Creative Sobriety

Hey y'all!

Welcome back to the show. I had the pleasure of chatting with the creator behind IG's @unhingedsanity_ Tatenda Rukunda. 

Tatenda shares raw and unfiltered thoughts and conversations about sobriety, mental health, and personal growth. He's been sober since 2023 and uses his experiences to show that life doesn't end when you stop drinking, it gets better. 

Connect with Tatenda on IG @unhingedsanity_ and send him a message if his story resonates. I'm sure he'd love to hear from you!

Onward we go. 

Connect with me on IG @creativesobriety and please follow along and subscribe to my Substack newsletter www.kristenbear.substack.com where you will also find The Creative Sobriety Method video workshop series!

Stay up to date with all upcoming events and offerings www.creativesobriety.co

Hey Y'all!

Solo episode today and we are talking about why mid summer is a great time for taking inventory. How has the summer been playing out for you? How are you interacting with alcohol? Have you maintained your sobriety or felt especially challenged the past couple of months? 

Also, I'm going to Mexico soon but not for the beach vacation I truly need. I'm going to the dentist. Sharing all the details of my upcoming trip to Molar City. 

Stat News published an explosive article about corruption at the intersection of the alcohol industry, public health, and our government and no one is talking about it. So, I am. 

Tap in!! 

Connect with me on IG @creativesobriety and please follow along and subscribe to my Substack newsletter www.kristenbear.substack.com where you will also find The Creative Sobriety Method video workshop series!

Stay up to date with all upcoming events and offerings www.creativesobriety.co

Today, author of Don't Buy What I'm Selling: On Breaking Up with Advertising and Finally Learning To Love My Whole, Fat Self, Lu Chekowsky, joins the show for a discussion about the illusions of the advertising industry. 

Chekowsky is a writer and Emmy Award-winning creative director. She was most recently lead creative director for video at Facebook. Previously, they were the SVP of brand creative at Comedy Central, and VP, creative director at MTV. Before working in entertainment, Lu was a creative director and copywriter at Wieden+Kennedy. 

Don't Buy What I'm Selling was published this summer by Little Brown. Lu lives in the Hudson Valley. 

Follow Lu on Tiktok + Instagram + Substack

Read Lu's essay for Open Secrets Pinch More Than An Inch

Connect with me on IG @creativesobriety and please follow along and subscribe to my Substack newsletter www.kristenbear.substack.com where you will also find The Creative Sobriety Method video workshop series!

Stay up to date with all upcoming events and offerings www.creativesobriety.co

Kerri Maher is the USA Today bestselling author of Summer of Love, All You Have to Do Is Call, The Paris Bookseller, The Girl in White Gloves, The Kennedy Debutante, and, under the name Kerri Majors, This Is Not a Writing Manual: Notes for the Young Writer in the Real World. She holds an MFA from Columbia University and lives with her daughter and dog in a leafy suburb west of Boston, Massachusetts. She was born and raised in California.

Kerri and I discuss her personal sobriety journey, the power of storytelling and creativity in sobriety, and why every aspiring writer's mantra should be "Just keep swimming," a la Finding Nemo. 

To secure a signed copy of Summer of Love or any of Kerri's books, shop at Wellesley Books!

Kerri's website: https://www.kerrimaher.com/

Kerri's Substack: https://kerrimaher.substack.com/

Kerri's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kerrimaherwriter/

Kerr's Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kerrimaherwriter/

Connect with me on IG @creativesobriety and please follow along and subscribe to my Substack newsletter www.kristenbear.substack.com where you will also find The Creative Sobriety Method video workshop series!

Stay up to date with all upcoming events and offerings www.creativesobriety.co

Today I'm speaking with my friend and Killjoy Non-Alcoholic Bottle Shop founder, Stephanie Styll about beauty standards and why we need more honesty and open discussion in the conversation around anti-aging. 

I wrote piece for Substack last week titled, Aging Through the Lens of My Sobriety, and the response has been so encouraging and also illuminating. Women are really reaching their breaking point when it comes to unrealistic beauty standards. 

I had been speaking privately with Stephanie about the subject and asked if she wanted to bring the convo to the podcast. Luckily, she was stoked to do it!

We both share the pressures we've felt over the years to participate in anti-aging culture and what it's like to be in our forties and trying to find the balance between looking and feeling our best and rejecting the patriarchal/capitalistic/oppressive demands on women to remain looking 25 forever. 

We don't have all the answers!! This discussion is not a judgement on anyone for anything they choose to do to feel their best, it's just an honest chat between girlfriends about how exhausting it is to be a woman. 

Steph and I are hosting some fun events at Killjoy this summer. Join us for the Summer Author Series where I'll interview a sober author each month about their current book, we will sip on NA cocktails from Curious Elixirs, and chat as a community about themes of sobriety, creativity, womanhood, sexuality, identity, love and relationships, mental health and so much more. Get your tix here! 

Connect with me on IG @creativesobriety and please follow along and subscribe to my Substack newsletter www.kristenbear.substack.com where you will also find The Creative Sobriety Method video workshop series!

Stay up to date with all upcoming events and offerings www.creativesobriety.co

Hey y'all!

I'm so thrilled to have author Jessica Guerrieri back on the podcast! She's back to discuss her brand new novel, Both Can Be True (Harper Muse), available 5/19/26!

She is an award winning novelist and essayist, winner of the 2023 Maurice Prize for Fiction, and a proud sober mom of three with over a decade of sobriety. 

Her essays have appeared in People, HuffPost, Writer's Digest, and she is a frequent voice in the sobriety and mental health communities. Jessica lives in Davis, California with her family. 

For those listeners near Nashville, TN, Jessica will be joining me at Killjoy in East Nashville on July 25th to discuss her work and sign copies of her books! Tickets are available now and include non-alcoholic beverages courtesy of Curious Elixirs. 

Buy BOTH CAN BE TRUE

Buy BETWEEN THE DEVIL AND THE DEEP BLUE SEA

Join us in July at Killjoy for the book event 

Let's support sober artist's work and celebrate the healing power of creativity. 

Connect with me on IG @creativesobriety and please follow along and subscribe to my Substack newsletter www.kristenbear.substack.com where you will also find The Creative Sobriety Method video workshop series!

Stay up to date with all upcoming events and offerings www.creativesobriety.co

Hey y'all!

Welcome back. In this episode I'm chatting with author Mary Alice Stephens about her sobriety journey and her memoir, Uncorked: A Memoir of Letting Go and Starting Over. 

Mary is an award-winning storyteller who shares her raw, funny, and ultimately inspiring journey from alcohol-fueled chaos to clarity, connection, and self-acceptance. Uncorked was an Amazon #1 new release in alcoholism recovery, reached #4 on the Amazon bestseller list in midlife self-help, and won a PenCraft Best Book Award for Inspirational Nonfiction. 

Mary is a former television writer and producer for HGTV, Food Network, and other media outlets. She earned her MFA in creative writing from Dominican University of California and lives in Marin County, CA. 

Get a copy of Uncorked today and be sure to leave Mary a review!! 

Follow Mary on IG @maryalicestephenswrites

Connect with me on IG @creativesobriety and please follow along and subscribe to my Substack newsletter www.kristenbear.substack.com where you will also find The Creative Sobriety Method video workshop series!

Stay up to date with all upcoming events and offerings www.creativesobriety.co

Hey Y'all!

In this episode I'm dishing out a few of my top tips for beginning a sober summer. From purging our space to honoring our commitment with a proper ritual, there are absolutely ways to set ourselves up for success and flow when it comes to giving up booze just as patio season is kicking into full gear. 

Quitting drinking doesn't have to feel like a consequence or downgrade. It's all in our mindset, how we approach the shift, and who we surround ourselves with. 

If you are looking for a more structured guide and resonate with my language and sober vibe, may I suggest The Creative Sobriety Method--It's available on Substack for paid subscribers--a four-part series with video and text content plus journal prompts and workshop style questions following each section. 

Look out for a special Substack post next week all about prepping for a summer sans alcohol. 

Connect with me on IG @creativesobriety and please follow along and subscribe to my Substack newsletter www.kristenbear.substack.com where you will also find The Creative Sobriety Method video workshop series!

Stay up to date with all upcoming events and offerings www.creativesobriety.co

Hey y'all!

I'm joined today by Emmy Award-winning actress and producer Patricia Heaton and award-winning filmmaker, David Hunt. Talk about a power couple. 

Patricia is best known for her roles in Everybody Loves Raymond and The Middle. Over a career spanning more than 25 years, she's earned multiple awards and nominations and is also a bestselling author and philanthropist. 

David Hunt's work spans theater, television and film. A graduate of The Julliard School, Hunt has collaborated with directors including Clint Eastwood and Stanley Kubrick. He most recently directed and produced the feature film Unexpected. 

Together they've just launched Solubrae, a premium non-alcoholic wine hand crafted from California-grown grapes and designed for modern, mindful living. 

Heaton, who will celebrate eight years of sobriety in July, says, "Solubrae is about inclusion. No one should feel left out of a toast." 

This conversation was a dream! I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. 

Go get yourself a bottle of Solubrae today! I tried both the Daylight and Sundown varietals at a Killjoy tasting in Nashville and was blown away. 

Onward we go! 

Connect with me on IG @creativesobriety and please follow along and subscribe to my Substack newsletter www.kristenbear.substack.com where you will also find The Creative Sobriety Method video workshop series!

Stay up to date with all upcoming events and offerings www.creativesobriety.co

Hey y'all!

I'm chatting with fitness and wellness creator Ash Meredith about her alcohol-free journey and why alcohol and fitness do not belong in the same conversation. 

We discuss everything from alcohol's impact on sleep and relationships to the way it prevents fat loss and erases our hard work in the gym. Ash and I both share a history with disordered eating and have an honest chat about the ways alcohol played a pivotal role in those struggles as well as how sobriety has helped us find balance and peace around food. 

If you are someone who is curious about how eliminating alcohol completely might aid in your fitness journey, someone who has dealt with an eating disorder, or just someone who needs some inspiration on a new sobriety or wellness journey, then this episode is for you! 

Follow Ash on IG @ashmeredith11 for daily workout inspiration and nutrition content that feels more nourishing than restrictive. 

Check out more of her offerings here! 

Connect with me on IG @creativesobriety and please follow along and subscribe to my Substack newsletter www.kristenbear.substack.com where you will also find The Creative Sobriety Method video workshop series!

Stay up to date with all upcoming events and offerings www.creativesobriety.co