No Alcohol Needed: The Podcast

It doesn’t matter if you’re a few days sober or ten years sober – cravings happen. At their best, they are annoying. At their worst, they sneak up on you when you least expect it and smack you upside the head and suddenly everything is spinning and you don’t know which way is up. By the end of this episode, you’ll have a whole new stack of tools to add to your sober toolbox, and you’ll realize tha...

Do I really need to stop drinking? Do I really have a problem? So many people google these questions that there are dozens of quizzes to help you decide whether your drinking is really bad enough that you need to stop. So our conversation today is about exactly that - how did you know that you really needed to stop drinking? And how do you deal with the idea of quitting forever, once you make the...

To move through shame, guilt and regret after quitting drinking, it's first necessary to understand the difference. Only then can we learn how to deal with each emotion in a way that is helpful and healthy. In this episode, we are joined by Brittany, co-creator of The Mocktails Made Us, and Joel, founder of The Sober Sessions, to chat about how we deal with shame and regret in a way that allows us...

What if we told you that authenticity is the foundation of lasting sobriety? That being vulnerable enough to allow your true self to be seen by others is where recovery starts? In this episode, we're joined by Eliza, CRO of Pretaa ; Chelsey, founder of Lighthouse Recovery; and Gary, host of The Begin Again podcast; as we explore the links between authenticity, vulnerability, connection, and addict...

With summer upon us, it seems everyone is wondering is to have sober fun - without missing alcohol! The warm weather seems to bring its own set of triggers. We invited Rich and Shana to join us this week, to talk about how they've learned to not just survive summer, but to truly enjoy it. In this episode: How mocktails can still make summer events feel special Preparation: how to know you're ready...

Emotional intelligence (or "EQ") is the ability to perceive, interpret, demonstrate, control, evaluate, and use emotions. Described this way, it's easy to see the link between emotional intelligence and addiction. Dealing with challenging emotions is the number one cause of relapse, and for many of us who struggle with addictive behaviors, we never developed the skillset necessary to cope with the...

When your subconscious, underlying beliefs conflict with what you've learned to be actually true (cognitive dissonance), it becomes very difficult to permanently overcome addiction. But what does that mean? How does it work? And most importantly, how do you fix it? In this sobriety podcast episode, we've invited Angie B, director of Peer180 RCO in Grand Junction, CO, and Matt, co-creator of The Mo...

Grief and alcohol don't mix. We all know this... and yet, when grief strikes, it's hard not to want to numb the pain. We get it. In this sober podcast episode, we gathered some very special people with poignant stories together to share what they've learned about navigating grief sober. Polly has lost not one, but two husbands. Dave's step daughter passed away suddenly last year when he was 8 mont...

Talking to your kids about your addiction is hard and it's scary, but it's also necessary. When you're a parent and you're working through addiction and recovery, it's a challenge to know how much to share, and how to share it, with your children. In this groundbreaking episode, we have a conversation with Matt and Rachael about how we've approached talking to our own kids - of all ages - about ou...

I would love to waltz in here and tell you all your friendships are going to be even better when you get sober. Unfortunately, that's not the case. Losing friends when you quit drinking is one of those challenges that nearly everyone has to learn to cope with, and it can be a very real struggle. It's painful to lose friendships, or even to watch them change as we move into this new, alcohol free p...

When your liquid courage goes away, how do you get past the social anxiety when you get sober? First, just know you're not alone. So many people struggle with this! Remember when you walk into a situation that a lot of other people there are feeling just as awkward as you are. We gathered some folks together who have all struggled with social anxiety, and they share their experiences and their wis...

Is it possible to stay sober, when your spouse still drinks? This is one of the most common challenges our listeners have shared with us, so we've rounded up some guests to share their experiences with it. Of course, the answer is very personal and unique to your situation. But we hope that with some added perspective, maybe you'll find some tips and tools to navigate this situation in your home,...

Honesty is one of those topics that seems pretty simple and clear cut at first, but starts getting a little squirmier the more you dig into it. There's layers there, too. Many of us tend to think we're pretty honest folks, but as we work more and more on our recovery, we start recognizing areas of our lives where we'd actually been quite dishonest... and that's especially true when it comes to bei...

For many of us, our actions and behaviors have left our family and loved ones no longer trusting us, even after we've stopped drinking. So that begs the question - how do you regain trust after quitting alcohol? We've gathered Rachael, founder of Addict with Purpose; Michael, founder of SoberPress; and our adventurous friend Nadine to talk about what regaining trust from others - and in ourselves...

Let's chat about self esteem and sobriety - and why it's so important. Life doesn't automatically just get easy when you quit drinking. Uncomfortable emotions still crop up from time to time, and one of the best things we can do is develop the skills to move through those emotions in a healthy way. One of the emotions that throws people for a loop is insecurity, so that's what we're gonna tackle t...

The stereotypical "alcoholic" is seen as selfish. Always focused on their own gain, getting their needs met, and using other people to make that happen.  But... it's actually far more common for people struggling with alcohol misuse to be people pleasers. They bend over backward, taking care of everyone, keeping everyone happy, to the point where they find themselves exhausted, empty, and full of...

We hear from a lot of people who are struggling with finding purpose in recovery. That feeling of being lost, of just floating through life, can be frustrating and can even lead to thoughts of drinking again. We know that if you have found your purpose in life, and you've found the courage to live out that purpose, maintaining lasting sobriety becomes achievable. So we've gathered together a group...

If you're feeling alone in your sober journey, if you're wishing you had some extra sobriety support, this sober podcast episode is for you. We've gathered three inspiring women to share with us how they've built a sober support network that works for them. The conversation explains perfectly how no one recovery journey is the same as any other, and how our needs for support in recovery are as uni...

"The Alcohol Voice was telling me, 'You don't have to feel this way.'" Urges and cravings to drink alcohol look different for everyone, but most of us can agree on one thing: there's a voice that pipes up inside our head, trying to convince us to drink. That voice sounds a lot like our own, and it gets really creative and tricky, trying to find ways to get you to give in and have the drink you've...

So it turns out, a lot of us were really bad at communicating. And then we got sober, and realized we couldn't just hide from difficult conversations and conflict anymore. We had to actually learn how to handle it. And it started with learning healthy communication skills in recovery. In this podcast episode, we dig into communication, and how to handle conflict effectively, after you get sober. W...

In this Valentine's Day episode, we invite our guests to share their thoughts on love. We share what we've learned about love and how it affects our relationships in recovery. You'll hear from sober influencer Amber, Jared Blaine - host of the Blaklist Podcast, and sober influencer Jennifer, about how their understanding of love has changed as they've worked on healing and understanding themselves...

Vulnerability is one of the hardest pieces of a strong recovery foundation, but it's also one of the most important. Without embracing the discomfort, you'll never find the connection that is truly the key to thriving once you quit drinking. In this podcast episode, we are joined by Justin from The Hope Shot , Casey from F-around and Recover , and our friend Matt to talk about the challenges they...

For many of our listeners, Dry January is coming to a close, and you're starting to think about maintaining sobriety going forward. If you've decided you want to keep going, but you're not sure what that needs to look like, this episode is just for you. We've invited Chuck LaFlange, host of the Ashes to Awesome podcast, Jason Williams of Sober Gangster , and sober influencer Hayley Delashmit to di...

Sobriety vs. Recovery. You hear the words "sobriety" and "recovery" used interchangeably all the time, but there's a distinct difference, and if you're wanting to live a fulfilling life without alcohol, it's important that you understand what these words mean. In this episode, Steve is joined by Robbie, (host of Golden Hour Adventures podcast), Jon (author of Parables: Musings from an Addict on th...

Nearly everyone experiences shame in recovery… and it seems many of us drank to try to avoid feeling shame in the first place. "I drank to avoid feeling the shame of drinking," is a familiar concept to many of us. The shame cycle perpetuates, keeping us going round and round and never quite knowing how to stop. In this episode, we address dealing with shame in recovery. We're joined by social medi...