Kate Baily, co-founder of Love Sober joins Happiful’s podcast to debate the journey to alcohol-free dwelling and the advantages it brings
“For me, drinking was very much tied in with the cultural narrative of my twenties and my own narrative about feminism and being empowered,” Kate Baily shares on Happiful’s podcast. “Then I had my children and a massive identity shift. I had lots of hormones and my mental health wasn’t great. So wine became more and more part of my life. When I first heard the phrase ‘wine o’clock’, I laughed my head off. I thought, thank god it’s not just me!”
Kate quickly realised that she was not alone in feeling this fashion about alcohol and there have been many different ladies for whom alcohol performed a significant function of their every day lives. However, Kate notes, she was within the ‘grey area’ of ingesting, not alcohol dependent however not experiencing a wholesome relationship with it both, and he or she needed that to alter.
Fast ahead to in the present day and Kate is now the co-founder of Love Sober, co-host of the Love Sober podcast and has written two books with LS associate Mandy Manners, most lately the gorgeous Love Your Sober Year: A Seasonal Guide to Alcohol-Free Living.
Kate’s additionally a sobriety & life coach specialising in holistic well-being for girls in midlife, perimenopause transition, sobriety, and stress administration. Her first-hand expertise makes her extraordinarily relatable, her honesty is refreshing and he or she’s in the end very reasonable concerning the function alcohol performs for thus many people, in what we understand to be ‘stress relief’.
“I managed my stress with lots of different things,” she says, reflecting again. “I had my hobbies, I had this kind of toolkit. Drinking was part of it but there was this disconnect between how I was feeling, what my new role is (as a parent) and how it was all fitting, that became impossible to ignore. This created quite a lot of shame, which can lead to a downward spiral.”
Kate got here throughout Soberistas whereas looking for questionnaires about alcoholism within the early hours of 1 morning. She started to get interested by dwelling an alcohol free life, after discovering help on the positioning’s discussion board. Although not simple, and he or she selected to drink once more after a yr earlier than stopping for good, this expertise impressed Kate to be taught extra about optimistic psychology, the function of the vagus nerve and the unmet wants we are able to typically ‘treat’ by ingesting.
Today, she shares this expertise broadly and champions the selection to be sober in addition to celebrating the adjustments she’s made personally. “Alcohol-free life is the foundational piece of self-love that enables all others. For me, saying no to alcohol has allowed me to be current in my life.
“Quite simply, it’s given me this high-definition experience of my own life. It’s just such a gift.”
Curious about alcohol-free dwelling? Visit Love Sober
Love Your Sober Year: A Seasonal Guide to Alcohol-Free Living is out there now.