When Bravery Backfires: Sobriety and RSD
Sober Awkward
Victoria Vanstone
4.8 • 533 Ratings
🗓️ 28 September 2025
⏱️ 50 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
This week on Sober Awkward, Vic confesses to bombing a speech so badly she considered faking her own death to escape the hotel. Turns out, all our “step out of your comfort zone!” pep talks might have been… well… a bit shit. Because sometimes you don’t just step out... you cartwheel out, land flat on your face, and want to live in a cave forever.
Enter RSD, Rejection Sensitivity Dysphoria, the sneaky brain glitch that makes one awkward moment feel like the whole world hates you. Vic and Hamish dive into what it is, why it bites harder in sobriety, and how success amnesia makes you forget every win you’ve ever had the second something goes wrong.
Expect sweaty palms, public speaking disasters, spa-side meltdowns, and knob jokes (obviously). If you’ve ever spiralled over a slow text reply or considered joining witness protection after a minor faux pas, this episode is for you.
💛 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.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | The cattle's boiled, Vic. |
| 0:03.0 | Great, perfect timing. Just a dash of milk for me, please, mate. |
| 0:08.0 | Here you go. Should we get started then? |
| 0:16.0 | Have you ever woken up on a Sunday morning and said, I'm never drinking again, |
| 0:21.4 | and then found yourself waving 50 bucks at a barman by happy hour? |
| 0:25.1 | Are you wondering why everyone else can stop at one, |
| 0:27.8 | while you head to a dodgy after party with a weird bloke called Disco Dave? |
| 0:31.6 | If so, it might be time to take a deeper look at your relationship with your reliable social crutch, alcohol. |
| 0:38.1 | On each episode, we'll investigate our own dysfunctional dealings with booze |
| 0:42.1 | and find out if it's possible to stop this deeply ingrained habit |
| 0:45.4 | before things get too messy. |
| 0:47.5 | Yep, we're going to open up a shame shed of humiliating drinking stories |
| 0:51.1 | to help you understand why waking up from a booze coma each weekend with a |
| 0:54.9 | kebab sticking out of your top pocket might actually be negatively impacting your health. |
| 0:59.9 | Hamish and I are here to delve into what it's like being sober, an unwanted warts and all look |
| 1:05.3 | into why giving up those cheeky pints or putting down those mummy wines will make you feel happier, |
| 1:12.0 | help your anxiety in mental health and turn you into the most sparkly authentic version of you. |
| 1:16.5 | Won't that mean I become boring though, Vic? |
| 1:18.3 | Well, Hamish, we'll just have to wait and see. |
| 1:20.9 | I'm Victoria Vanstone. |
| 1:22.5 | I'm Hamish Adams Cairns. |
| 1:24.1 | And this is sober awkward. |
... |
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