Sober Short - Work Your Tribe

Tribe Sober - inspiring an alcohol-free life! Welcome to our very first "Sober Short" - an interim mini podcast to supplement the weekly Tribe Sober podcast. I’m going to kick off this series by taking you through our Tribe Sober Toolkit – this toolkit is just one of the things that we share with you during our regular Zoom workshops – click here for more info. Our workshops have been a gamechanger for many people so if you want to kickstart your sober journey then sign up today In this episode Tool number one in our toolbox is connection…connection is the opposite of addiction A fact that has been proved by the ratpark experiment way back in the 1960’s If you haven’t seen Johann Haris fabulous TED talk where he describes this experiment then please check it out here Once your drinking has crossed a line you need to connect with others on the same path… If you are wondering whether you have crossed this imaginary line then try to drink within the “low risk limits” of one and a half bottles of wine a week – or 6 beers – if you can’t then you probably need to make some changes Giving up alcohol is a lonely path – it has been completely normalised in our society and the peer pressure is strong… It’s the only drug we need to justify NOT taking so you need to find your people People like you who understand that “no you cant just drink less, or drink more slowly or have one glass” People who are or were in exactly the same place so they “get you” I spent ten long years trying to tackle my drinking problem alone – my attitude was that I’ve got myself into this mess so I’ll get myself out of it – and nobody need be any the wiser. The problem was I had no-one to connect with when I was struggling, nobody to inspire me when I was fed up – nobody to hold me accountable when I fell off the wagon – again and again. Like many women I was ashamed of my little problem – and I was also totally reluctant to let the wine go completely I thought I would be able to “control” it and drink normally – become a normal drinker! Of course now I understand that was an impossible dream and if I could give one piece of advice to anyone considering their relationship with alcohol it would be:- Don’t waste your time with Moderation Mary as we call her– just ditch the stuff and you will find peace. Admittedly you will have to work out HOW to live without your best friend but that’s where we come in. I’m not the only one who wasted time trying to control an addictive drug – a recent study by the Tempest – 11 years Always remember that people who CAN moderate just do it – alcohol is not even on their radio and they certainly won’t be listening to this podcast! So if you’re listening to this and you are worried about your drinking then don’t waste 11 years – reach out to someone today.. When I finally reached out and got some help I realized that I was not alone, I was not broken, there was nothing wrong with me – I was just one of the 20% of social drinkers who had become dependent over the years.. Alcohol is so sneaky, it really creeps up on us – like many women I drank socially during my 20’s and 30s and then began to use it to manage my anxiety and to relax during my 40s and 50s – when drinking alone became one of my favourite occupations! If you want to hear my drinking story and what finally drove me to quit and how I did it then you can hear that on Tribe Sober podcast episode 1. So our first tool in the Tribe Sober toolkit is to find your people Its SO much easier to find your people these days – 10 years ago we only had AA but now there are many online sober communities, an endless supply of alcohol free drinks and we even have a Sober Magazine – Hola Sober! So find your people and then “work your tribe” – by which we mean stay connected and share your ups and downs We would love to be your people so do give us a try, for an affordable monthly subscription we offer plenty of support including daily Tribe Chats to enable you to check in and get some extra help if you need it.. – click here for more info So that’s your Sober Short for today – Top Tool from our Sober Toolbox – work your tribe Find your people – and stay connected – because connection is the opposite of addiction If YOU’ve got a favourite tip that you’d like me to share on Sober Shorts then just email it to me [email protected] Don’t forget to check out our weekly podcast – full of recovery stories, expert advice and plenty of advice – its called Tribe Sober and comes out every Saturday morning More info Subscription membership for Tribe Sober join up HERE To access our website click HERE If you would like a free copy of our "Annual Tracker" or our e-book "66 Days to Sobriety" please email [email protected] If you would like to come to our Saturday afternoon Zoom Cafe as a guest and meet our community just email [email protected] Episode Sponsor           This episode is sponsored by the Tribe Sober Membership Program.  If you want to change your relationship with alcohol then               sign up today           Read more about our 7-step program and subscribe HERE           Book a Chat with Sue to find out if our membership would help you - email her on [email protected]            Help us to spread the word! We made this podcast so that we can reach more people who need our help.  Please subscribe and share. If you enjoyed the podcast then please leave us a 5 star review on Apple podcasts, take a screenshot of your review and DM it to Tribe Sober’s Instagram page - see PS for instructions - we'll send you something special to say thank you! We release a podcast episode every Saturday morning and a Sober Short on Wednesdays You can follow Tribe Sober on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram  You can catch our FB live on Saturday mornings (11am SAST) and you can join our private Facebook group HERE Thank you for listening!  Till Next Week Janet x   PS   How to leave an rating/review in Apple Podcasts (on an iOS device) 1. Open the Podcasts app. EASY. 2. Choose "Search" from the bottom row of icons and enter the name of the show (i.e., "Recover Like A Mother") into the search field. 3. Select the show under Shows (not under Episodes). 4. Scroll down past the first few episodes until you see Ratings & Reviews. 5. Click "Write a Review" underneath the displayed reviews from other listeners. You'll then have the option to rate the show on a 5-star scale, and write a review (you can rate without writing, too but it's always good to read your experience).