Sober Stories from Everyday People sassysobermum

TRIGGER WARNING - family member suicide
This week's episode is with Owen from Halesowen, near Birmingham. Owen is 13 months sober at the time of this recording. Owen, who lives with his wife and young daughter, talks about trying alcohol relatively late, at 16 (on the last day of school).
After starting, Owen got into a drinking crowd and drank as part of the 'sesh' with mates most weeks. After unexpectedly losing his father, Owen recalls drinking for more emotional reasons. Being an emotional person, he found solace in alcohol but it brought chaos and shame to the forefront. He stopped for six months to have a break but soon fell back into big drinking afterwards. He decided to stop for good 13 months ago and hasn't looked back since. He is hoping to share his story in an effort to help others (especially men) make the same brave decision to quit and feel happier.

This week's episode is with the face behind instagrams @scottishandsober, Jade. Jade is almost 3.5 years sober and lives in Aberdeen, North East Scotland. Jade speaks openly about her life with alcohol, how it slowly crept into weekly life and was normalised for most occasions. Following a difficult relationship and some mental health challenges, Jade decided to stop drinking and is now helping others by supporting people via her hugely popular instagram page. Enjoy listening.

In this week's episode of Sober Stories from Everyday People I am chatting to Vanessa in the Ribble Valley in Lancashire. Vanessa, who is113 days sober at the time of this recording, shares her life with alcohol and why she stopped drinking at New Year. Vanessa is warm, open, and direct about her life growing up, her drinking experiences and how she is currently navigating her new alcohol free life. I hope you enjoy the episode. You can follow Vanessa on Instagram here: @vanessagrey1717 or @vanessagraze

This weeks Sober Stories episode is with 24 year old Sebastian from Bolton, who is 6 months sober.
Sebastian is raising money for charity by going 12 months alcohol free after losing his mum to cancer 2 years ago and meeting some incredible health mentors on BBC3's Go Hard or Go Home (2023) TV show.
Seb is big into fund raising and raising awareness for mental health, cancer and now all things alcohol free. Sebastian is open, honest and good fun to listen to. As a young person stopping drinking he has a great insight into the challenges younger people face when trying to remove alcohol. Sebastian isn't sure what will happen after the 12 months challenge is up, but what he does know of sobriety so far, its going to be difficult to beat in terms of how much better he feels and brighter things are in his life. Happy listening.

This weeks episode is with Lou from Shoreham-by-sea in West Sussex who is 100 days sober at the time of this recording. Lou is married with 3 children, 3 step children and 2 dogs. Lou discusses a tough childhood, being in a toxic relationship with her children's father, post natal depression with her second child and losing her dad to covid. After meeting her soul mate later in life and marrying, Lou now runs her own cleaning business and is excited by her new sober life. Enjoy.

In this weeks episode I speak to Jessica in Norwich, UK, who is 5.5 years sober at the time of this recording. Jessica talks about the infamous 90's drinking culture and how it helped to cement her desire to fit in and feel interesting. Drinking became part of her identity and ramped up dramatically during her university years. After having her first child at 29, Jessica became more aware of the mummy wine culture that traps so many of us into weekly drinking and drinking as a 'reward'. Now sober, Jessica enjoys volunteering at festivals, crocheting and planning trips in her camper van. You can find and follow Jessica's journey on instagram at @picajaynd. Enjoy listening!