Some Good Clean Fun with Sarah Kate

Tribe Sober - inspiring an alcohol-free life!

My guest this week is from Canada!

Currently we have the grand total of 4 Canadian members in our tribe and we would love to welcome some more!

Sarah Kate agrees with me that we need to “get smart” and see through the constant pressure from Big Alcohol to consume their product – the wine industry has particularly targeted women, trying to convince us that “mommy needs wine” etc etc

Well here is one mommy that’s fighting back!

In this Episode

Sarah Kate had some scares with alcohol – going over the top a few times but generally progressed in her drinking career like many of us
As a career girl in her 20’s she began to realise that she had no “off” switch – this happens to many of us and I think it’s a real warning sign – when we can go for days without even thinking about alcohol but once we’ve had a couple of drinks we just want to keep going!
We agreed that we seek out friends who drink like us so that we can validate our own drinking
Many of us in the tribe had friends and relatives who would helpfully suggest that we just “had a couple” of drinks (rather than a whole bottle!) – and that’s the beauty of the tribe – we understand each other and would never suggest that!
Sarah Kate passed out on the bathroom floor at her 30th birthday party and began to feel ashamed of her drinking problem
We talked about the shame women feel about their drinking and agreed that so many of us get trapped because of it – we don’t want to “come out” about our problem so we battle alone and get nowhere, just more dependent and more depressed– have a listen to Claire Pooleys fabulous TED talk called “Making Sober Less Shameful”
As Sarah Kate went on to become a mom she got more and more dependent and after the birth of her second child she became seriously worried that her baby would be affected by the alcohol levels in her breast milk.
She was part of the mommyjuice culture and believed the hype that “moms need wine” taking a sippy cup of wine to the farmers market
We talked about how crazy kids parties have become and how even at 1 year old parties the wine is flowing
Sarah Kate tried to moderate many times – she is a runner and would schedule her drinking around her running – she feels she was running to counteract her addiction – almost as a punishment
She finally managed to make a change when she read The Naked Mind – realizing that drinking heavily for a number of years will make anyone become dependent - alcohol is an addictive drug and that’s what it will do!
That’s when Sarah Kate realized that there was nothing wrong with her and was able to ditch the shame and make a change
She did Annie Grace’s Alcohol Experiment and while she was not 100% alcohol free she probably reached a very respectable passgrade of 90%
We talked about the value of seeing the big picture – that’s why Tribe Sober offers annual trackers so that people can observe their sober stretches getting longer and longer and keep some perspective – much less danger of giving up if you have a slip up – if youd like an annual tracker then just email me at [email protected]
On Christmas day Sarah Kate found herself buying a bottle of red wine (even though husband doesn’t drink wine and her kids certainly don’t!) – it made her reflect on the power of conditioning – if it’s a holiday we must drink! (what an amazingly effective job Big Alcohol has done!)
In fact her daughter was furious with her for having a glass of wine at Christmas lunch so that was it for Sarah Kate – she wanted to be a role model for her kids – someone who could stick to a commitment – so that was it for her
We talked about the importance of education and how every university should offer a module called “The Science Behind Drinking Alcohol” rather than irresponsibly forcing dangerous quantities of alcohol on new students who are away from home for the first time
Sarah Kate also emphasized that we should remember that it often takes a long time to pull ourself out of the clutches of alcohol and that we have to be patient – especially if we’ve been drinking for decades!
Sarah Kate is playing a role in educating us about alcohol via her online magazine “somegoodcleanfun.com”
She’s coming at it from the wellness angle and has created it’s a platform which will encourage us to “rethink drinking” – as individuals and as a society.
Not so much a sobriety magazine but more a platform aimed at women who care about their health (eat organic, gluten free, exercise etc – yet still drink a bottle of wine a day) – she wants them to appreciate the impact that alcohol has on womens health.
We agreed that the explosion of the alcohol free drinks markets was a very positive sign of a societal shift
We agreed that step one in making a change was to find a community – find your people – if you are looking for a community then just go to tribesober.com and hit “join our tribe”

More info

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Episode Sponsor

          This episode is sponsored by the Tribe Sober Membership Program.  If you want to change your relationship with alcohol then sign up today
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Till Next Week

Janet x

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