The Sober Mom Life

2026 has so far been a bit of a challenging year on my homefront and one of my biggest thoughts has been, ‘I am so glad that alcohol is not here to make this harder’. We’re sold a lie that alcohol will hold your hand through hard moments. That’s all it is though, a lie. I want you to know - There will still be hard seasons and challenging emotions and days where everything feels like it’s going wrong when you’re sober. But believe me when I say - facing those challenges with a sober mind is a gift. I’m on Spring Break this week! If you’re gearing up for your first sober vacation - just know it is so worth it. I wrote more about sober vacations on Substack. Plus, check out my past podcast episode on Your Guide to a Sober Vacation. Learn more about the fall retreat! Community makes all the difference. Join The Sober Mom Life Cafe for 6+ Peer Support meetings each week and a private Facebook group to connect with sober and sober-curious women. Learn more about The Sober Mom Life fall retreat! Get Your Copy of my book! The Sober Shift Join me on Substack: https://suzannewarye.substack.com/ Follow on Instagram @thesobermomlife See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Sobriety coach Sara Kaufman-Bradstreet is six and a half years alcohol-free, one and a half years cannabis-free, and has never lost her excitement for a sober life. Today, Sara shares the story of how she ditched alcohol hand-in-hand with her husband, how cannabis became a crutch in her alcohol-free life and when she realized that it was time to also ditch that, the lessons she’s learned quitting one substance at a time, and the freedom and self connection she has found within sobriety. Follow Sara and learn all about her offerings on IG @no_more_wasted_days April’s Fresh 30 and Beyond 30 small groups are now open for enrollment! Learn more about the fall retreat! Community makes all the difference. Join The Sober Mom Life Cafe for 6+ Peer Support meetings each week and a private Facebook group to connect with sober and sober-curious women. Get Your Copy of my book! The Sober Shift Join me on Substack: https://suzannewarye.substack.com/ Follow on Instagram @thesobermomlife See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

My first sober vacation was a pivotal moment in my sobriety journey. It was the first time that I really felt that I was making a different choice for myself. Was it challenging? Yes. Was it worth it? Absolutely! Nothing feels better than waking up on a beautiful vacation morning with no hangover because you didn’t drink the night before. If you’re gearing up for your first sober vacation - just know it is so worth it. I wrote more about sober vacations on Substack this week. Plus, check out my past podcast episode on Your Guide to a Sober Vacation. April’s Fresh 30 and Beyond 30 small groups are now open for enrollment! Learn more about the fall retreat! Community makes all the difference. Join The Sober Mom Life Cafe for 6+ Peer Support meetings each week and a private Facebook group to connect with sober and sober-curious women. Get Your Copy of my book! The Sober Shift Join me on Substack: https://suzannewarye.substack.com/ Follow on Instagram @thesobermomlife See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Delanie Fischer joins the pod today to talk all about identity shifts. She’s had a lot of them, from leaving her life as a comedian and reinventing herself into a new career as a podcaster, writer and NSFW mug maker (more on that in the episode!), to getting sober as part of her overall goal of living a healthier and more sustainable lifestyle. Delanie is the co-host of the top rated podcast Self-Helpless and the author of the absolutely wonderful mocktail book, Mocktales. Community makes all the difference. Join The Sober Mom Life Cafe for 6+ Peer Support meetings each week and a private Facebook group to connect with sober and sober-curious women. Get Your Copy of my book! The Sober Shift Join me on Substack: https://suzannewarye.substack.com/ Follow on Instagram @thesobermomlife See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The end of a relationship can always feel hard, and alcohol might be one of the longest standing relationships in your life. At the beginning, we understood alcohol as something that society put on a pedestal - a magical substance that ‘would make every experience better’. But that’s not true, we know that now, and facing your emotions about the lies that alcohol fed you can feel heavy. Feel those emotions. Feel the grief, the loss, the anger. Feel all of the challenging emotions that arise as you see alcohol for what it truly was. It will deeply help to feel it all in your recovery. And I promise - you will get to the other side of this feeling. I’m proud of you. Keep going. Read more about my thoughts on grieving alcohol on my Substack: https://suzannewarye.substack.com/ Community makes all the difference. Join The Sober Mom Life Cafe for 6+ Peer Support meetings each week and a private Facebook group to connect with sober and sober-curious women. Get Your Copy of my book! The Sober Shift Join me on Substack: https://suzannewarye.substack.com/ Follow on Instagram @thesobermomlife See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Real Sober Mom Danielle couldn’t imagine a life without alcohol. Though alcohol didn’t play a large role in her upbringing in the Congo with her missionary family, it slowly began to creep into her life after the death of her grandmother who she’d been taking care of in her early 20s in Colorado. Alcohol showed up for Danielle in her grief, and from that point she began to really love the way it made her feel. Drinking was the norm at the school Danielle began to teach at, which cemented it even more deeply into her lifestyle. More and more each year, she leaned on it to get herself through the grief of a miscarriage and the consistent challenges of being a teacher. Danielle knew she needed to quit, but she had no clue what a positive sober life could look like. It wasn’t until she found this podcast that she began to hear stories of women who actually loved their sober lives. After the loss of a close friend this past summer, Danielle knew it was time to quit. So, she began to search for the joy in sobriety. She is now six months sober and she wants to encourage you to keep going! Community makes all the difference. Join The Sober Mom Life Cafe for 6+ Peer Support meetings each week and a private Facebook group to connect with sober and sober-curious women. Get Your Copy of my book! The Sober Shift Follow on Instagram @thesobermomlife See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Smack dab in the middle of my book The Sober Shift you’ll find my ten things that I want you to keep in mind during early sobriety. This special segment of the book is a really handy support that will help to ground you at any point when your sobriety is feeling overwhelming. Today I’ll give you a lightning fast overview of these ten things. If you want to go deeper with these tips go grab your copy of The Sober Shift! Plus - we’ll talk about what you can expect from The Weekend Reset moving forward. Community makes all the difference. Join The Sober Mom Life Cafe for 6+ Peer Support meetings each week and a private Facebook group to connect with sober and sober-curious women. Get Your Copy of my book! The Sober Shift Follow on Instagram @thesobermomlife See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

If you’ve struggled with how to navigate your sobriety journey when your partner still drinks, then this episode is for you. Relationship expert Dr. Alexandra Solomon joins me for a chat about how to navigate big transitions in your long term relationship. We’ll discuss her three books Loving Bravely, Taking Sexy Back, and Love Every Day, and Alexandra will share her thoughts on couples therapy, navigating growth in mid-life, and how to set loving boundaries. Check out my episode on Dr. Alexandra’s podcast with my husband, Russell! Community makes all the difference. Join The Sober Mom Life Cafe for 6+ Peer Support meetings each week and a private Facebook group to connect with sober and sober-curious women. Join us inside of Fresh 30! Get Your Copy of my book! The Sober Shift Follow on Instagram @thesobermomlife See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Today we tackle the dreaded ‘forever’ question as we walk through Chapter 10 of my book The Sober Shift. You don’t have to answer if giving up alcohol is forever. We don’t ask that about any other lifestyle choice, why do we ask it about this? Instead, let me offer you a shift. What you thought of it as ‘sober for good’. Make a list of all the things that ‘sober for good’ might mean to you and see if that reframe gives you the support that you need. It did for me. Community makes all the difference. Join The Sober Mom Life Cafe for 6+ Peer Support meetings each week and a private Facebook group to connect with sober and sober-curious women. Get Your Copy of my book! The Sober Shift Follow on Instagram @thesobermomlife See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Carl Radke of Bravo’s Summer House joins Suzanne and Katie to talk about his sobriety journey and his wonderful book Cake Eater: A Journey of Self Discovery. Carl will share his history with alcohol and cocaine, the challenges he experienced with moderation, how the heartbreaking passing of his brother ultimately led him to choosing sobriety, what it has been like to go through growth in front of reality TV cameras, the importance of community in his recovery, and how sharing his story through his book and his new podcast More Life has helped him find purpose through his story. Community makes all the difference. Join The Sober Mom Life Cafe for 6+ Peer Support meetings each week and a private Facebook group to connect with sober and sober-curious women. Get Your Copy of my book! The Sober Shift Follow on Instagram @thesobermomlife See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

When I polled my Instagram community and asked what was holding women back from committing to sobriety the biggest answer I received was FOMO - fear of missing out. Today as we cover chapter 9 of my book The Sober Shift I want to shift this fear for you and ask you to ask yourself the question: what is alcohol making me miss out on? For me and so many women, the realities of what we lost to alcohol only became clear in sobriety. Trust me, there are incredible experiences on the other side. Community makes all the difference. Join The Sober Mom Life Cafe for 6+ Peer Support meetings each week and a private Facebook group to connect with sober and sober-curious women. Get Your Copy of my book! The Sober Shift Follow on Instagram @thesobermomlife See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Health and wellness coach Erin Treloar is here to help you regulate your nervous system so that you can find more calm, joy, and clarity in your life. Erin shares the science behind nervous system regulation, why alcohol can wreak havoc on your nervous system, and what you can do today (right now!) to help your body find inner calm. Plus, Erin will share a bit about her own sobriety journey, and how much more difficult it was for her to quit the second time around. Learn more about Erin’s work at www.erintreloar.com Community makes all the difference. Join The Sober Mom Life Cafe for 6+ Peer Support meetings each week and a private Facebook group to connect with sober and sober-curious women. Get Your Copy of my book! The Sober Shift Follow on Instagram @thesobermomlife See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Our society is stuck on the idea that sobriety should be rooted in shame. In today’s episode and in chapter 8 of my book The Sober Shift, I push back on that and argue that your sobriety should not feel like something that you need to hide! I’ll share how I shifted from my sobriety being something I did quietly to something that I proclaim proudly, and how you can make the shift too, in whatever way feels right for you. Community makes all the difference. Join The Sober Mom Life Cafe for 6+ Peer Support meetings each week and a private Facebook group to connect with sober and sober-curious women. Get Your Copy of my book! The Sober Shift Follow on Instagram @thesobermomlife See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

When Ariel was young she saw alcohol as her closest friend. But slowly the ways in which alcohol was not a close friend, but a toxic relationship, began to surface - through a DUI at 18, or the mom shame she began to feel for her drinking once she became a mother at 22. Alcohol was completely normalized in her family, though, and she could not even conceive that she would need to quit. As a social worker, Ariel had seen the worst cases of addiction and she did not relate to those at all. After Ariel’s mother passed away her drinking ticked up and she fell into a deep depression. Two psychiatrists (one quite rudely!) alerted her to the fact that alcohol might be making her depression worse. On the day after her birthday last year she realized she was just ‘tired’ of it, so she committed to 30 days of sobriety. And at the end of those 30 days? She just didn’t see the point of drinking anymore. It had taken too much from her life. It was time to break up and leave her toxic relationship with alcohol for good. Community makes all the difference. Join The Sober Mom Life Cafe for 5+ Peer Support meetings each week and a private Facebook group to connect with sober and sober-curious women. Get Your Copy of my book! The Sober Shift Follow on Instagram @thesobermomlife See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

My first sober vacation was a challenge, but when I was done I was in awe of myself. I did that! It was then that I started to think about the concept of ‘sober firsts’. Focusing on these challenging ‘first’ experiences with sobriety - the sober summer, the sober wedding, the sober holiday - helped me stay in touch with how sobriety was impacting my life. And let me tell you: the self-confidence that you build when you dedicate yourself really experiencing these sober firsts, even when they’re hard, is a self-confidence that you can rely on in every moment that comes after. Because you learn that you’ve got your back no matter what. That knowledge is invaluable. Are you gearing up to take your first sober vacation? Let me support you with this 5-day email series! What’s on your list of upcoming sober firsts? Tell me on IG or comment on the Spotify feed or leave it in a review on Apple! Today I’m highlighting chapter 7 of my book The Sober Shift. Get your copy here! Community makes all the difference. Join The Sober Mom Life Cafe for 5+ Peer Support meetings each week and a private Facebook group to connect with sober and sober-curious women. Follow on Instagram @thesobermomlife See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The incredible Margaret Josephs of Real Housewives of New Jersey is with us today!! Margaret has always stood out as someone who was refreshingly authentic in the Bravo world, and a part of that is rooted in her lifelong alcohol-free lifestyle! Margaret’s sobriety has never stood in the way of her love of being the life of the party. This self proclaimed ‘professional non-drinking party girl’ is here today to share her truth that the party only gets better once alcohol is out of the picture. Today Margaret shares how her childhood experiences led her to an adulthood of sobriety, how her mental clarity has allowed her to feel confident in her true authentic self, her experiences in the Bravo world, the Bravo shows that she personally loves to watch and so much more. Margaret has an incredible line of mocktails - Soiree! Soiree features four layered intricate alcohol-free flavors. Community makes all the difference. Join The Sober Mom Life Cafe for 5+ Peer Support meetings each week and a private Facebook group to connect with sober and sober-curious women. Get Your Copy of my book! The Sober Shift Follow on Instagram @thesobermomlife See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The stereotype of ‘rock bottom’ kept me drinking. I believed the lie that if my drinking didn’t look like a dire stereotype then I did not qualify for sobriety. This lie stopped me from seeing what alcohol had already taken from my life. Today we’ll talk through chapter six of my book The Sober Shift, where I’ll help you reframe the concept of ‘rock bottom’ so that you can find a softer place to land. Community makes all the difference. Join The Sober Mom Life Cafe for 5+ Peer Support meetings each week and a private Facebook group to connect with sober and sober-curious women. Get Your Copy of my book! The Sober Shift Follow on Instagram @thesobermomlife See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Ericka Andersen devoured every quit lit book she could find in early sobriety, but time and again something was missing for her: faith. Faith and religion is deeply central to Ericka’s life, and so she set out to write the book that she needed when she got sober. Today Ericka tells us all about her book - Freely Sober: Rethinking Alcohol Through the Lens of Faith. Ericka wrote this book to serve as a support for anyone who is seeking to find faith-based or spiritual meaning in their sober journey. Learn more about Ericka and her work at https://erickaandersen.com/ Community makes all the difference. Join The Sober Mom Life Cafe for 5+ Peer Support meetings each week and a private Facebook group to connect with sober and sober-curious women. Get Your Copy of my book! The Sober Shift Follow on Instagram @thesobermomlife See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Alcohol is sold as a form of self care - a way for us to unwind and ‘come back to ourselves’. This is an absolute lie, one created by big alcohol in order to boost sales and to get us addicted. Today I’ll walk you through chapter 5 of my book The Sober Shift where we dispel the myth that alcohol and wellness should go hand in hand, and I’ll help you figure out what true wellness in sobriety looks like for you. Community makes all the difference. Join The Sober Mom Life Cafe for 5+ Peer Support meetings each week and a private Facebook group to connect with sober and sober-curious women. Get Your Copy of my book! The Sober Shift Follow on Instagram @thesobermomlife See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Real Sober Mom Sarah grew up in Germany on a US military base where alcohol was such a way of life that her first drink was at thirteen years old at a restaurant with her family. As a mom, alcohol came in and out of her life but it wasn’t until her kids were a bit older that it began to have a hold on her. Once she realized she was drinking every day, she began to worry - had her drinking gone too far? She began to take sobriety one day at a time. With community support in Fresh 30 and The Sober Mom Life Cafe, she has now been sober since late 2024! Community makes all the difference. Join The Sober Mom Life Cafe for 6+ Peer Support meetings each week and a private Facebook group to connect with sober and sober-curious women. Get Your Copy of my book! The Sober Shift Follow on Instagram @thesobermomlife See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.