change and step off the slippery slope of dependence
Of course Thando was making (and breaking) rules by this time but finally accepting that she had a toxic relationship with alcohol but like many of us she had no idea HOW to make a change.
Like me she trotted down to AA but like me she listened to the shares and decided that she wasn’t “that bad” and that she didn’t fit in at all!
Now that I look back on the AA experience and that feeling of being "ok" because we are not drinking in the morning etc it occurs to me that we should be comparing ourselves with the best version of ourselves that we could be – rather than comparing ourselves with the hard core “alcoholic”
Thando made a pact with her brother to not drink for a year and he would be a support
Thando’s decision to take a year off was a brave one but it had a fatal flaw – she was under the impression that this sabbatical from the booze would mean that she would be able to reset her habits and drink “normally”
This was futile because once our drinking has crossed that line into dependence we can never go back – we have to go forward and create an alcohol free life – a life we don’t want to escape from
Tribe sober can help you do that – so why not join our tribe.
Thando’s therapist pointed out that the fact that she was taking a year off indicated that she did have a problem with alcohol as it would never occur to a “normal” drinker to do that!
She was diagnosed with general anxiety disorder and told that she displayed the traits of a functioning alcoholic
What helped Thando finally accept that she was a functioning alcoholic was the explanation she got from her therapist of alcoholism being a spectrum – two extremes with many degrees of dependence in between
At one end is the stereotype alcoholic (that homeless man in the park) and at the other end is the non drinker – most of the population fall between those two extremes
Back in 2012 Doctors Nowinsky and Doyle published a book called “Almost Alcoholics” – these people are still holding it all together but edging up to the alcoholic end of the spectrum
The trick is to keep an eye on your relationship with alcohol and your location on the spectrum.   If you’d like one of our free pdfs called “Signs you have a drinking problem” then email me at janet@tribesober.com
Once Thando had got through her sober year (mostly by white knuckling it) life threw her a couple of curved ball which meant that her intentions to moderate were completely derailed
She was diagnosed with breast cancer and as drinking was her default mechanism for dealing with trauma she drank more than ever to cope with the stress, the surgery and the various treatments
Then came the pandemic but this turned out to be her saving grace..
South Africa implemented an alcohol ban and Thando was able to isolate herself and build up some sober time
Although she felt like she was “losing her mind” during those first few months of sobriety she hung in there and it got easier
At month 9 she started to write her book and after a year she stopped obsessing about alcohol, she stopped romanticising it
She changed the way she saw alcohol, her mindset – that’s such an essential step and we’ll never thrive in our alcohol free lives if we don’t change our mindset
So Thando got sober by a combination of being locked away due to the pandemic and getting some therapy
Her therapist helped her to understand that she was actually an introvert and needed time alone to recharge – extraverts draw their energy from being with people whereas introverts need time alone
Another conclusion she reached through therapy was the fact that she was attracted to men who were emotionally unavailable – her therapist helped her to realise that by drinking she was emotionally cut off from herself..
These days Thando feels that she understands herself so much better and has adjusted her lifestyle to ensure that she gets plenty of time alone
Her social life has evolved accordingly and she spends time in smaller groups rather than going for long boozy lunches with big groups of people
Apart from getting to know herself better Thandos main benefit of sobriety is more capacity – for herself and for her to connect with others – her relationships are deeper.
So many young professionals will identify with Thando’s story - her book “On the Rocks” is available in bookstores on Kindle and can be ordered online via Amazon and Loot.
 
More Info
Subscription membership – you can join up HERE.
To access our website, click HERE.
If you would like a free copy of our “Annual Tracker” or our e-book 66 Days to Sobriety, please email janet@tribesober.com.
If you would like to come to our Saturday afternoon Zoom Cafe as a guest and meet our community, just email janet@tribesober.com.
Episode Sponsor
This episode is sponsored by the Tribe Sober Membership Program.  If you want to change your relationship with alcohol then sign up todayRead more about our program and subscribe HERE
Book a Discovery Call with me to find out if our membership would help you
Help us to Spread the Word!
We made this podcast so that we can reach more people who need our help.  Please subscribe and share.
If you enjoyed the podcast, then please leave us a 5-star review on Apple podcasts.
Take a screenshot of your review, and DM it to Tribe Sober’s Instagram page – see PS below for instructions. We’ll send you something special to say thank you!
We release a podcast episode every Saturday morning.
You can follow Tribe Sober on Facebook, Twitter, TikTok and Instagram.
You can join our private Facebook group HERE.
 
PS: How to Leave a Rating/Review in Apple Podcasts (on an iOS Device)
Open the Podcasts app. EASY.
Choose “Search” from the bottom row of icons and enter the name of the show (e.g. Recover Like a Mother) into the search field.
Select the show under Shows (not under Episodes).
Scroll down past the first few episodes until you see Ratings & Reviews.
Click Write a Review underneath the displayed reviews from other listeners. You’ll then have the option to rate the show on a 5-star scale and write a review (you can rate without writing too but it’s always good to read your experience).

Life Lessons from Recovery

Life Lessons from Recovery
As we ditch the booze and try to navigate our alcohol drenched world without it we often say we are on a “journey”.  My guest this week got sober and then decided to embark on a physical journey. 
From Mexico to Canada – on foot! – 2,500 miles! – 5 months! 
She applied the lessons from her recovery to the walk and then wrote a book about it..
My guest uses her trail name which is Person Irresponsible – P.I. for short..
 
In this Episode
PI grew up in a drinking home and married a drinker – a familiar story as we tend to seek out the familiar – our comfort zone
In her twenties she doesn’t recall being worried about her drinking but there were certainly some “incidents’
She realises that she was in deep denial – hanging around with other drinkers to normalise her behaviour
As she got into her thirties her hangovers got more severe, her marriage collapsed and she started drinking until she blacked out
Like many drinkers she fell into “victim” mode, blaming others – in her case blaming her ex husband
As she looks back on this she can see that alcoholism prevents any rational thought
PI became so unhappy during this period she didn’t actually care what happened to her or what harm she was doing to herself with alcohol
She never read romance or chick lit but for some reason she had an urge to read Rachels Holiday by Marian Keyes
At the end of the book Marian had written about AA so PI decided to call the helpline and talk to someone – as a result of this conversation she decided to try 30 days without alcohol
She went to 30 meetings in 30 days and was thrilled to get her 30 day chip – one of the guys at the meetings said – now you have to do 60 days which came as a surprise but she decided to go for it, after all physically she felt so much better!
PI loved the stories and the drama – and the chips at AA – she wasn’t so keen on the solutions and didn’t listen to those..
Unsurprisingly she relapsed – on Day 72 – but the alcohol she drank didn’t give her the relief she was looking for
She went to a meeting and heard a share that really resonated with her – and she finally accepted that she was an alcoholic
That got her back on track and although she suffered from bad cravings now and again she learnt how to “break the spell” – whether by talking to someone or writing a list of reasons to be sober
As she hit one year sober she started to hear a voice saying “surely you can have just one now” – as well as the voices explaining why that would be a bad idea.
As she said she had a “war” going on in her head – full on cognitive dissonance as the psychologists call it..
That made me think of the study by the Tempest that it takes a person an average of 11 years to reach out for help – that’s 11 years of listening to the battle between your rational mind and your limiting beliefs in your subconscious – exhausting!
She made the decision to get her one year chip and then to try having a drink – but then she got a call from a sponsee asking for help – listening to this persons struggle “broke the spell” for her and made her realise that she didn’t want ever to go back to those difficult days again
That’s why we encourage our members to stick around even after they have got sober – it's so rewarding to be able to help other people and it’s a reminder of how tough those early days are – after all who wants to keep doing the hardest bit, again and again.
We even have a 6 years+ group at Tribe Sober and the conversations are quite different on that group – we added up our collective years of sobriety the other day - 184 Years in all!
Like many of us PI found herself with time on her hands when she stopped drinking. Inspired by a movie called "Wild" she decided to walk the worlds longest footpath – from Mexico to Canada, the Pacific Crest Trail.
We always say that your world will open up to new possibilities when you ditch the drink and PI is a great example 
She was able to apply the lessons she had learned in recovery during the walk – she gave us a nice analogy of the initial excitement at the beginning of the walk (pink cloud), followed by the boredom and the difficulty and the need to just keep going.
Her walk was a perfect metaphor for her recovery journey – and she often just wanted to quit
She describes the PCT as the second greatest achievement in her life (after recovery)
At Tribe Sober we often say that Sobriety is a Superpower as if we can do that we can do anything!
So do get hold of PI’s book which is called “Everything you Ever Taught Me” – I’ve read it and it’s great – very funny and full of insight
More Info
Subscription membership – you can join up HERE.
To access our website, click HERE.
If you would like a free copy of our “Annual Tracker” or our e-book 66 Days to Sobriety, please email janet@tribesober.com.
If you would like to come to our Saturday afternoon Zoom Cafe as a guest and meet our community, just email janet@tribesober.com.
Episode Sponsor
This episode is sponsored by the Tribe Sober Membership Program.  If you want to change your relationship with alcohol then sign up todayRead more about our program and subscribe HERE
Book a Discovery Call with me to find out if our membership would help you
Help us to Spread the Word!
We made this podcast so that we can reach more people who need our help.  Please subscribe and share.
If you enjoyed the podcast, then please leave us a 5-star review on Apple podcasts.
Take a screenshot of your review, and DM it to Tribe Sober’s Instagram page – see PS below for instructions. We’ll send you something special to say thank you!
We release a podcast episode every Saturday morning.
You can follow Tribe Sober on Facebook, Twitter, TikTok and Instagram.
You can join our private Facebook group HERE.
 
PS: How to Leave a Rating/Review in Apple Podcasts (on an iOS Device)
Open the Podcasts app. EASY.
Choose “Search” from the bottom row of icons and enter the name of the show (e.g. Recover Like a Mother) into the search field.
Select the show under Shows (not under Episodes).
Scroll down past the first few episodes until you see Ratings & Reviews.
Click Write a Review underneath the displayed reviews from other listeners. You’ll then have the option to rate the show on a 5-star scale and write a review (you can rate without writing too but it’s always good to read your experience).

How to stop Binge Drinking with Mindset Coach Kathryn Elliott

 
How to Stop Binge Drinking with Mindset Coach Kathryn
In early sobriety I was dutifully working my way through the QuitLit but one day I picked up a book that changed everything for me – the Naked Mind by Annie Grace.  That book was a revelation  – I finally understood how we are manipulated endlessly by the liquor industry to believe that we need their toxic product to enjoy our lives.  I started to see things quite differently. I started to laugh when yet another booze advert came on tv or another glamorous movie heroine poured herself a huge glass of wine!
I realised what the missing piece had been all along – it was mindset.
Until I read the Naked Mind I was white knuckling my sobriety so I was missing the most important piece of all.  That’s why we say the objective of our workshop is to create a mindshift – we know that we have to enable you to change your thinking – about drinking if you are to go on and actually thrive in your alcohol free life.
Our next workshop is coming up on June 25- you can get more info and book here So now you’ve heard how what a gamechanger The Naked Mind was for me you will understand why I’m thrilled to welcome one of Annie Grace’s Mindset Coaches as my guest this week…
Kathryn shares her personal story with us and explains why binge drinkers often don’t even realise that they have a “problem”…
In this Episode
Kathryn was a teenage drinker. With a friend she got through a bottle of gin and a packet of cigarettes at the age of 14 – the results were not pretty and involved a lot of vomiting but did not deter her
Drinking is so normalised in Australia that she almost felt an obligation to “push through” these early experiments until she got to a place where she was enjoying it – and she did!
In fact she discovered that once she started drinking she didn’t really have an “off” switch.
Now that she works with a lot of binge drinkers in her coaching career she hears many of say that they don’t have an “off” switch
Kathryn would be in a cycle – go for it, recover, go for it, recover
She didn’t really see this as a “problem” even when she started having blackouts at 16 – some blackouts which involved driving
She could go for weeks without drinking and challenges like Dry January were easy for her but she would always see these dry periods as permission to binge before and afterwards!
As Kathryn looks back on those short periods of abstinence she realises they did nothing to help her understand her binge drinking habit
Women need to understand that binge drinking is particularly dangerous as it can take up to a month for our liver to recover from a heavy session.
We tend to think that once the hangover has gone we can start drinking again but that just piles more damage on top of the existing damage.
Both Kathryn and I spent far too much time in the “Moderation Trap” as we couldn’t imagine our lives without alcohol. Even if we white knuckled our moderation for a while the binge drinking would return.
We are also both health conscious so can now appreciate the irony of going gluten free, eating organic, doing yoga, exercising daily – and then drinking far too much!
It’s as if it’s the last piece of the puzzle for our health – we are prepared to do all sorts of other things (even run marathons!) so long as they don’t take our wine away!
Kathryn always imagined she would “grow out” of her binge drinking but by the age of 42 she realised she had been stuck in this pattern for nearly 30 years and something would have to change.
There were two incidents in her 40’s which were a catalyst for the change – getting drunk at her brother's wedding where she fell over and hurt her hand and then had a row with her mother.
The second incident was a family holiday where she frightened her teenage children by being unable to walk
The next day she sat on the beach and cried – she realised she would have to quit
I call this the “moment of truth” and it comes to many of us – that feeling of “I’m done, I just can’t do this anymore”
Kathryn joined the Alcohol Experiment with Annie Grace with the intention of trying a year of sobriety – she learned a lot and got huge comfort from the community, realising that she was not alone in this – it was not her fault that she got addicted to an addictive substance!
We both agreed that the recovery community is special and we love being trailblazers for the alcohol free lifestyle
Like me Kathryn is a breast cancer survivor and she talks of the moment she was diagnosed
She reflected on the fact that her default position for dealing with trauma was to drink but in fact she realised that she needed all her mental and physical strength to deal with her breast cancer
My diagnosis was back in 2006 when I still drinking and I remember seeing it as a perfect opportunity to slip into victim mode and step up the drinking!
Neither of us realised just how strong the link is between heavy drinking and breast cancer – in fact just 3 or 4 drinks a week will increase your risk by 15% so it was unsurprising that I got breast cancer after putting away a bottle of wine a night for decades!
Many ladies in our community have had breast cancer and its nearly always been estrogen driven – as alcohol increases the amount of estrogen in our bodies.
Kathryn took comfort from her decision to quit drinking as she realised she would be reducing her risk of a recurrence
She trained as a Naked Mind Coach and loves helping people to change their lives
She uses 3 pillars to help people change their relationship with alcohol
Knowledge – be curious, learn everything you can, “throw the book at it” as we say at Tribe Sober
Emotion – challenge your limiting beliefs, – change your thoughts and create new neural pathways
Action – as Kathryn says once we question our beliefs our subconscious will kick in and help us to take the actions we need to
Kathryn's tips for newbies – dip your toe into sobriety, join sober communities, listen and learn – and of course Annie Grace's book the "Naked Mind" is a great place to start!
We talked about binge drinkers and the interesting thing about binge drinkers is that they often don’t see themselves as “problem drinkers”
They see themselves as “normal drinkers” who go over the top now and again!
I was definitely in this category
So the first step is to accept that even if you go for weeks without drinking but then sometimes go over the top and don’t seem to have an off switch you probably need to make some changes
If you would like to work with Kathryn then please go to her website – its: https://www.thealcoholmindsetcoach.com/More Info
Subscription membership – you can join up HERE.
To access our website, click HERE.
If you would like a free copy of our “Annual Tracker” or our e-book 66 Days to Sobriety, please email janet@tribesober.com.
If you would like to come to our Saturday afternoon Zoom Cafe as a guest and meet our community, just email janet@tribesober.com.
Episode Sponsor
This episode is sponsored by the Tribe Sober Membership Program.  If you want to change your relationship with alcohol then sign up todayRead more about our program and subscribe HERE
Book a Discovery Call with me to find out if our membership would help you
Help us to Spread the Word!
We made this podcast so that we can reach more people who need our help.  Please subscribe and share.
If you enjoyed the podcast, then please leave us a 5-star review on Apple podcasts.
Take a screenshot of your review, and DM it to Tribe Sober’s Instagram page – see PS below for instructions. We’ll send you something special to say thank you!
We release a podcast episode every Saturday morning.
You can follow Tribe Sober on Facebook, Twitter, TikTok and Instagram.
You can join our private Facebook group HERE.
 
PS: How to Leave a Rating/Review in Apple Podcasts (on an iOS Device)
Open the Podcasts app. EASY.
Choose “Search” from the bottom row of icons and enter the name of the show (e.g. Recover Like a Mother) into the search field.
Select the show under Shows (not under Episodes).
Scroll down past the first few episodes until you see Ratings & Reviews.
Click Write a Review underneath the displayed reviews from other listeners. You’ll then have the option to rate the show on a 5-star scale and write a review (you can rate without writing too but it’s always good to read your experience).