E258: When Not Drinking Feels Louder Than Drinking

Sober Friends

Matt J

12 Steps, Spirituality, Personal Journals, Mental Health, Sober, Recovery, Health & Fitness, Addiction, Religion & Spirituality, Alcohol Free, Sober Curious, Alcoholics Anonymous, Dry January, Society & Culture, Sobriety

4.3 • 722 Ratings

🗓️ 30 December 2025

⏱️ 34 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Send us Fan Mail Have you ever been at a party, wedding, or holiday gathering holding a soda and felt like everyone noticed you weren’t drinking? In this episode of Sober Friends, Matt and Steve talk honestly about what it’s like to be the only sober person in the room—especially early on. They dig into why sobriety can feel uncomfortable in social settings, why it’s not really about the alcohol, and how losing that “social lubricant” can make everything feel louder and more exposed. They exp...

Transcript

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0:00.0	We have a sponsor today for today's Sober Friends podcast.
0:03.4	It's Travis U.
0:06.1	Travis U went to buy me a coffee.com slash sober friends pod.
0:12.6	And he bought us $5 worth of coffee.
0:16.2	Thank you, Travis.
0:17.4	Travis felt it was important to keep this show in your ears for the new guy or gal. If you find
0:26.4	value in what we do, think about what it's worth to you. And if you feel moved, please go to
0:34.2	buy me a coffee.com slash sober friends pod like Travis you did and you can be a sponsor
0:40.6	of this show. You know there's a lot of sayings in AA and one of the sayings we hear all the time is
0:47.7	move a muscle change of thought and that is if you're sitting there dwelling on anything really
0:53.4	anything that's troubling you but alcohol
0:56.8	related especially is to get up and physically do something like guys used to say go burr
1:02.0	guys say go shave go brush your teeth like literally get up and do something and that's the same thing
1:07.5	about picking up that phone and dialing that number that by the the time you get through, when you hear that phone ring, you've already changed your thought pattern.
1:16.1	So regardless if anybody picks up, you've already interrupted that whatever that loop was going on.
1:22.1	And many times it doesn't require somebody picking up, it only requires you to take that action and it's if you're not
1:28.8	familiar with that you should try it.
1:35.0	Welcome to the sober friends podcast. This is a place to hang out if you're sober curious, if you
1:40.9	have some sobriety. You got a lot of sobriety.
1:44.3	You got a little bit of sobriety.
1:45.5	Everybody needs an extra meeting.
1:47.8	And this is one of those in your pocket.
	...

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