Sobriety blogs, and blogs in general, have evolved a lot since I read my first post on Unpickled back in 2015. In 2015 blogs were mostly personal, an expression of an individual’s ideas or experience enthusiastically shared in this new forum of the internet. Blogs had not yet become the” storefronts” that they often are now. They were not usually filled with “sponsored links”, covered in advertisements or written as a promotion of a service or product. Sobriety blogs, at the time, were a fantastic new way to find a community to help you stop drinking and stay sober outside of the traditional 12-step system.
I found the blog Unpickled from reading Lucy Roca’s book How to lead a happier, healthier, and alcohol-free life. Over the next few weeks, while also reading the blogs Sober at Sixty and Tired of Thinking About Drinking, I gained enough inspiration and information to build a sort of road map in my mind of how to maneuver my first 30 days alcohol-free.
I found my sober solutions in reading. But I only retired from my long and illustrious drinking career when I began blogging myself.
I published my first blog post in March of 2016 on a website called Hello Sunday Morning, which offered a private community space for blogging. One year later, after writing and writing my way sober in that safe space, I opened my own public blog space and shared my first two posts around the internet – I Came Out Sober about Redefining my Me Time.
Publishing those first two public blog posts was a heady experience. Both posts were published not only on the blog that I had just started but also in the Huffington Post and several online parenting magazines. I spent weeks writing and refining those posts with help from friends and then took a deep breath, closed my eyes, and sent my story out into the world for all to read. Publishing my story publicly and sharing that published story on social media with friends, family, and work colleagues who had no idea that I had stopped drinking or why was terrifying. But it was important to me to reach out and reach back in the same way the women whose stories I’d read a year before had reached out to me.
Not surprisingly, although I had carefully written my story to open people’s minds rather than share confrontational clickbait that might cause a defensive reaction, my words were met with discomfort by some. Our culture was awash in defending Mommy’s Right to Drink! and public proclamations that nightly de-stress drinking could lead to dangerous addiction – were often met with scorn or at least a disclaimer like this one from an online mag called Lose the Cape:
Editor’s note – our mission at Lose the Cape is to make sure we provide view points from all mothers… to allow a space where moms can share their insights, their experiences, and how they do motherhood. This post expresses the journey of one mother, and I am grateful to her for sharing this story with us about how and when she realized she was drinking too much and what she decided to do about it. It is by no means a judgement against mothers who enjoy a glass of wine in the evening (or I’d be in BIG trouble!) but please do be sensitive to our guest contributors perspective.
Now in 2025, the situation with my generation’s relationship to alcohol, especially with women of my generation, is considerably worse than it was when I started publicly reaching out and reaching back. The statistics are mind-numbing really. Pre-mature deaths from alcohol-related causes have more than doubled in the last 20 years, and the largest increase is among women my age. We need to find one another, share our stories, and learn to Redefine our Me Time as something more vibrant and life-affirming than Wine o’clock.
Blogging and community outreach on the internet has become a passion for me. I went from a total incomprehension of anything “tech” to building a website and starting a private, anonymous blogging community like the one that helped me stop drinking 9 years ago. There is so much creative possibility with the internet. I have found that reaching out with ideas and compassion in a non-commercial, creative way has filled the void I felt when I first stopped drinking away my evenings.
And that void has long since filled with me.
When you are trying to stop drinking, there is no easy way. Staying alcohol-free long-term does not have to be about working steps in AA, but it does require some deep diving into why you drink and how to stay sober. Does blogging sound like it might work for you, but you can’t imagine writing about something so personal online? Come in and join the conversation in our private and anonymous blogging space at www.boomrethinkthedrink.com
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How Posting in the BOOM Community can help you Rethink the Drink
The following posts tell the story of why and how I stopped drinking by blogging my way sober. I hope that these words inspire you.
A former Wine Mom’s Guide to Alcohol-Free Serenity
Podcast interviews you may find interesting :
WHO ARE WE?
Online Community Support to Stop Drinking – BOOM!
If you’re “sober curious” …If you are drinking too much too often and want to stop or take a break… Talk to Us.
We are an independent, anonymous and private community who share resources, support and talk it through every day. It helps to have a community behind you in a world where alcohol is the only addictive drug that people will question you for NOT using
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