All the Feels (Without the Booze)
Sober Awkward
Victoria Vanstone
4.8 • 533 Ratings
🗓️ 8 February 2026
⏱️ 37 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
This week on Sober Awkward, Vic is showing up having one of those weeks. You know the kind. Life is busy, emotions are bubbling, and she’s caught herself saying “Yeah, I’m fine” on autopilot, while secretly wanting to hide under a duvet and avoid everyone. Which, honestly, feels like the perfect moment to talk about… feelings.
Today, Vic unpacks why sobriety can suddenly turn the emotional volume right up. Years of numbing everything with alcohol means that when you stop drinking, you don’t just get clarity, you get everything. Old feelings, new feelings, confusing feelings, all turning up at once with no warning and absolutely no chill.
She’s joined by her mate Kate, who Vic met on a Sober Awkward retreat, and together they talk honestly about what it’s like when the emotional floodgates open. They chat about learning how to sit with difficult headspaces without leaning on a drink, how bottled-up emotions can spill out sideways, and why avoidance often ends in drama, arguments… and sometimes even a bit of fisty cuffs in a tent on the Isle of Wight. Yes, really. You’ll want to hear that story.
This episode is for anyone who’s sober and wondering why they suddenly feel so much, anyone who’s navigating emotions without their old coping mechanisms, and anyone who needs reminding that feeling everything doesn’t mean you’re failing, it means you’re healing.
Pop the kettle on... It's time to get uncomfortable.
Follow Kate at @detoxikated on Insta
💛 Resources & Links
📘 Victoria’s memoir – A Thousand Wasted Sundays
A brutally honest and hilarious look at motherhood, anxiety, and ditching the booze.
🎧 Listen to more Sober Awkward episodes
🫖 Join The Cuppa Community
Our private, supportive online space for sober folk
📘 Get the Sober Awkward Guide
Our downloadable toolkit for ditching booze the awkward way.
📱 Follow us for daily sober fun:
Instagram: @soberawkward
TikTok: @soberawkward
Facebook: Sober Awkward Community for Women
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Oh, the kettle's boiled. Excellent timing. I'll just make myself a quick cupper, take a deep breath and pretend I know exactly what I'm doing. Right, let's get started. |
| 0:15.4 | Have you ever woken up on a Sunday morning with massive anxiety and said to yourself, I'm never drinking again, |
| 0:22.6 | only to find yourself waving 50 bucks at a barman by happy hour. Do you ever wonder why everyone |
| 0:27.8 | else can stop at one while you end up at a dodgy after party holding hands with a weird bloke |
| 0:32.6 | called Disco Dave? If so, it might be time to take a closer look at your reliable social crutch, alcohol. |
| 0:40.0 | On this podcast, I investigate my own deeply dysfunctional dealings with booze and find out what |
| 0:45.4 | it's really like navigating this alcohol-drenched world, one fizzy water at a time. |
| 0:50.6 | I'm going to open up a shame shed of humiliating drinking stories to help you understand why |
| 0:55.4 | waking up with one eyebrow missing and a kebab sticking out of your top pocket might actually |
| 0:59.9 | be negatively impacting your health. So what happens when you put down those cheeky pints and |
| 1:05.5 | finally let go of those rewarding mummy wines? I guess we're just going to have to wait and see. |
| 1:10.9 | I'm Victoria Vanstone and this is sober awkward. |
| 1:18.0 | Do you know where the hairbrush is? |
| 1:19.7 | Tuck shop money's on the side. |
| 1:22.2 | No, I don't have any money for fishing reels. |
| 1:25.3 | George, I've got to do the podcast. |
| 1:27.0 | Shut the door. All right, love you. |
| 1:28.6 | Bye. Bush. It never seems to end. Fishing reels is better than class A drugs. Right, let's get on with this. |
| 1:37.6 | Before we get into today's episode, or I have to go to BCF to find a specific tackle box or lure or real, |
| 1:43.4 | I just want to say thanks for all the |
| 1:45.4 | feedback about my first solo episode last week. As you probably know, I'm a complete people |
| 1:52.2 | pleaser and seem to need the approval of others for everything I do. So your kind words helped. |
... |
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