Catherine Gray
The Mid•Point with Gabby Logan
The Midpoint
4.3 • 1.6K Ratings
🗓️ 11 February 2026
⏱️ 35 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
For this episode, Gabby sits down with author and speaker Catherine Gray for an honest, curious conversation about the habits that shape our lives — and the tiny patterns that quietly run the show.
Best known for her writing on behaviour change and sobriety, Catherine joins us to explore the ideas behind her book Little Addictions, unpacking how small compulsions — from scrolling and sugar to work and worry — can subtly steer our choices, moods, and identities. Together, we look at why humans cling to rituals, what it really takes to shift ingrained habits, and how self-awareness can open the door to something more intentional.
This episode marks a reflective pause in the journey: a chance to examine the everyday dependencies we often overlook, and to ask what freedom might look like — not in dramatic transformations, but in small, meaningful changes.
A thoughtful Midpoint conversation about awareness, agency, and the stories we tell ourselves about control.
- More than 40 percent of respondents who began drinking before age 15 were classified with alcohol dependence at some time in their lives, the researchers found: https://www.niaaa.nih.gov/news-events/news-releases/age-drinking-onset-predicts-future-alcohol-abuse-and-dependence
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello and welcome to the midpoint. Today we're talking about addictions. Now you might think, |
| 0:08.9 | oh, well, this is not for me, but hang on a second, because Catherine Gray, my guest today, |
| 0:12.8 | has written little addictions. Not about the breakfast gin drinker or the 50-a-day smoker or the |
| 0:18.3 | gambler who's in thousands of pounds worth of debt, although plenty of what she has learnt relates to them. This book, and hopefully the chat you're about to hear, will almost certainly relate to you. It certainly did to me. I first became aware of Catherine when I read her brilliant book, The Unexpected Joy of Being Sober, which more than one friend has confided in me changed their life. |
| 0:44.4 | In little addictions, Catherine has identified 15 addictions, including gossip, procrastination, dating and shopping. |
| 0:49.9 | Within the 15, there is this sticky eight, which includes things like alcohol, gambling and phones. |
| 0:53.4 | Now, you might have half nodded at one or maybe two of those. |
| 1:00.2 | And as Catherine says, many of these, including the phone, might not be your fault, but it is your responsibility. |
| 1:04.6 | It's more than a self-help book and it looks at how we got here as a society. |
| 1:06.6 | And we're going to explore that in our chat. |
| 1:11.5 | But if you want to do something about one of your little addictions and free up some time and headspace in your life, then buckle up. Let's get some tools to make a change. |
| 1:19.0 | Catherine, welcome to the midpoint. Thank you. It's lovely to be here. |
| 1:22.1 | I mentioned in your introduction that I read your book, The Unexpected Joys of Being Sober. |
| 1:28.9 | And then when this book kind of landed in my inbox, I was very excited because you have such a great way of writing that makes it so easy to kind of dive in and be part of your journey. |
| 1:41.9 | And I'm delighted to say this book has that similar feel that, |
| 1:45.7 | you know, I think it's so accessible for people because, as the title says, you know, |
| 1:50.5 | this is something, and I said in the introduction, but I think most people will connect with |
| 1:54.7 | in some way, even if they don't think they have an addiction. Yeah. So where did you get the |
| 1:59.7 | idea that actually there's probably a lot of |
| 2:01.9 | people who've got things they just either want to quit or cut down on? Well, it was a combination, |
| 2:07.3 | really, of social observation. So I think that, and I am willing to die on this hill of a |
| 2:12.8 | statement, I think that everyone has or has had a little addiction, if not a medium or large addiction. |
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