The Sober New Yorker

Jim McKinley was a successful military veteran, husband, and father of four. But behind closed doors, he was struggling with alcohol addiction, drinking alone during the day and hiding bottles of vodka in the woods surrounding his home.

What began as a way to cope with the challenges of becoming a stay-at-home dad gradually turned into a secret drinking problem that was damaging his marriage and pushing his children away.

Things reached a breaking point when Jim’s wife stood in front of his truck to stop him from driving drunk. She had already researched treatment options and told him it was time to get help.

At 50 years old, Jim entered a 35-day rehabilitation program, where he discovered something that went against everything he had learned in the military: the power of surrender.

In this episode of The Sober New Yorker, Melissa McGovern sits down with Jim to explore the realities of hidden alcohol addiction, the impact of drinking on family relationships, and what it takes to rebuild a life after alcohol.

Jim also shares how his own sobriety helped him support his son through addiction and recovery, and how quitting drinking finally gave him the clarity to pursue his lifelong dream of becoming an author.

Now more than five years sober, Jim’s story is a powerful reminder that asking for help isn’t weakness, and it’s never too late to change your relationship with alcohol.

Connect with Jim McKinley:

Website: www.jtmckinley.comInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/j_t_mckinley/Book: Endless Horizon

For years, Rebecca believed drinking wine was just a normal part of life. But by her 50s, she was drinking at least a bottle of wine every night, sometimes opening a second, and beginning to hide how much she was consuming.

In this episode of the Sober New Yorker Podcast, Melissa sits down with Rebecca, an artist, certified life coach, and host of the Curious on Life podcast, to discuss what finally led her to quit drinking at 60.

Rebecca shares how her relationship with alcohol began at just 12 years old and continued through decades of marriage, motherhood, career pressures, and personal loss. What started as social drinking eventually became a nightly habit she relied on to numb difficult emotions.

After attempting to moderate her drinking and experiencing a painful turning point, Rebecca realized that alcohol was taking more from her life than it was giving.

Now alcohol-free, Rebecca has rediscovered her creativity, found new purpose, and helps other women explore what life without alcohol can look like.

This conversation explores quitting drinking later in life, the challenges of giving up wine after decades of drinking, and why your 50s, 60s, and beyond can be the beginning of an entirely new chapter.

Connect with Rebecca on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/curiousonlife/

How do you recognize a drinking problem when you’re doing everything right on the outside?

Brianna, creator of More Fun Without It, was earning a 4.0 GPA in graduate school, studying addiction and building a career in mental health. But behind the scenes, her drinking and drug use were becoming increasingly difficult to control.

Despite studying addiction, she struggled to recognize what was happening in her own life.

In this episode of The Sober New Yorker, Brianna shares her journey through high-functioning alcoholism, depression, repeated attempts to quit drinking, and the moment she finally accepted that alcohol could no longer be part of her life.

Now two years alcohol-free, she opens up about finding community, building a fulfilling sober life in New York City, and navigating the complicated conversations surrounding what sobriety really means.

An honest conversation about addiction, denial, recovery, and discovering that life without alcohol can be better than you imagined.

Brianna on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/morefunwithoutit/

Madeline Forrest grew up knowing firsthand what alcohol could do. Her mom got sober at 21, and her dad struggled with alcohol addiction throughout much of Madeline’s childhood. So when Madeline eventually began questioning her own relationship with alcohol, she knew the warning signs — but her drinking didn’t look the way she thought a problem with alcohol was supposed to look.

She considered herself a “happy drunk.” She wasn’t constantly causing chaos or getting into trouble. But underneath it all were blackouts, shame, and increasingly difficult anxiety the morning after drinking.

After years of trying to convince herself her drinking wasn’t that bad, a month-long break from alcohol and several attempts at sobriety began showing Madeline something she couldn’t ignore: she was happier when she wasn’t drinking.

In this episode of The Sober New Yorker, Madeline shares how her drinking progressed, why her first attempts at sobriety didn’t stick, and the realization that ultimately changed everything — she had to become willing to experience the discomfort of wanting a drink without acting on it.

Madeline also shares how sobriety opened up an entirely new chapter of her life, from creating Happiest Sober and building a worldwide sober community to hosting group trips — including the trip where she unexpectedly met her now-fiancé.

It’s a conversation about hangxiety, learning from multiple Day Ones, getting comfortable with discomfort, finding community, and discovering that sobriety can become about much more than simply not drinking.

If you’ve ever wondered whether your drinking is “bad enough” to stop, Madeline’s story offers a different question: What if life could simply be better without it?

Connect with Madeline: https://www.instagram.com/happiestsober/

What happens when you know alcohol is destroying your body, but you still can’t stop?

Will Gordon’s drinking had already landed him in the hospital when doctors diagnosed him with alcoholic hepatitis and warned him that he needed to stop. He stayed sober for 125 days before relapsing—and from there, his addiction progressed quickly.

Will began hiding vodka around his home and eventually reached the point of drinking nearly two liters every couple of days. His eyes turned yellow, his kidneys failed, and eventually his liver failed too.

At just 33 years old, Will was on dialysis, hospice was involved, and his family was told he may only have weeks left to live.

Then one doctor made a phone call that gave him another chance.

Will shares the incredible series of events that followed: receiving a liver transplant, surviving septic shock and emergency bowel surgery, learning to walk again, continuing dialysis, and eventually receiving a kidney transplant.

Today, Will is more than three years sober and has dedicated much of his life to helping others understand the reality of alcohol addiction and recovery.

This is a story about alcohol addiction, relapse, liver failure, organ transplantation, sobriety, and what can happen when someone who had nearly given up on life gets another chance to live.

Will on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thewillpowerpodcast/

Jason spent years believing he was a functional drinker. He had a good job, made good money and took care of his kids—but behind the scenes, alcohol had progressed to waking up in the middle of the night and taking swigs of whiskey just to get back to sleep.

In 2019, Jason quit drinking and remained alcohol-free for two and a half years. But while he had stopped drinking, his cocaine use increased, and he realized he was still holding onto the identity of being the “party guy.”

Eventually, Jason returned to alcohol believing he could drink normally again. Instead, he found himself back in a cycle of drinking, cocaine use and repeated attempts to quit.

In this episode, Jason and Melissa talk about alcohol addiction, cocaine, relapse, anxiety, fatherhood and the role identity can play in sobriety. Jason shares what changed when he stopped trying to simply remove alcohol from his life and became willing to change the person he believed he had to be.

Connect with Jason on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jasondlyman/

After losing her father to alcohol-related complications, Megan was faced with a difficult question: would alcohol continue to be part of her family’s story, or would the cycle stop with her?She chose to quit drinking.In the first-ever in-studio episode of The Sober New Yorker, Melissa sits down with Megan in Manhattan as she approaches one year of sobriety. A labor and delivery nurse, wife, and mom of three, Megan shares how grief changed the way she looked at her own relationship with alcohol and ultimately led her toward an alcohol-free life.Megan opens up about quitting drinking, breaking generational patterns with alcohol, navigating motherhood in sobriety, and choosing to recover out loud.This conversation explores grief, alcohol, sober living, and what can happen when you decide you don’t need to hit rock bottom to make a change.For anyone questioning their drinking or wondering what life without alcohol could look like, Megan’s story is a reminder that you can choose a different path.

Megan on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/megan_on_the_rocks/

Tawny Lara has been sober for more than 10 years and was one of the early voices in the sober curious movement. But after building a career and personal brand online, she began questioning another complicated relationship in her life: social media.

Tawny became known as the “sober sexpert,” writing openly about sobriety, sober dating, sex, and relationships while growing an audience on Instagram. Social media helped launch her writing career and eventually her book, Dry Humping: A Guide to Dating, Relating, and Hooking Up Without the Booze.

But over time, Tawny says she began to lose herself in the online persona she had created.

Eventually, she deleted Instagram from her phone. Today, she describes herself as approaching two years “sober from Instagram” and has spent that time reconnecting with who she is away from the algorithm.

In this episode, Tawny and Melissa talk about social media addiction, sobriety, dopamine, doom scrolling, identity, online validation, and the pressure to constantly create content. They explore the similarities between changing your relationship with alcohol and becoming more intentional about your relationship with your phone and social media.

Tawny also shares her journey quitting drinking, becoming one of the original sober influencers, navigating sober dating and relationships, and what more than a decade of sobriety has taught her about identity and personal growth.

If you’ve ever questioned your relationship with alcohol, social media, your phone, or the constant need to be connected, this conversation is for you.

Tawny Lara is the author of Dry Humping: A Guide to Dating, Relating, and Hooking Up Without the Booze.

Tawny's Website:

https://www.tawnylara.com/

Shaz knew his drinking was putting his marriage at risk. But instead of quitting alcohol, he found himself planning for what would happen when his marriage eventually fell apart.

Growing up in Chicago as the son of Pakistani immigrants, alcohol became normalized early when his family went from running a tobacco shop to owning liquor stores. What began as social drinking eventually followed Shaz into marriage and fatherhood before turning into daily, secret drinking alone.

In this episode of The Sober New Yorker, Shaz shares how alcohol addiction began affecting his wife, his children, and the life they had built together. He also talks about finding a sober community while he was still drinking—including joining meetings with his camera off and a White Claw beside him.

Then, on Christmas night, something changed. Shaz finished a glass of wine, went to bed, and decided he didn’t want to drink anymore. What happened next changed the trajectory of his family.

Follow Shaz:

https://www.instagram.com/shazman07/

Join the Sober Motivation Community:

https://sobermotivation.net/

Chris Marshall got his first DUI at 16, on only his second time drinking. By 23, he was drinking a handle of vodka a day, had failed out of college, and didn’t believe he would live to see 25.

Today, Chris is 19 years sober.

In this episode of The Sober New Yorker, Chris shares how his need to belong fueled his alcohol addiction, why multiple trips to treatment didn’t initially work, and what finally helped him get sober at 23.

Chris also talks about what became possible after he quit drinking. He became a substance use counselor and eventually founded Sans Bar, one of the first alcohol-free bars in the U.S. His work has since helped launch more than 150 non-alcoholic bars, bottle shops, and pop-ups around the world.

Chris’s story is about alcohol addiction, sobriety, recovery, and discovering that the connection he had been searching for through alcohol was possible without it.

Follow Chris and Sans Bar:

https://www.instagram.com/sans_bar/