The Sober Mom Life

Jen’s sobriety story is miraculous and inspiring, and today she’s here to share it with all of us!  Her story begins in childhood where she survived a harrowing school shooting. Her family was not one to talk about emotions, however, so her trauma surrounding the event was never dealt with. This led to unexplainable anxiety once her own children started school.  In 2019, after a hard nig...

Today my Mom, our resident mental health expert, is here to talk about one of the most common questions that comes up in this community: How do I navigate sobriety if my spouse still drinks.  I’ll share my story of how I navigated this tricky transition. Then, we’ll talk about how to set loving boundaries, how to continue on your sobriety journey even if your partner isn’t following directly...

Noel’s story is one of breaking generational patterns. After growing up in a drinking culture with heavy drinking parents and having terrifying close calls herself, Noel learned about how alcohol ravaged the lives of each of her grandparents. She couldn’t help but feel that she was following in their footsteps.  Everything within her told her it was time to quit, but quitting felt so foreign...

It’s a big week! This week we’re celebrating the one year anniversary of The Sober Mom Life podcast. The first year of the podcast has been a beautiful whirlwind of experiences, and starting it felt so much like starting my journey to quit alcohol - the fear, the anxiety, the what ifs, and discovering the path as I go. Today I’ll detail how I managed my emotions around starting a podcast desp...

Paige began drinking as a way to connect with her now husband and to ‘wind down’ from a high intensity career. Infertility and motherhood kicked it up a notch, though, as she fell prey to the media narrative that alcohol was supposed to ‘help’ her cope with such stressors. Before long, Paige found herself struggling to moderate, which resulted in attempts to hide her drinking from her husband.&nbs...

I am honored to welcome functional nutritionist and gray area drinking specialist Jolene Park to the podcast! Jolene is one of the foremost voices on gray area drinking. In this episode, Jolene shares so many facts that will help you remove the shame of gray area drinking and instead focus on replenishing what your body actually needs when it’s craving alcohol.  Check out Jolene’s incredible...

Drinking had always been normalized for Jennifer P. - from drinking in high school friends’ rooms out of boredom, to parties and clubs, and all the way to mommy wine culture once she had her son. The questions started to pop up once she became medicated for anxiety. The meds weren’t mixing well with alcohol, leading to dangerous blackouts. After a few scary and shame inducing experiences Jennifer...

Today I’m joined by Rachel Hechtman of the wonderful sober Instagram @soberincentralpark! Rachel shares with us how having ADHD has interplayed with substance abuse throughout her life, and how an all-or-nothing approach to getting healthy made sobriety possible for her.  Rachel is dedicated to building community within the sober world! Learn more about her Sunday morning Sober in Central Park wal...

Today I’m joined by JoEll! JoEll grew up with a father who had issues with alcohol, so she always avoided it when she was young because she never wanted to end up with a dependency herself. Postpartum, the witching hour, and the pandemic all came together to make that a challenge, however, and JoEll’s drinking escalated until she realized that this wasn’t who she wanted to be.  JoEll’s sobriety jo...

The Real Sober Moms are back! These conversations will give you a truthful and vulnerable look into the lives of brave women who are currently navigating their sobriety journeys. New Real Sober Mom chats will drop every Friday, and we’re kicking them off with a special double header of two new chats!  First, Allison, a forensic psychologist, details how she was never taught about alcohol’s effect...

It’s just me today! Join me as I share my approach to sobriety, and how I found myself to the place I am now with alcohol.  When I began my sober journey, I only knew what I didn’t want: I didn’t want alcohol to take one more day away from me. Now I know what I do want: a full, expansive and beautiful sober life.  Your sober journey gets to look the way YOU want it to. It doesn’t have to follow an...

Laura Cathcart Robbins, the author of the excellent new quit lit memoir ‘Stash: My Life in Hiding’ joins me today on the podcast. Laura’s story of recovery from a very secret and dangerous addiction is beautiful, heartbreaking, and brave. I’m so grateful she is here today to share it.  Laura is a trailblazer in the Quit Lit space, as she is the first Black author to release a high profile book on...

Today I’m joined by Jessica Jeboult of The Sober Girl’s Guide ! Jessica’s story sounds so glamorous on the surface - she was a globe trotting DJ who found herself deep in a high profile party scene - but the glamor quickly wore off… and Jessica found herself stuck in a cycle of alcohol abuse, empty relationships, and depression.  Today, Jessica shares how her recovery journey inspired her to write...

Emily Lynn Paulson is back on the show to talk about her mind blowing new book “Hey Hun: Sales, Sisterhood, Supremacy and the Other Lies Behind Multi-Level Marketing”. In her past life, Emily was highly successful within an MLM, but after she got sober, the work she was doing within the MLM started to feel…icky. So, Emily went searching for answers and uncovered the web of lies that ensnare people...

Today I’m joined by author Jessica Lahey to tackle one of the biggest topics in our community: How do we keep our kids safe from the trick of alcohol?  This conversation is so important and enlightening!  Jessica shares about her own sobriety journey while also giving us so much knowledge about the risk factors for substance abuse, practical tips on how to talk to you kids about alcohol,...

I am so happy to welcome Gretchen Adams to the podcast! I’ve followed Gretchen’s Instagram  @livinglifepretty for years. I felt like I knew her life so well… but I never knew that she was 12 years sober until she recently told me! I am so grateful to her for being so vulnerable and open about her sobriety journey in this episode. She has so many amazing insights from her decade-plus of sobriety. P...

I kept hearing about Jenn Kautsch and Sober Sis from so many women in the community, so I had to have her on the pod! I love Sober Sis’s mission of supporting women who are beginning to question their gray area drinking. Jenn is really speaking our language!  Today, Jenn and I chat about rejection in motherhood, what it means to be ‘sober-minded’, navigating sobriety when your partner drinks, and...

Young me is having a pinch me moment - Kristin Kennedy, the editor-in-chief of Seventeen Magazine, is on the pod today! In addition to her high profile career within the celebrity and fashion worlds, Kristin is also a mom of three, so she absolutely understands the juggling act between motherhood and work. Kristin and I have a great conversation about the challenging realities of motherhood, how h...

When I spotted Malerie Holcomb-Botts’s name in the Sober Mom Life Facebook group, I was blown away! I have been following her for years on Instagram, and I felt like we were already friends.  Through major life changes, cross country (and ocean!) moves, and acute grief, Mal slowly came to realize that sobriety was the right choice for her. Her story serves as a great example that sobriety isn’t al...

Laura Tremaine, author of Share Your Stuff. I’ll Go First joins me today for a wonderful chat about friendship and journaling! Laura has so much great advice about how to build friendships in the modern world, how to end friendships that are no longer serving you, and how to create a meaningful journaling practice.   Laura’s new book The Life Council - 10 Friends Every Woman Needs hits the shelves...

Meg of @youdonthavetodrink joins me today for an important chat about the cross-section between disordered eating and disordered drinking. Meg shares how these intertwined throughout her teens and twenties, and offers insights on how you can begin your journey to heal from both - and not just one at the expense of the other.  Content warning - we speak at length about disordered eating in this epi...

I am so honored to welcome Laura McKowen, author of We Are The Luckiest , on the pod today! Laura’s book was instrumental in my healing when I began my own sobriety journey, so this conversation was a true pinch me moment!  In today’s episode Laura and I discuss her complicated relationship with AA, why choosing self forgiveness is so important to healing , how she navigates talking about alcohol...

Your first sober vacation is a big milestone. You might be wondering: can a vacation be fun without alcohol? I'm here to assure you that the answer is yes! Honestly, vacations can be even more enjoyable when you leave alcohol out of the equation.  If you’re gearing up for your first sober vacation, I’m here to help. Today I’m sharing steps to help you discover what a vacation without alcohol...

Julia Dzafic of @lemonstripes on Instagram joins me on the pod today! Julia is newly sober and is in the process of figuring out what sobriety looks like for her. I’m so honored to have her join me to share her experience!  Tune in for a chat about saying goodbye to ‘hangxiety’, managing social anxiety in those first sober months, and why influencers peddling mommy wine culture need to be held acc...

If you think sobriety is boring or unglamorous, then Lizzy Savetsky is about to prove you wrong. Lizzy is a mom, a Jewish activist, a former Real Housewives of New York, and a delightful woman who I know you will love! Today we dive into her sobriety journey, her reasons for stepping away from The Real Housewives, the role that Judaism plays in her life (and played in her drinking), and so much mo...