Sunshine Warm Sober: The unexpected joy of being sober – forever

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And I knew all you guys I knew, because originally, we were all around the same time period. And I was hung over on my couch for the like, month three in a row. And I actually saw that picture of you and Jen on my phone (not to be stalkerish). And I was like, This is what I want. Yeah, and I mean, like anything in life that is that is worthwhile. It takes an awful lot of effort. They’re an awful lot of grit, and no anything, setting yourself up in the career that you want, or buying a house or having a family or not having a family and going traveling around the world, anything that is magical and life affirming takes an awful lot of effort. And this is just like that. And that if you can hang on in it through the beginning, but it’s so so so so worth it. Yeah, t hey really are that they’re so tough. If you look at the first test days, honestly, I think they are the equivalent of the whole of year four. They are just so savagely difficult. No other author writes about sober living with as much warmth or emotional range as Catherine Gray. Her deep insight into the subtle psychologies of drinking, and of life, means that everything she writes is both utterly relatable and stretches our minds. Hers is a rare wisdom.’– Dr Richard Piper, CEO, Alcohol Change UK There is so much that goes into putting together the tools you need to get through the first 30 days which are really the hardest.

ways to have a sober(ish) summer - The Telegraph Six ways to have a sober(ish) summer - The Telegraph

The new research indicating that drinking a bottle of wine is comparable to the cancer risk of puffing 10 cigarettes for women I think one of the most beautiful parts in Sunshine, Warm, Sober, that I read was where you talked about at the end, kind of I probably won’t continue to write books about sobriety. And yeah, I loved what you said, I have a big, beautiful life to lead. We’re allowed to move beyond our addictions to enjoy our newfound wild and precious freedom. Yeah, absolutely. In The Unexpected Joy you talk about how women can unplug from the alcohol matrix.A nd interestingly, one of the ways that you can accelerate that is through exercise, because that really helps your brain recover from years of heavy drinking. As the millions who choose to stay sober now know, the propaganda around drinking and sobriety is wonky. Sober doesn’t feel stony, or cold. All you can do is hand someone a torch and say, you know, here’s how I did it. Now you go find your way, you can give them a map of how you did it, give them an idea of the rough terrain, but you can’t walk that walk for them, and they have to be ready for it.

MEET CATHERINE GRAY | The home of non-fiction publishing MEET CATHERINE GRAY | The home of non-fiction publishing

The sober revolution taking place in younger generations with baby boomers now drinking more than millennials and gen z I think it was something largely driven by social media. When I quit drinking in 2013, the notion of being ‘out and proud’ about sobriety on socials was unheard of. All the ex-drinkers I knew hid away in private groups (either physically or virtually) and talked in hushed whispers. They hid their recovery from workmates, friends, even family in some cases. I even used a pseudonym while chatting in a private Facebook group made up entirely of such ex-drinkers! There was still an enormous amount of shame and stigma around it. At that point, quitting drinking was only a path for extremely addicted drinkers; it wasn’t remotely a positive lifestyle choice. We’re here to talk about all things drinking, quitting drinking, the joy you can find in life without alcohol and her new book, Sunshine Warm Sober: Unexpected Sober Joy That Lasts . Staying sober is about so much more than putting down the alcohol. It’s about recovering and reclaiming your best possible self. So it’s become imperative in your brain. And so, actually, it’s, it is almost like you’ve learned to do it, and you can unlearn to do it, and learn to be sober instead.So it just changes everything and you find that your life opens up rather than stays in this very small little circle where the only thing you really truly enjoy is drinking.

Sunshine Warm Sober: Catherine Gray on sustaining long-term Sunshine Warm Sober: Catherine Gray on sustaining long-term

I like Catherine gray. There is a sexy confidence to her and her writing even when she was a hot drunk mess. I do relate to her and glad I never met her in a dark Brixton bar when I too was a terrible drunk!

30 TIPS FOR YOUR FIRST 30 DAYS

Much of our urge to drink in summer is simply conditioning created by clever “Summer means Aperol spritz!” marketing. Like Pavlov’s dogs on the ring of the bell, we now salivate on sight of the sun. I don’t have a magic bullet to slay that conditioning, but simply being aware of the cue-trigger-response helps detonate its power. 2. Are you an ‘anxious drinker’, rather than a ‘social drinker’? Yeah. And it takes a really long time to figure out all of those lessons, and you know what to do and what works for you. Because it really the approach that works for different people is completely different. You know, there’s no one way. The number one advice I would give is to immerse yourself in the teetotalin’ world. Listen to every podcast you can, read every book, follow sober influencers, join Facebook groups, find alcohol-free role models in the shape of great thinkers, artists, writers and actors who are ‘out’ (there are lists of these in both The Unexpected Joy of Being Sober and Sunshine Warm Sober). A good rule of thumb, and advice given to me very early on, is to spend as much time thinking / talking / reading about sobriety, as you did drinking. As time rolls on, the ‘immersion’ time you’ll need will become less and less. But in the beginning, I treated learning about being alcohol-free much as I did studying for a degree. And I think it’s what’s interesting is we, we tend to forget the fact that, you know, I started drinking really early. I started drinking when I was 12. But for the first 12 years of my life, I didn’t drink.