Sober Awkward

This week Vic is joined by journalist and podcaster Katie Herzog to talk about the winding, messy road many of us take trying to figure out our relationship with alcohol.

Katie shares what her drinking looked like during Covid, how it quietly ramped up behind closed doors, and the strange mental gymnastics of hiding drinking from partners and pretending your fine and dandy, when really... it's all falling apart.

They talk about the moment when drinking stops feeling fun and starts feeling lonely, the awkward reality of not quite connecting with AA, and the long search for something — anything — that might actually help.

Eventually that search led Katie to Naltrexone, a medication used to reduce the brain’s reward response to alcohol. For Katie, discovering it changed everything. Over time it helped rewire the habit loop, take away the obsessive pull toward drinking, and slowly create something she hadn’t felt in a long time… freedom from alcohol.

The experience was so transformative that Katie went on to write a book about it, exploring the science, the stigma, and why conversations about medication and sobriety can be so surprisingly controversial.

It’s an honest chat about finding your own path, challenging recovery dogma, and the strange relief of realising there might be more than one way to get sober.

Find out more about Katie and buy her book here -
drinkyourwaysober.com
https://www.amazon.com/dp/163774739X
https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Drink-Your-Way-Sober/Katie-Herzog/9781637747391
follow her on twitter here - @kittypurrzog

💛 Resources & Links

📘 Victoria’s memoir – A Thousand Wasted Sundays
A brutally honest and hilarious look at motherhood, anxiety, and ditching the booze.
👉 Buy the book here

🎧 Listen to more Sober Awkward episodes
👉 www.soberawkward.com

🫖 Join The Cuppa Community
Our private, supportive online space for sober folk
👉 www.cuppa.community

📘 Get the Sober Awkward Guide
Our downloadable toolkit for ditching booze the awkward way.
👉 The Sober Awkward Guide

📱 Follow us for daily sober fun:
Instagram: @soberawkward
TikTok: @soberawkward
Facebook: Sober Awkward Community for Women
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week’s Shame Shed is a more serious one.

A parent writes in about the shame they carry from drinking while raising their kids, and the heavy weight of seeing it all clearly now they’re sober.

If you’ve ever felt that knot in your stomach about the past, this one will hit home.

The Share Shed is where listeners send in their funniest, cringiest and most unbelievable drinking stories. It’s not about judgement, it’s about recognising how wild things could get when alcohol was in charge, and laughing about it now we’re on the other side.

But sometimes, it’s also a place for the harder stuff, the honest bits we don’t always say out loud.

If you’ve got a story you’d like to get off your chest, funny, awkward or something a bit more serious, you can send it to Vic at:

[email protected]

Anonymous is absolutely fine. In fact, for legal reasons, probably preferable!!

📞 SUPPORT & RESOURCES

If anything in today’s Shame Shed felt familiar, or you’re worried about your drinking, there is support out there. You don’t have to do this on your own.

🇦🇺 Australia
National Alcohol & Other Drug Hotline
📞 1800 250 015 (24/7)
🌐 https://www.healthdirect.gov.au/alcohol-and-drug-information-service

Lifeline
📞 13 11 14 (24/7)
🌐 https://www.lifeline.org.au

Hello Sunday Morning / Daybreak
🌐 https://hellosundaymorning.org
🌐 https://daybreakapp.com.au

Clean Slate Clinic
🌐 https://www.cleanslateclinic.com

🇬🇧 United Kingdom
Drinkline
📞 0300 123 1110
🌐 https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/alcohol-advice/alcohol-support/

Alcohol Change UK
🌐 https://alcoholchange.org.uk

We Are With You
🌐 https://www.wearewithyou.org.uk

🌍 International
Alcoholics Anonymous
🌐 https://www.aa.org

SMART Recovery
🌐 https://www.smartrecovery.org

💬 A gentle reminder
If you’re drinking in the morning to cope, especially with anxiety or withdrawal symptoms, it’s really important to speak to a doctor or medical professional. Stopping suddenly can be unsafe for some people, and support can make a huge difference.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week on Sober Awkward, Vic chats with Social Media Educator and (National Association for Children of Addiction) NACOA Ambassador - Sarah Drage about the strange and sometimes complicated world of sobriety on the internet.

When we stop drinking, many of us head straight online. Suddenly there are sober coaches, Instagram accounts, communities, podcasts, hashtags, and an entire digital world devoted to not drinking. For some people it becomes a lifeline. For others… it can start to feel like just another thing we’re slightly addicted to.

Vic gets honest about her own relationship with the online sober world, the pressure to keep creating content, and the strange reality of sharing your life with people you’ve never met. She often tells herself, “If it helps one person, it’s worth it.” But what happens when helping strangers online starts competing with real life, family time, and your own wellbeing?

And then there’s the other side of the internet. The rabbit holes. You open Instagram looking for a sober quote and twenty minutes later you’ve somehow ended up on a page where people are putting very strange things in very strange places. How does that happen? What are they doing? And why can’t we look away?

You’ll have to listen to find out… let's just say it involves bottoms.

Find out more about Sarah here @sarah_drage
Find The Children of Alcoholics Podcast here - https://hello9a.podbean.com/
Ted Talk - https://tr.ee/x6tGO8cVc5

💛 Resources & Links

📘 Victoria’s memoir – A Thousand Wasted Sundays
A brutally honest and hilarious look at motherhood, anxiety, and ditching the booze.
👉 Buy the book here

🎧 Listen to more Sober Awkward episodes
👉 www.soberawkward.com

🫖 Join The Cuppa Community
Our private, supportive online space for sober folk
👉 www.cuppa.community

📘 Get the Sober Awkward Guide
Our downloadable toolkit for ditching booze the awkward way.
👉 The Sober Awkward Guide

📱 Follow us for daily sober fun:
Instagram: @soberawkward
TikTok: @soberawkward
Facebook: Sober Awkward Community for Women
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A work Christmas party that escalated quickly… involving a Christmas tree, a taxi ride that didn’t go to plan, and a very unfortunate encounter with a dog flap.

This week’s Shame Shed is a reminder that some people don’t “just have a few”… they fully commit.

The Share Shed is where listeners send in their funniest, cringiest and most unbelievable drinking stories. It’s not about judgement, it’s about recognising how wild things could get when alcohol was in charge, and laughing about it now we’re on the other side.

If you’ve got a story you’d like to get off your chest, funny, awkward or slightly ridiculous, you can send it to Vic at:

[email protected]

Anonymous is absolutely fine. In fact, for legal reasons, probably preferable!!

📞 SUPPORT & RESOURCES

If anything in today’s Shame Shed felt familiar, or you’re worried about your drinking, there is support out there. You don’t have to do this on your own.

🇦🇺 Australia
National Alcohol & Other Drug Hotline
📞 1800 250 015 (24/7)
🌐 https://www.healthdirect.gov.au/alcohol-and-drug-information-service

Lifeline
📞 13 11 14 (24/7)
🌐 https://www.lifeline.org.au

Hello Sunday Morning / Daybreak
🌐 https://hellosundaymorning.org
🌐 https://daybreakapp.com.au

Clean Slate Clinic
🌐 https://www.cleanslateclinic.com

🇬🇧 United Kingdom
Drinkline
📞 0300 123 1110
🌐 https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/alcohol-advice/alcohol-support/

Alcohol Change UK
🌐 https://alcoholchange.org.uk

We Are With You
🌐 https://www.wearewithyou.org.uk

🌍 International
Alcoholics Anonymous
🌐 https://www.aa.org

SMART Recovery
🌐 https://www.smartrecovery.org

💬 A gentle reminder
If you’re drinking in the morning to cope, especially with anxiety or withdrawal symptoms, it’s really important to speak to a doctor or medical professional. Stopping suddenly can be unsafe for some people, and support can make a huge difference.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Vic had to properly brace herself for this one… sitting down with Catherine Gray, Sunday Times bestselling author of The Unexpected Joy of Being Sober.

This is the book that completely changed the course of Vic’s sobriety. The one that, for the first time, made an alcohol-free life feel exciting rather than something to endure. So yes… she tried not to gush. No promises.

As expected, Vic and Catherine had plenty to share. Catherine’s latest book Little Addictions dives into all the little things we lean on, the scrolling, the snacking, the busy distractions, the habits that don’t look like a problem… but might quietly be running the show.

From favourite reality TV to chewing gum habits and even watching traffic on the M25, nothing is off limits.

Together they unpack what “little addictions” really are, and why, as sober people, we might find it easier to quit the big things… but struggle to moderate the small ones.

Confused? Don’t worry, it all makes sense.

And if you fancy listening to two grown, sober women who have both been arrested in the past… you’re in luck. (Brixton 1, Brighton 1)

No shame here, but lots of laughs and honesty!

💛 Resources & Links

📘 Victoria’s memoir – A Thousand Wasted Sundays
A brutally honest and hilarious look at motherhood, anxiety, and ditching the booze.
👉 Buy the book here

🎧 Listen to more Sober Awkward episodes
👉 www.soberawkward.com

🫖 Join The Cuppa Community
Our private, supportive online space for sober folk
👉 www.cuppa.community

📘 Get the Sober Awkward Guide
Our downloadable toolkit for ditching booze the awkward way.
👉 The Sober Awkward Guide

📱 Follow us for daily sober fun:
Instagram: @soberawkward
TikTok: @soberawkward
Facebook: Sober Awkward Community for Women
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.