Sober Awkward

If you’ve ever promised yourself you’d only have a couple of drinks, then found yourself ordering shots and explaining your life story to a stranger in a kebab queue, this episode is for you. This week, Vic and Ulrika dive headfirst into one of the biggest questions in sobriety: surely I can just have one? It’s the fantasy many of us cling to for years, the dream that one day we’ll become those my...

What if the anxiety you think alcohol is helping is actually being made worse by the booze? Following Monday’s conversation with Millie Gooch about hangxiety, Vic digs into one of the biggest reasons she eventually stopped drinking: panic. For years, Vic thought alcohol was helping her cope with an anxious brain. It switched everything off for a few hours, gave her confidence and offered a bit of...

Have you ever woken up after a night of drinking with your heart racing, convinced you’ve embarrassed yourself, upset someone, or somehow ruined your entire life? That awful feeling has a name: hangxiety. This week, Victoria is joined by Millie Gooch, founder of The Sober Girl Society and author of the brilliant new book, Hangxiety. Together they dive into the reality of hangxiety, what it felt li...

You’ve been absolutely fine all day. You haven’t thought about alcohol, you’re feeling quite pleased with yourself and then suddenly it’s 5pm and your brain goes = WINE. This Thursday, Vic is digging into that very specific bit of the day when the urge to drink seems to arrive almost automatically. Why does cooking dinner make you want wine? Why can finishing work, putting the kids to bed or simpl...

This week on Sober Awkward, Vic and Ulrika tackle a drinking style that often flies completely under the radar, the stay-at-home drinker. Vic was the loud one. The social one. The drinker making questionable decisions in public and collecting stories she’d rather forget. Ulrika was different. Her drinking happened behind closed doors. No bars. No dance floors. No one telling her she’d had enough....

This Thursday on The Awkward Bits, Vic is back on her own and wondering whether one of the reasons sobriety feels so bloody terrifying is because we make it MASSIVE before we’ve even started. When Vic first considered giving up drinking, she wasn’t worrying about getting through Tuesday night without a beer. Oh no. She was already mentally attending future weddings sober, cancelling imaginary cock...

Scared of Going Sober? What are you actually frightened of? Being boring? Losing your identity? Not fitting in anymore? Not knowing how to relax, cope or survive life without booze? This week on Sober Awkward, Vic and Ulrika tackle the huge scary myths that keep so many people stuck in the “maybe I should stop drinking… but absolutely not” phase for years. From fear of missing out to fear of becom...

This week’s Awkward Bit gets a little bit… well, awkward. After Vic’s conversation with Cat Sims on Monday, she couldn’t stop thinking about one word: alcoholic. It’s a word Vic has avoided for her entire sobriety. She’s always called herself an ex drinker, a binge drinker, a former party girl, a piss head with no off switch, basically anything other than an alcoholic. She told herself that was be...

Not so smug now! - This week, Vic sits down with writer, podcaster and self-confessed “textbook drunk” Cat Sims for a conversation about motherhood, drugs, booze and what happens when the party girl suddenly has a tiny human to keep alive. They talk about crying in school car parks, postnatal depression, drinking as a reward for surviving motherhood and that strange moment in sobriety when you rea...

Welcome to The Awkward Bits, where every Thursday Vic flies solo, digging a little deeper into Monday’s topic, picking apart the bits we didn’t quite get to and exploring all the stuff that got left behind once the microphones were switched off. And oooof, you lot had a lot to say about sober sex. Vic’s been reading your emails and messages after Monday’s episode with Ulrika and it seems we are de...

Before these two ex-drinkers introduce their sobriety stories... we thought we'd start this journey in the most awkward way possible! Yes, it's the sex episode! Did alcohol really make us sexier and more confident, or did it just lower our inhibitions, blur our judgement and convince us the last bloke on the dance floor was “the one”? In this revealing episode, Vic and Ulrika look back at drunken...

Welcome to The Awkward Bits, where every Thursday Vic flies solo, digging a little deeper into Monday’s topic, picking apart the bits we didn’t quite get to and exploring all the stuff that got left behind once the microphones were switched off. And Wow, what a week. Vic’s been reading all your amazing responses to the new co host reveal and, boy oh boy, it seems there are a LOT of people not drin...

Yes, it’s true. Vic has a new co host and it’s only bloody Ulrika Jonsson . No, Vic can’t quite believe it either. She’s trying to act normal about the whole thing. This first episode is basically Vic and Ulrika getting to know each other while you lot listen in. They talk about where they’ve come from, how they drank and how alcohol went from being a completely normal part of life to something th...

The Share Shed – Sober Awkward Writing Competition Specials - Offline: Alcohol & Me - By Becky N A huge congratulations to Becky who was one of our comp winners!!! Every Thursday, we’re handing the story telling over to you. Over the next few months, Vic will be reading some of the incredible entries from this year’s Sober Awkward Writing Competition. Honest, funny, heartbreaking, hopeful, awk...

Kelly Gunn found a lump in her breast in 2016. She got it checked, kept up with screenings and was repeatedly reassured that what doctors were seeing was benign. Then, in 2024, Kelly was diagnosed with breast cancer. After a double mastectomy, where seven tumours were removed, she was told she'd probably had cancer for around ten years. In this episode, Kelly joins Vic to talk about what happened,...

The Share Shed – Sober Awkward Writing Competition Specials - No More Doors - By Kristen M Every Thursday, we’re handing the story telling over to you. Over the next few months, Vic will be reading some of the incredible entries from this year’s Sober Awkward Writing Competition. Honest, funny, heartbreaking, hopeful, awkward and beautifully human, these stories come from people all over the world...

This week, I’m joined by Audrey, host of the Dry Humor podcast, for a very sensible and grown-up conversation about motherhood, college drinking and whether spending your life taking the piss out of yourself is a healthy coping mechanism or simply a way of avoiding your feelings? Audrey lives in Atlanta, Georgia, with her husband, two children and two dogs. She has been sober since 11 July 2022 an...

The Share Shed – Sober Awkward Writing Competition Specials - My Sober Story - By Emma G Every Thursday, we’re handing the story telling over to you. Over the next few months, Vic will be reading some of the incredible entries from this year’s Sober Awkward Writing Competition. Honest, funny, heartbreaking, hopeful, awkward and beautifully human, these stories come from people all over the wo...

Vic is flying solo today, with no guest and a letter she hasn’t been able to stop thinking about. You’ll hear from Allison, a woman who started drinking to hide her shyness. She has relied on alcohol for so long that she no longer knows who she is without it. Loads of women have been sharing similar stories in the Sober Awkward Facebook group. They drink before parties, dates and dinners because s...

The Share Shed – Sober Awkward Writing Competition Specials - 500 Sunrises By Courtney K Every Thursday, we’re handing the story telling over to you. Over the next few months, Vic will be reading some of the incredible entries from this year’s Sober Awkward Writing Competition. Honest, funny, heartbreaking, hopeful, awkward and beautifully human, these stories come from people all over the world w...

Does your sobriety change with the seasons? Do sunny days suddenly make you think about beer gardens and cold wine, while dark winter evenings have you craving a bottle of red and a blanket? This week, Vic is joined by two guests to explore seasonal living, what it actually means, why humans have always lived according to the rhythms of the year and whether paying a little more attention to the se...

The Share Shed – Sober Awkward Writing Competition Specials - What is Moderation By April J Every Thursday, we’re handing the story telling over to you. Over the next few months, Vic will be reading some of the incredible entries from this year’s Sober Awkward Writing Competition. Honest, funny, heartbreaking, hopeful, awkward and beautifully human, these stories come from people all over the worl...

Listen to the Mama podcast on Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/0341yjbBRIxVgWibnSR92D?si=e4a1b9094a3a40aa Apple - https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/introducing-mama-motherhood-alcohol-mental-health-and/id6798043028?i=1000779960427 So… what is MAMA? If you’ve ever found yourself pouring a glass of wine before you’ve even finished unpacking the school bags, if you’ve joked about Wine O’Cl...

Hughesy! This was meant to be a chat about booze… but somehow Vic ended up being spiritually mentored by this legendary Aussie larrikin! Dave Hughes gave up alcohol at just 21 years old, after years of binge drinking, blackouts and waking up with no idea how he had got home. He had watched alcohol control his dad’s life, and one Christmas Eve in 1992, he realised he didn’t want it controlling his...

The Share Shed – Sober Awkward Writing Competition Specials - Three Years Clear By Amy G Every Thursday, we’re handing the story telling over to you. Over the next few months, Vic will be reading some of the incredible entries from this year’s Sober Awkward Writing Competition. Honest, funny, heartbreaking, hopeful, awkward and beautifully human, these stories come from people all over the world w...