The Sober Mom Life

Katie joins me today for the first episode in a new series: SobrieTEA!  Like so many sober moms in our community, Katie and I are both obsessed with Bravo . Plus, Katie is plugged into the reality world professionally! So today we're here to spill all the tea from the Bravo world, with a special lens on how alcohol plays a role. In this episode we tackle the latest seasons of Real Housewives...

Erinn O’Neill of the 2 Sober Girls Podcast joins me today!  Erinn is a big proponent of AA, and she should absolutely be in charge of the organization's rebrand. She was so kind to answer all of my burning questions about AA, and her approach to sobriety is so soulful, light and non-judgmental!  In this episode Erinn shares her sobriety journey, how reconnecting with her faith led her to...

Growing up, Kara felt like her father had chosen alcohol over his family. He was in and out of rehab for alcohol addiction when she was young, which ultimately led to her parents divorce.  Kara’s mom remarried when she was four and Kara grew up in a blended family of six kids. Though it was a great family life, with so many kids in the house there was no space for her parents to support her e...

Lifestyle reporter Rachel Paula Abrahamson recently penned the article Sober Moms are challenging wine mom culture one playdate at a time for Today.com, and I am honored to welcome her to the show for her first podcast conversation about her own sobriety. We’ll talk about how drinking became central to her life, the reasons she ultimately chose to quit, how we talk to our kids about alcohol, and t...

Today’s real sober mom, Aimee, is a dietician who spent years educating others on the dangers of alcohol… all while struggling to find her own way to sobriety.  Alcohol became Aimee’s primary way to cope after she became a mom. She leaned on it to get her through sleepless nights, a job she despised, and the fear and stress of working in healthcare during Covid. Due to her expertise as a diet...

For most of Emily's life, she only knew one way to drink: ‘Wisconsin-style binge drinking’. (I can relate. We grew up in the same town!) After becoming a nutritionist, however, a subtle sense of guilt about her drinking began to bubble beneath the surface. She didn’t think much of it, though, because she had no idea how toxic alcohol was - they never addressed it in her nutrition classes!  Af...

You made it! 365 Days have been marked off the calendar. You are officially one year sober!  …Now what?  Today my mom & our resident therapist, Susan Knower, is here to talk about this unique point in the sobriety journey. We’ll chat about the thoughts that arise when the novelty of sobriety wears off, how to deal with the emotions that lie beneath your drinking, the importance of co...

Today’s Real Sober Mom, Erin, is here with a story that is so relatable.  In high school, alcohol gave Erin her first taste of ‘fitting in’. She leaned on it to socialize on the weekends throughout her teens and early 20s, and she never gave it much thought. Her drinking always seemed ‘normal’ when compared with those around her! Once she began having children, though, alcohol slowly started...

There is a massive blind spot within the medical community when it comes to the dangers of alcohol. Dr. Kara Pepper is on the podcast today to help us understand why. Dr. Pepper is an Atlanta-based Internist who has been practicing for over 16 years. Before sobriety, her own biases and internalized shame led her to often avoid the topic of alcohol with her patients. She is now two years sober, and...

In this replay from last February, we're talking a big first: Your first sober vacation. It's 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 sh...

Bookstagrammer Hailey Conroy is on the pod today!  Hailey had been a weekend binge drinker through high school, college, and even law school, despite her Irish family history of alcohol abuse. She quit during pregnancy, but when her twins were born at 23 weeks, the bottom fell out. Her son passed after 3 days, and her daughter fought to live in the NICU for 9 months. Her 2 glass habit was als...

My worlds are colliding! Today’s real sober mom, Jessica, and I go way back. We met in college, became good friends as adults, and now she’s one year sober and in The Sober Mom Life Cafe!  Jessica’s relationship with drinking always centered around her social life. Alcohol felt like a natural part of the social equation, so much so that she didn’t even think about it. After Covid, her home be...

Here today by popular demand, it’s Mallory Ervin! Mallory Ervin  is a Kentucky-grown, Nashville-living dreamer who had a roundabout way of arriving at today. From her time in the Miss America pageant to being a three-time contestant on  The Amazing Race , Mallory turned her passion for sharing her love of fashion, beauty, and life into a platform for impact. Today she runs a global lifes...

Today’s real sober mom, Courtney, grew up as a child in a party household, often feeling forgotten amidst a sea of partygoers at her parent’s house. As she grew, she quickly found that alcohol could serve to alleviate her shyness, and she leaned on it to make friends.  As an adult, Courtney became a therapist, and she realized through her work that she had childhood pain that she needed to ad...

Today health coach and co-host of The 2 Sober Girls podcast Michaela Horvathova is on the podcast! Michaela shares about how she lived two competing lives in her twenties: one focused on wellness, and one focused on partying. While this isn’t a lifestyle she regrets having lived at the time, it’s one that she found herself very much ready to change as she transitioned into life as a single mom and...

Jaye never thought she qualified for sobriety. She drank often, but just enough to relax at the end of the day. Still, she could feel it taking its toll. She began to try Sober Octobers and Dry Januarys, and she loved how she felt during the breaks, but her drinking always kicked back in as a habit almost immediately after she reached the final day.  In January of 2023, though, things felt di...

As you near the end of Dry January, you probably have some feelings about your alcohol-free month. Maybe you’re unsure of where to go from here. You don’t feel like you want to go back to drinking, but debilitating ‘what if’s’ are starting to swirl through your mind. You’re afraid of what could happen, and what you could ‘lose’, if you gave up alcohol.  If that’s where you are, I understand.&...

We're taking a quick break to bring you an interview that I did on the wonderful Double Trouble podcast with twins Nell and Laine! If you're new to this community, this will give you insight into my story —from motherhood, to professional life, to my decision to become spontaneously sober, and the incredible community of sober moms that has grown out of the decision to take sobriety public. Be sur...

You guys, it’s a big day. I am officially four years sober! Today I’m sharing my thoughts from these four incredible years: What I’ve learned, how I’ve changed, and the biggest takeaways I’ve had.  I hope these reflections will help you on your own journey, and I just want you to know: the person you are today is not the person you will be one year from now if you take the leap and go alcohol...

If you’re on a sober curious journey, this one's for you! Women like Maria are the reason I started the Sober Mom Life community. Maria joined the group while she was still drinking. Though she was highly conflicted about quitting, she had the incredible courage to show up honestly, ask hard questions, and work through her challenges with support!  Maria’s story highlights the sneaky way that...

I am so excited to welcome sober influencer Jenna Dillulio to the show today! While she’s now a new mom, Jenna actually got sober years before she had her first child. Today she shares her sobriety journey, gives her thoughts on why big alcohol loves to target mothers, and explains why she decided to use her platform to hit back against mommy wine culture from the perspective of someone raised by...

Alcohol had been central to Real Sober Mom Katie K’s life during her teens and 20s. From college, to working as a page at NBC, to building an entertainment career in Manhattan, Katie had reveled in a party lifestyle with no second thoughts.  Everything changed when the pandemic hit. In 2020, Katie was pregnant. She found herself saying a hasty goodbye to the city life she’d known for 10 years...

Stefanie Wilder-Taylor joins me on her pod today for a fantastic conversation about her upcoming book ‘ Drunkish: A Memoir of Loving and Leaving Alcohol ’, out January 16! You guys, this book is so good. You might recognize Stefanie’s name from her past books, many of which actually celebrated mommy wine culture. Today we talk about her big transition from ‘boozy mom’ to sober mom, her experiences...

In this replay from 2022, I’ll share why it’s so important to build a sobriety toolbox. I really wish there was a better word than “toolbox”, though. “Toolboxes” are used on things that are broken. I am not broken and neither are you. Nevertheless, today I’ll share the tools that I rely on not just to cope, but to flourish in sobriety. These tools have lifted me up and given me nourishment, rest a...

In this episode, I teamed up with Gill Tietz from Sober Powered and Micheala and Erinn - the Team behind the 2 sober girls podcast to give our best advice on how to thrive this Dry January! In the show we’ll talk about the concept of Dry January and its impact on sobriety.  They share their personal experiences and perspectives on the benefits and challenges of participating in Dry Janua...