Turning Pain into Pages: Stash with Laura Cathcart Robbins

What this episode covers

Laura Cathcart Robbins turned a viral essay into a podcast called The Only One In the Room. And she turned her pain into pages with a memoir called Stash, My Life in Hiding that's out now! When she was 44 Laura Cathcart Robbins got sober. That was almost 15 years ago. In the recovery community, it's all about meeting for coffee, it's coffee after the meeting, it's coffee before the meeting. It's coffee. That's how you connect, because we don't meet for drinks anymore, right? Every coffee house became like a haven for her during that time, especially those first couple years. Along with these topics we talk about her new Bestseller where she turned her pain into pages: Stash, My Life in Hiding (links to buy in the show notes) 1. First urban PR agent, or as she said is code for Black. 2. Viral post that became a podcast 3. Her podcast, The Only One in the Room 4. Finding love against her will during drug treatment 5. Creating a platform to be known using blogs, podcasts and speaking before writing a memoir 6. 1440 Multi-University with Elizabeth Gilbert and Cheryl Strayed 7. A writer's retreat where she was the only black woman gave birth to her podcast, The Only One in the Room 8. How school felt like the set of the Brady Bunch 9. Drug and alcohol abuse, having children and postpartum depression (dirty little secret) 10. The rise and fall with Ambien, the drug to help you sleep 11. Parent's Association, attending premieres, playing tennis, ladies that lunch all while chipping off pieces of Ambien to stay present and level 12. All the natural receptors to sleep and survive were bludgeoned with Ambien and alcohol 13. Doctors were lenient because she was good at building a facade, she's dismantling the buildings every day 14. Our identity labels, part of a couple (wife), and how buying milk was the moment she lost her sense of 'self' and had an existential crisis or maybe just a realization. Treated differently even as the ex-husband wife, receiving perks from the marriage, being the Mom of the kids from that marriage. Ego feeding identities. Being on a pedestal in her community. Then to rehab, challenged for the perfect motherhood, divorce, no job, no identity. 15. Invitations to baby showers, wedding showers and spa days: saying yes when you don't want to. The power of saying no. 16. The power of saying Yes and No 17. Scott, her husband, who she met in rehab. Dated for 6 years after sobriety. Their relationship while writing the book, having a podcast, all the social media and marketing. Raising kids and and because they weren't busy enough that embarked on a vegan diet too!