Ep. 40: The Sober Diaries - Stop Drinking, Start Living

My guest today is Clare Pooley. Her book The Sober Diaries: How One Mom Stopped Drinking And Started Living is based on her blog, Mummy Was A Secret Drinker, which describes her first 365 days of living without alcohol. The Sober Diaries is one of the first books I recommend to all of my clients as they stop drinking. In The Sober Diaries Clare tells her story of building up sober days while at the same time uncovering how deeply her love of wine was connected to her identity as a successful working woman, a fun adult and her life as a mom of 3 children. I love the way The Sober Diaries takes you through the days and months of early sobriety in a funny, insightful, relatable and realistic way. If you read it during your first few weeks or months, you'll see your own experiences in Clare's as she moves through Day 14 "Sober Mornings", Day 26 "Oh God, It's Friday", Day 91 "The Wine Witch", 100 Days and when it gets easier - all the way through Day 365. It's a great read (or listen), especially for women with kids, who started drinking in the corporate world or in the mommy wine culture. Clare, at the time she stopped drinking, was a middle aged woman, over educated, overprivileged, formerly overweight mom of three, who had a long love affair with high priced good quality wine until she realized that the relationship was going nowhere but downhill. So she started blogging to take her mind off her broken heart. In this episode, Clare and I dive into: Why immediate benefits of giving up alcohol (better sleep, clearer skin and eyes, a healthier body) are good, but the biggest benefits come much later The fact that well educated, middle aged women are becoming the most likely group to drink problematically How Clare (and I) stopped drinking without traditional 12 Step Programs like AA and why choosing that path to living alcohol-free is even easier for women today Why Clare thinks we need to change the “brand imagery” around not drinking and reframe going alcohol-free from something that one might ‘have to do’ to something you want to do How our social media feeds are doing us a disservice by normalizing excessive drinking Why the the most difficult part of quitting drinking for Clare was learning to deal with emotions without having wine as a crutch Why Clare thought that her life without drinking would be dull and boring but discovered that it was way more exciting than when she was drinking About Clare Pooley Clare is a British blogger, author and novelist. She spent twenty years in the heady world of advertising before becoming a full-time mum. Realizing that her ‘wine o’clock’ habit had spiraled out of control, Clare started writing a blog, Mummy was a Secret Drinker, which has had nearly three million hits. Her memoir, The Sober Diaries was published in 2017 to critical acclaim. Clare’s debut novel - The Authenticity Project, was inspired by her own experience of exposing the rather grubby truth about her own seemingly perfect life, and is being published in twenty-nine territories in 2020. Clare’s talks include a TEDx talk - Making Sober, Less Shameful. Clare lives in Fulham, London with her husband, three children, two border terriers, and an African pygmy hedgehog. Connect with Clare Pooley To learn more about Clare, head over to www.clarepooley.com Follow her on Instagram: @clare_pooley Connect with her on Facebook: @SoberMummy Connect with Clare Twitter: @cpooleywriter Order her books, The Sober Diaries: How One Mom Stopped Drinking And Started Living and The Authenticity Project Subscribe to her blog: Mummy Was A Secret Drinker Listen to her Tedx Talk: Making Sober, Less Shameful Connect with Casey McGuire Davidson Check out The Sobriety Starter Kit. The private, on-demand coaching course you need to break out of the drinking cycle - without white-knuckling it or hating the process. Grab your Free Sober Girls Guide To Quitting Drinking, 30 Tips For Your First 30 Days Listen to the podcast on The Best Quit Lit For Women Quitting Drinking to hear more about The Sober Diaries and other books to inspire your alcohol-free journey. Get the free guide to The Best Quit Lit Books For Women Website: www.hellosomedaycoaching.com Instagram: Casey @ Hello Someday Coaching (@caseymdavidson)