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At 7 years old, Tanya's mum gave her a small glass of wine and told her to sip it.  Of course, this little girl gave it a chug.  Tanya's grand mother said, "this one is going to be a drinker."  Little did Grandma know that Tanya would attend her first AA meeting at the age of 18.

Tanya has been sober since January 11, 2008.  Tanya's first meeting was in a cathedral in Liverpool, England.  She was 18 years old, petrified and in desperate need of a shower.  

In this episode, Tanya discusses how her alcoholism picked up at 16.  She talks about leaving home as a teen and bouncing between a shelter and school each day.  She got sober for real at age 19.  Tanya's turning point was meeting Young Martin, who shared a story she could finally relate to.  

There is so much to Tanya's story we will have her back in the future to tell more!  You will really love this one, it's an instant classic.

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Gill Tietz picked up her first drink later than most.  Bullied in school, she avoided social gatherings and focused on academics.  But after starting Graduate School, she decided to live a little, experiencing love at first sight with alcohol.

A Biologist by trade, Gill talks about getting bullied as a kid and isolating from others through the end of college.  Gill got into drinking in Graduate School and her affair with the bottle took off.  Though she mentioned that biologists and chemists have the reputation as heavy drinkers, she took it to an extreme, with thoughts of self harm being one of the reasons she quit.

As a biologist, we asked Gill about The Doctor's Opinion by Dr. Silkworth in the Big Book of AA.  Dr.Silkworth discusses "the allergy" which causes the phenomenon of craving.  Gill had some unexpected opinions on the subject.

Gill's story shows that alcohol abuse and the mechanics internally don't care about education, gender and status in life.  With this disease, we are all the same.

Please support Gill's podcast, Sober Powered at https://www.soberpowered.com/ or where ever you get your podcasts.  You can find her on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/sober.powered/ and on YouTube at by clicking Here.

Did you notice the new name?  We are now Sober Friends.  We just wanted to share this message to as many people as possible and the "right" name makes it more searchable.  It's the same great sober talk as before.

Find at https://soberfriendspod.com.
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/soberfriendspod

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📫 Get more honest conversations about sobriety delivered to your inbox! Subscribe to The Sober Friends Dispatch, our weekly newsletter where we go beyond the podcast to share real strategies for alcohol-free living. Join our community by clicking here.

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How is Dry January going for you?  With us getting closer to the end of the month, it's time to take stock.  Have you made it this far?  Or did you have a drink.  If so, did you get back on the wagon?

These three alcoholics are just really hearing about Dry January and we dug in to learn more.

• Matt downloaded the app and took the alcohol use quiz.  Based on his days drinking, how did he score?
• From our perspective, we talked about other tools to make Dry January a success
• How technology, like apps and social media changed the game
• Where Dry January started and how it's a trademarked name

We talk about how, when AA started, alcohol abuse treatment was focused on the "low bottom drunk."  With things like Dry January and the use of technology to track and motivate, there is now the chance to "catch" a problem before it gets too bad.

Did you notice the new name?  We are now Sober Friends.  We just wanted to share this message to as many people as possible and the "right" name makes it more searchable.  It's the same great sober talk as before.

Find at https://soberfriendspod.com
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/soberfriendspod

Support the show

📫 Get more honest conversations about sobriety delivered to your inbox! Subscribe to The Sober Friends Dispatch, our weekly newsletter where we go beyond the podcast to share real strategies for alcohol-free living. Join our community by clicking here.

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Keeping up your physical health by exercising and eating right is difficult under the best of circumstances.  Just the act of stopping drinking or drugging and addressing root causes of substance abuse can be overwhelming, let alone starting the process of getting physically fit.

Last week, we discussed how important maintaining your physical health was important.  This week, we show you how to do it, with the help of our guest.

We went to an expert to help us make this task manageable and invited fitness blogger Lindsay Perisco of https://huntfiber.com/.  Lindsay is a mother of 3 young children, a wife and full time personal trainer.  With all that going on, she has found time to explore her passion, the outdoors and hunting.

In this episode, Lindsay's key takeaways are:

• Find a reason to stay fit.  For her, if she wants to hunt, she needs to exercise the right way to keep up
• Make a plan and stick to it, even when you don't want to
• 90% of being physically fit is not the exercise.  It's the right food.  That takes preparation
• Don't expect 100% adherence.  Plan for slip ups.
• All or nothing won't work!  Plan for treats.
• There are no good carbs/bad carbs or fats.  There is the right mix.

With all those New Year's resolutions, we hope bringing in an expert on the subject will help you find the right motivation.

You can also find Lindsay Persico on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/huntfiber/

Did you notice the new name?  We are now Sober Friends.  We just wanted to share this message to as many people as possible and the "right" name makes it more searchable.  It's the same great sober talk as before.

Find at https://soberfriendspod.com.
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/soberfriendspod

Support the show

📫 Get more honest conversations about sobriety delivered to your inbox! Subscribe to The Sober Friends Dispatch, our weekly newsletter where we go beyond the podcast to share real strategies for alcohol-free living. Join our community by clicking here.

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Your physical and mental health take a beating during active addiction.  Recovery is a three legged stool of mental, spiritual and physical recovery.  Eating healthy, exercising and seeing a physician on a regular basis is part of staying sober and can easily be neglected.

Though we find recovery, we always have an alcoholic mind and that "obsession," can come out in other ways, like an addiction to working out and a compulsion to only eat the right foods.  Unchecked and without balance, this "addiction" can derail the reason we started this journey in the first place.

Getting sober.

Matt, Steve and John talk about their focus on physical recovery.  Matt talks about getting on his spin bike again and John and Steve talk about their obsessive hikes.  They also discuss those who took the physical too far, and ended up getting drunk.

Text or leave a comment for the show at (860) 281-2303.

Please help support the show by giving it a review and rating in Apple Podcasts.  Find Recovery Links, access to social media and email at https://notalonerecovery.com/

Please share with friends and family.

Support the show

📫 Get more honest conversations about sobriety delivered to your inbox! Subscribe to The Sober Friends Dispatch, our weekly newsletter where we go beyond the podcast to share real strategies for alcohol-free living. Join our community by clicking here.

Send us a text

Support the show

📫 Get more honest conversations about sobriety delivered to your inbox! Subscribe to The Sober Friends Dispatch, our weekly newsletter where we go beyond the podcast to share real strategies for alcohol-free living. Join our community by clicking here.

Send us a text

Jeff was the good brother, so his sibling took the blame.

Jeff got caught drinking by his wife, so now he could drink in the open

Jeff's story changed when he was stopped, drunk at a DUI checkpoint, talking himself out of trouble by saying he was going to a meeting and being given directions by the officer.  He's been sober since.

Jeff recently celebrated 10 years of sobriety and he talks to Steve and Matt about his path to alcoholism and is journey to recovery.   In this episode, Jeff talks about:

• Being the good brother, and filling the liquor bottles with water
• Becoming a full time student to avoid responsibility
• Becoming a therapist  to help others, once sober

Text or leave a comment for the show at (860) 281-2303.

Please help support the show by giving it a review and rating in Apple Podcasts.  Find Recovery Links, access to social media and email at https://notalonerecovery.com/

Please share with friends and family.

Support the show

📫 Get more honest conversations about sobriety delivered to your inbox! Subscribe to The Sober Friends Dispatch, our weekly newsletter where we go beyond the podcast to share real strategies for alcohol-free living. Join our community by clicking here.

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Gabe got sober 24 years old but lived  through a nightmare to get there. Gabe shares growing up in an alcoholic family with an abusive family and he fell into addiction too.  He then shares how a "Founder's Day" in Akron, Ohio changed everything and got him out of his shell.  Gabe shares how he's sponsored scores of alcoholics and after once turning his back on God, talks about how he received his ordination license to marry one of his sponsees. 

Text or leave a comment for the show at (860) 281-2303.

Please help support the show by giving it a review and rating in Apple Podcasts.  Find Recovery Links, access to social media and email at https://notalonerecovery.com/

Please share with friends and family.

Support the show

📫 Get more honest conversations about sobriety delivered to your inbox! Subscribe to The Sober Friends Dispatch, our weekly newsletter where we go beyond the podcast to share real strategies for alcohol-free living. Join our community by clicking here.

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This is one of the most powerful conversations about spirituality we've ever had.  Buddy chats with Matt J and Steve C about Taoism, his long path to sobriety, Eastern Spirituality, and overcoming personal tragedy and remaining sober.  He is the author of the book, Powerless But Not Helpless: A Meditation Book of 81 Verses from the Tao Te Ching that can help you live an alcohol free life and find freedom from any addictive behavior.

You can purchase Buddy's book on Amazon or at https://buddyc.org/

Text or leave a comment for the show at (860) 281-2303.

Please help support the show by giving it a review and rating in Apple Podcasts.  Find Recovery Links, access to social media and email at https://notalonerecovery.com/

Please share with friends and family.

Support the show

📫 Get more honest conversations about sobriety delivered to your inbox! Subscribe to The Sober Friends Dispatch, our weekly newsletter where we go beyond the podcast to share real strategies for alcohol-free living. Join our community by clicking here.

Send us a text

Sobriety during the holidays, especially when new can be overwhelming. 

"How can I get sober with Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years coming?  I'll miss all the fun!"

"How can I be sober at a work party?  Everyone will pester me!"

There are some simple answers to these questions and John and Matt discuss everything from what to say when you are not drinking to making a quick escape if you need to,

Leave a comment for the show at (860) 281-2303.

Please help support the show by giving it a review and rating in Apple Podcasts.  Find Recovery Links, access to social media and email at https://notalonerecovery.com/

Please share with friends and family.

Support the show

📫 Get more honest conversations about sobriety delivered to your inbox! Subscribe to The Sober Friends Dispatch, our weekly newsletter where we go beyond the podcast to share real strategies for alcohol-free living. Join our community by clicking here.