The Weekend Sober

Meghan Jones attempted Dry January last year in 2023. She felt compelled to learn all about the changes in her body and mind during the month, digging in and listening to podcasts and reading all the quitlit. She felt so good she continued for another 60 days after the month ended, only to try to moderate after the 90 days were up. You know how the story goes, she fell back into her old ways, but then eventually gave up drinking for good later in May. Hear all about her journey, as she celebrates 7 months of sobriety! You will absolutely relate to this mother's story.

Kim and Kezia review their year and how they are feeling at the end of 2023. They discuss some of their accomplishments and goals after hitting three years of sobriety, as well as some of the intentions they have for 2024.

Sober in the Suburbs

Do you feel let down after the holidays? Did you ever binge drink the week in between Christmas and New Years? Is the end of the year a tough time for you in terms of your sobriety? Join Kim and Kezia as they chat with Jen Hirst about how to end the year on a high note and enter the new year with a strong mindset!

Empowering women to thrive in sobriety, Jen Hirst has been on her own transformative journey since April 24, 2013. As a dedicated sober coach, Jen boosts women's confidence by integrating simple, effective habits from day one to help them feel their best and make sobriety stick.
Her sold-out group coaching programs have helped hundreds of women from across the world own their sobriety with a GET TO mentality and a supportive community of women rooting for them every step of the way.

Her Program

Instagram

Kim and Kezia speak with lifelong teetotaler and Tilden co-founder Mariah Hilton Wood. As a lifelong non-drinker, Mariah brings a fresh perspective to the sober community. Her positive approach to life is nothing but infectious. She's a brand new mom, super fun and one of the sweetest people we have ever met!

Mariah Hilton Wood is Co-Founder and COO of Tilden, an award-winning non-alcoholic cocktail company. She launched the company out of Harvard Business School with friend and co-founder, Vanessa Royle, after realizing the lack of sophisticated options for non-drinkers at cocktail occasions. Mariah grew up in Las Vegas, and attended UNLV and BYU for her undergrad. Prior to HBS, Mariah spent five years in consulting with PwC, helping Fortune 500 clients improve their supply chain and operations. She's an adventure seeker; from paragliding, to flying trapeze, to summiting Mt. Kilimanjaro, she loves to try new things. Mariah is a craft chocolate connoisseur, having consulted more than one chocolate company over the years on product development and sourcing.

https://drinktilden.com/

Kim interviews former Days of our Lives star, Steve Blackwood. Steve had 30 years of sobriety under his belt after living in LA for most of his life, until one day her relapsed. Hear his remarkable story of finding his new path towards sobriety by how Steve earning to embrace Annie Grace's philosophy of This Naked Mind and how things finally clicked for him once and for all.

Kezia and Kim welcome Angi McDonald, who is a member of Sober in the Suburbs. Angi has been sober for 28 years. She is a Program Coordinator in the Needham Public Health Division and shares about working in youth substance use prevention. 

Reference:

The Addiction Inoculation

CADCA

Check HERE to see if YOUR town or county has a youth substance use prevention coalition. 

Kim has the unique opportunity to chat with the lovely Kathleen Ramon from www.sobertraveling.com all about her upcoming project that debuts this month in December.

Kathleen, or Kat to her friends, is not just a sober travel coach; she's a storyteller, an educator, and a true comedian in the journey of sober fun! Her background as a teacher and Behavioral Specialist, combined with her nearly 15-year-long triumph over alcoholism, gives her a unique perspective on how to travel the world with courage and with purpose.

Kim and Kat discuss her new online show, curated by Kat. It is a buffet of experiences, insights, and real-world strategies set up like an advent calendar getting people through the holidays with one inspirational video emailed out each day. They talk all about how she is building our alcohol-free community with as much inclusion as possible!

Stay Sober While Traveling features over 20 experts from across the globe (Kim included!) who share not just their knowledge, but their hearts, offering practical strategies, inspiring tales, and a community of support. It's a rare opportunity to learn from people who have walked the path and now light the way for others. These experts include awarded authors, some having been featured in USA Today, Time Magazine, National Geographic, Frommer’s Guides, and The New York Times just to name a few. It also features prestigious coaches, podcasters, travel agents, health care providers, safari guides, spiritualists, comedians, musicians, and even a hypnotist all focused on staying sober while traveling!

It isn't just an online show; it's a movement towards embracing travel as a rich, exciting, alcohol-free adventure!

Starting on December 5th, check out this transformative experience. It's more than learning how to travel sober; it's about changing the narrative of your life's journey, one sober step at a time, and transforming into a better version of yourself through traveling. To quote Kat,"Travel heals trauma".

Register now for free and be part of this super unique event. <> https://sobertraveling.com/kimberlykearns

Kezia and Kim chat with Hadley Sorensen about her sober journey. All three women found themselves caught on the hamster wheel of drinking by the end, the epitome of being trapped in alcohol addiction. They also were each drowning in the mommy wine culture, duped by the Instagram memes, false advertising and lies of Big Alcohol. Hadley tells the ladies how she faced her truth and came out on the other side.

Hadley Sorensen is a mom of 3 boys, a lifelong runner, and a writer working on publishing her first book. Her relationship with alcohol was always toxic. It wasn't about how much or how often she drank, but how she felt when she did.  Just over two years ago, she woke up with her last hangover, her heart screaming that sobriety was the right choice. She had no idea that a whole new, beautiful life was about to unfold. Now, she loves to tell her story with the hopes it will reach someone struggling as she was. 

Instagram: @hadley_sorensen

The ladies talk with Kristen McAvoy about how to prepare for the holidays when you have social anxiety. What can you do when you have a holiday work party that you need to attend but you are newly sober? How do you deal with the family this year when you are used to getting blackout drunk in the past?

Kristen shares her incredible sober story and how she was able to work through her addictions and come to terms with her social anxiety. She is a breath of fresh air and exudes a kindness that you can't help but want to emulate.

"My name is Kristen and I battled with a dual addiction to alcohol and Xanax for years. I suffered in silence while trying to make everything look perfect on the outside. I drank a bottle or more of wine multiple nights a week, and started abusing my Xanax prescription to try to numb out my anxiety and reality. This took me down a dark path and I became an entirely different person. My family had an intervention with me and I agreed to go to rehab. 

Unfortunately, I didn't take it seriously and hit an even bigger rock bottom once I got out. In March 2021, I finally got the help I needed and lived in a women's recovery house & attended narcotics anonymous meetings. I have been sober now for 2 years and 8 months. Sobriety has allowed me to become the woman I always knew I could be."

Instagram: @sobergirltribe

Kim and Kezia chat with former gray area drinker, Todd Kinney this week, all about his journey and transformation.

Todd is an attorney who lives in Omaha, NE with his wife, four kids and two wiener dogs. In his free time, he enjoys traveling, golf, hanging out with his family (when they let him) and spending an unhealthy amount of time and money supporting the Iowa Hawkeyes. He quit drinking in 2019 and considers it the best thing he’s ever done for himself and his family. His memoir, I Didn’t Believe It Either, is due out in December.

Todd was a classic gray area drinker who looked like he had it all together on the outside. But on the inside, he was tormented by his relationship with alcohol. He loved drinking and being the life of the party, yet there was so much about drinking he didn’t like: the control it had on him, how it consumed his every thought and how he felt after drinking too much.

He spent six years evaluating his relationship with alcohol and employing every moderation hack in the book. Some of them worked, but it was exhausting and the victories were always short

lived.

By 2019, Todd was growing tired of fighting his internal battle. He was worn down by the constant negotiating and obsessing, and he was sick of the torment, shame and regret. Then in the fall of that year, his wife whispered something into his ear that would end up changing his life forever. He decided to quit drinking.

Giving up alcohol was scary and overwhelming. Even though Todd knew it was the right decision, he also thought life without alcohol would be a little dull and boring, a bit like a prison sentence for not being able to “drink like a normal person.”

What he discovered, however, was that giving it up was the farthest thing from a prison sentence.

I Didn’t Believe it Either is the raw, honest, vulnerable and sometimes funny story of Todd’s journey to quitting the one thing he thought he couldn’t live without and his discovery that sobriety is better than he ever imagined.