Soberful Veronica Valli & Chip Somers

The biggest obstacle to getting sober is the Fear Of Missing Out (or FOMO). But what are we scared of missing out on? In this episode, Chip and Veronica explore how feelings of missing out are very human because we are programmed to belong and connect. When we analyse what we are afraid of missing out on if we stop drinking, it is very undefinable. We have a fantasy in our heads about how we think drinking is going to be, but the reality is very different. Chip and Veronica also explore how alcohol makes us miss out on so much in life. That you don't miss out on the sobriety you gain.
To stay sober, we have to shift our perceptions. When we perceive that alcohol is the best way to have fun, relax and reward ourselves, stopping will feel hard. But if our perception shifts and we see that the cost of our drinking far outweighs any benefit, we no longer feel like we are missing out. We see that alcohol is causing us to miss our lives.
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Social media is addiction by design. Dr. Nicholas Kardaras joins Veronica to talk about social media addiction and how it was deliberately designed to hijack our dopamine system and get us hooked. It's digital candy and we are enticed into displaying our idealised internal lives. Dr. Kardaras explains how predatory algorithms work and how they are responsible for creating a mental health crisis for young people.
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What happens when we get complacent about our sobriety? Chip and Veronica discuss the times they had got complacent about their recovery. When they stopped going to meetings and stopped doing all the work they did to remain emotionally sober, Veronica shared her tool of 'when I'm ok with me, I don't have to make you wrong.' And how she uses that as a guide. When she notices that she is picking at or criticising other people, it's usually an indication that she is not ok and needs to do something to take care of her mental and emotional health. No matter how long we have been sober, we still need to connect with other sober people. Whatever sobriety program we work in, we need its principles to guide us for the rest of our lives.
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What do you do when the worst thing in the world happens? Cammie Wolf Rice lost her son to opioid addiction. He was a gifted student who was prescribed oxycontin for an operation and started a 14-year battle with opioids. After his death, Cammie used her pain as power. Learn how she is creating real change so nothing like this happens to another family.
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After bartending her way across Hollywood and Beverly Hills, Angela was in over her head with a drinking problem that was relentless. She got sober in 2006 and dedicated her life to helping others do the same. She joins Veronica to discuss how to deal with boredom in sobriety and how we need to take responsibility for our lives and experiences.
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Veronica interviews Dr. Christine Gibson about the link between trauma and addiction. how trauma impacts our physical health and how the brain responds to trauma. They discuss EFT and how effective matrix reimprinting is in healing trauma.
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