Kate Bee is a former journalist, and the founder of The Sober School. I’m excited to have her on the show to talk about embracing sobriety, and how she works with women to create an alcohol free life they love. Growing up in England, Kate started drinking as a teen (where the legal drinking age for beer is 18 in pubs), and it was a habit that she continued well into her working life after college.
Kate shares that while her career was blossoming, she found herself desperate to stop drinking, but hated the idea of facing life without wine. The thought of failing her employer’s Lancaster drug testing protocols was enough to make her seriously consider curbing this unhealthy habit. While she recognized that drinking was a habit that no longer served her, her research into getting support in breaking the habit led her to two rather unsatisfactory options: the doctor’s suggestion of “just cut back,” or a group program created for alcoholics, like alcoholics anonymous. Neither of these options fit what she was looking for in the way of support, nor did they address the complexities involved with changing something that had been part of her identity for so many years. She did consider going to somewhere like these sober living houses austin, but that wasn’t quite where she wanted to go.
After experiencing the profound change and freedom that she felt after living sober, Kate wanted to help other women make similar changes. This was the beginning of The Sober School. She now works with women in their 30s and 40s who find themselves with busy, full lives, and questioning “is it the alcohol that’s holding all this together?”
Is my drinking “good enough” to carry on? A focus on Action
The discussion with Kate truly left me reflecting on the many layers of action required for her to stop drinking, and for her to work with others. I love that she took the actionable steps to create something she saw a need for; she identified that there is a whole population of women who are wanting to experience sobriety after many years of drinking. The advice of “just cut back” doesn’t sit well with them, and, they aren’t in a place where they are alcoholics who need a support system like a 12 step program. Some who have abused alcohol most of their lives and who aren’t in a position to tackle the problem alone may require something like the services from Enterhealth and their rehab facilities.
In identifying the opportunity to help others work through what she herself had faced, Kate has truly taken action into her own hands and is offering others the option she wish she’d had earlier in her life.
In this episode Kate Bee and I talk about:
- Her early love of writing, arts and crafts, blogging, and graphic design
- Letting go of habits that are holding you back
- The current culture of drinking, and how it is pervasive
- What to do when you worry that you are having too much alcohol, regularly
- Why people numb out, and why alcohol is a popular choice
- The difference between social drinking and alcoholism
- The many good changes that come out of making a shift to being sober
- Learning to parent and mother yourself; how to treat yourself with love
- Are you really feeling true emotions when you are drinking, or is everything numbed out a little
- Jumpstarting your joy by focusing on what you are good at, exercising instead of drinking, and self care in the form of turning off your email and leaving your desk
Resources
Kate Bee’s website, The Sober School
The Sober School course, starting April 2019
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