Rebranding our own Sobriety

Becoming sober is a pivotal point in your life, which will allow you to own your personal greatness. We get that’s a big statement but consider it akin to being given a superpower – the masterstroke of bossing our busy lives, one hangover-free day at a time. This is not the same as having to be super women – you do not have to suddenly be perfect – it’s about you giving yourself the best possible gift for your health, wealth, and happiness.

Being sober is empowering, positive, badass, and brave. In essence, when you put down the bottle, you begin the process of becoming the real you. Your values and actions are aligned and you start bossing, rather than boozing. And this, friends, is what is waiting for you through the sober door.

So just to repeat: Sobriety is not a sad, boring, inevitable consequence of not being able to be a ‘normal’ drinker, doing ‘normal’ things. You will feel better, stronger, clearer, wealthier, happier, and more present. Your life will take an upward turn as you consistently make better choices, having removed a very negative and damaging substance from it.

There has never been a better time to be sober: you can get loads of support and make loads of friends online and in real life in the growing sober communities. Now that you can link mental health and wellness to being alcohol-free, you can talk about it and people will start to understand. There are more and more investigative stories about grey area drinking (see page 5) and its effects on mental health in the press, which is a good barometer for a culture mindset shift to mainstream thinking.
Make room at the table, the sober sisters have arrived!

Hopefully change is coming for our kids. Perhaps by the time they are old enough to buy their first drinks in a pub they will automatically have a questioning mindset to every drinking situation, rather than go along with the dominant drinking culture.

The fantastic website and online community Club Soda in the UK is raising awareness around making alcohol-free choices and working with breweries and pubs to increase alcohol-free products so that, as its founder Laura Willoughby says, ‘Drinkers and non-drinkers can sit at the same table.’

As the dominant drinking culture shifts to question
the position of alcohol as an essential component of social life, the paradigm of ‘drinkers’ and ‘sobers’ ceases to be such a big deal. Our other halves both drink, we still live in alcophile cultures, but it’s about making room for us all, and the alcohol-free drinks market is undergoing a huge expansion. So, jog on warm orange juice, and hello to alcohol-free beer being stocked in bars, sober rave parties, and mocktail menus...
Ok, ok, we admit we don’t think there is one person on the planet that would be less happy, less healthy, and less wealthy if they gave up alcohol and we still have a long way to go to change stereotypes, but we are truly delighted that there is now such increasing support for, and celebration around, being alcohol-free.
Thankfully we are seeing a booming sober community online, Quit Lit books becoming bestsellers, and the landscape changing around the way we talk about booze. Let’s look at some of the ways in which sober rocks the rebrand and what you gain by going for it.

Personal project:
Finding sober social life
As part of your preparation for sober living, research and note down in your journal sober events and communities, sober-supporting bars and restaurants, especially those that have a good alcohol-free drinks list. You may be surprised by what is out there. Keep adding to the list once you are on your sober journey. Then if you get a date night, you could try one option from the list or suggest that place for a mums’ night out. It helps to keep sobriety, this curiosity, and your new life centre-stage.
There are many people who don’t drink, for health reasons, religious reasons, or simply down to personal choice. Our friend the Sober Sommelier, who has a great website reviewing non-alcoholic drinks, uses the hashtag #equalrightsfornondrinkers – cheers to that!