Sober Curious
image credit: @jayjay1143
Some of you may already know because I’m a social media junkie (apparently my appetite runs large for lots of things!), that I am participating in the 2019 Pop Sugar Reading Challenge.
With each book I have checked off the list, I post on IG and FB a favorite passage from the text, along with the prompt it satisfied.
One of the advanced prompts this year was to read a book that has inspired a common phrase or idiom. Enter the memoir Sober Curious which apparently has now become a movement with ‘sober’ bars opening in places like New York City and LA.
Ruby Warrington’s book is punchy, non-preachy, and fills the place between full abstinence and drinking more than we probably want to.
Here is the synopsis pulled from Amazon:
“Would life be better without alcohol?
It’s the nagging question more and more of us are finding harder to ignore, whether we have a 'problem' with alcohol or not. After all, we yoga. We green juice. We meditate. We self-care. And yet, come the end of a long work day, the start of a weekend, an awkward social situation, we drink. One glass of wine turns into two turns into a bottle. In the face of how we care for ourselves otherwise, it’s hard to avoid how alcohol really makes us feel… terrible.
How different would our lives be if we stopped drinking on autopilot? If we stopped drinking altogether? Really different, it turns out.
Really better. Frank, funny, and always judgment free,
Sober Curious is a bold guide to choosing to live hangover-free, from Ruby Warrington, one of the leading voices of the new sobriety movement.
Drawing on research, expert interviews, and personal narrative, Sober Curious is a radical take down of the myths that keep so many of us drinking.
Inspiring, timely, and blame free, Sober Curious is both conversation starter and handbook—essential reading that empowers readers to transform their relationship with alcohol, so we can lead our most fulfilling lives.”
I had been thinking of giving alcohol the heave-ho for awhile now. I’ve seen more of its disastrous effects than I care to admit. But something about swearing off the stuff for life felt a little dramatic. And yet….
there was often this sort of deep spiritual shame I would feel if I over-indulged in gin gimlets on a night out with friends, or after a day of drinks poolside.
Enter Warrington’s book.
When I told a friend about the book and that I was giving it a go, he said “think about it - you can’t do anything physical when you drink, you can’t do anything intellectual, and you can’t do anything spiritual” and I was like “hot damn - what does that leave?”
My plan was to just go three months alcohol-free to really evaluate when I was drinking and why.
Today marks 6 months :)
I don’t know if I’ll drink again. Frankly, I’m not all that worried about it. Right now I’m just enjoying all the things I’ve found to replace it. Honestly, I don’t know how I ever had the time to drink before - there is so much doing to be done - tarot reading workshops, horseback riding lessons, trips around the world, marathon training - the list goes on.
So if anyone is looking for a different type of happy hour, just holler! I’ve got plenty of sans-alcohol suggestions.
