Sober Friends

Matt J
  • 4.3 (719)
  • Mental Health
  • Updated Weekly

Ever feel like you’re the only one who thinks this way? The Sober Friends Podcast is for people who are learning that recovery is about more than quitting drinking—it’s about learning how to live. Every week, Matt and Steve have honest conversations about the challenges that don’t disappear when alcohol does: anxiety, control, relationships, fear, loneliness, resentment, people-pleasing, and the ongoing work of emotional sobriety. Because getting sober doesn’t automatically make life easier. It just gives you the opportunity to face life differently. No gurus. No perfection. No pretending to have it all figured out. Just two friends with long-term sobriety sharing what they’ve learned, what they’re still learning, and how recovery continues to shape their lives years after their last drink. Whether you’re questioning your drinking, newly sober, or years into recovery, you’ll find practical insights, honest conversations, and reminders that growth doesn’t end when the alcohol is gone. New episodes every week. Matt and Steve are members of Alcoholics Anonymous but speak only from their own experience. This podcast is not affiliated with Alcoholics Anonymous.

  1. 4d ago

    Why Do I Miss Things Before They're Gone?

    Send us Fan Mail Have you ever been enjoying something good, only to find yourself already worrying about when it's going to end? Maybe it's time with someone you love, a relationship that's going well, or a period in your life when things finally seem to be falling into place. Instead of enjoying what's happening, you're already preparing yourself for what you might lose. When Matt's son came home from college for the weekend, the excitement of having him home quickly turned into sadness about having to say goodbye again. That realization led to a bigger question: Why do we sometimes start missing things before they're even gone? Matt and Steve share their own experiences with anticipating loss, worrying about the future, and trying to protect themselves from pain that hasn't happened yet. For those of us in recovery, these feelings can be especially uncomfortable when alcohol is no longer there to numb them. We talk about fear, acceptance, and whether constantly preparing ourselves for disappointment actually makes anything easier. We haven't figured out how to stop worrying about what comes next, but maybe recognizing the pattern can help us spend a little more time enjoying what we have right now. Fit, Healthy & Happy Podcast Welcome to the Fit, Healthy and Happy Podcast hosted by Josh and Kyle from Colossus...Listen on: Apple Podcasts   Spotify Support the show 📫 Get more honest conversations about sobriety delivered to your inbox! Subscribe to The Sober Friends Dispatch, our weekly newsletter where we go beyond the podcast to share real strategies for alcohol-free living. Join our community by clicking here.

  2. Oct 6

    I Can’t Handle One More Change of Plans

    Send us Fan Mail You had a plan for the day. Now someone needs you to drop everything, another arrangement falls through, and you’re scrambling again. At some point, one more change feels like more than you can handle. Matt shares a weekend that pushed him past his limit and how ADHD and autism affect his response to disrupted routines. Steve recognizes his own version: offering to help, then getting frustrated when it interrupts his plans. Both talk honestly about letting frustration build—and feeling like they have to explode to be heard. Alcohol once helped them change how that pressure felt. Handling it sober means figuring out when to step in, when to say no, and what helps before frustration takes over. The conversation also turns to the ways perfectionism can keep simple recovery practices out of reach, even after years without a drink. Fit, Healthy & Happy Podcast Welcome to the Fit, Healthy and Happy Podcast hosted by Josh and Kyle from Colossus...Listen on: Apple Podcasts   Spotify Support the show 📫 Get more honest conversations about sobriety delivered to your inbox! Subscribe to The Sober Friends Dispatch, our weekly newsletter where we go beyond the podcast to share real strategies for alcohol-free living. Join our community by clicking here.

  3. Sep 29

    I Keep Trying to Figure Everything Out Ahead of Time

    Send us Fan Mail What happens when you’ve stopped drinking, but your brain still wants guarantees? Matt and Steve talk about the need to research, plan, anticipate, and control what happens next — from work and money to cooking dinner and doing projects around the house. Underneath it is a harder problem: uncertainty. If you can figure everything out ahead of time, maybe you can avoid getting it wrong, wasting your time, or feeling like you failed. Recovery doesn’t make that instinct disappear. It gives you a different way to respond to it. This episode is about learning to tolerate not knowing, letting other people do things their way, and recognizing that progress can mean handling life differently even when the old thinking still shows up. Fit, Healthy & Happy Podcast Welcome to the Fit, Healthy and Happy Podcast hosted by Josh and Kyle from Colossus...Listen on: Apple Podcasts   Spotify Project Candor: Ordinary People. Unexpected StoriesHow a dog taught Dr. Andy Neillie to lead. You don't have to be famous to be fascinating.Listen on: Apple Podcasts   Spotify Support the show 📫 Get more honest conversations about sobriety delivered to your inbox! Subscribe to The Sober Friends Dispatch, our weekly newsletter where we go beyond the podcast to share real strategies for alcohol-free living. Join our community by clicking here.

  4. Sep 22

    What If I Don’t Need to Get Better at Drinking? — Suzanne Warye

    Send us Fan Mail What if the problem isn’t that you haven’t figured out how to drink the right way? Suzanne Warye, host of The Sober Mom Life and author of The Sober Shift, joins Matt to talk about the exhausting work of trying to control alcohol, wondering whether you’re “bad enough” to quit, and realizing that you don’t need to hit someone else’s rock bottom before deciding drinking isn’t working for you. Suzanne also shares why traditional recovery language never quite fit her, how she moved from seeing sobriety as deprivation to experiencing it as freedom, and why there can be more than one way into an alcohol-free life. Learn more about Suzanne, The Sober Shift, and The Sober Mom Life at: https://suzannewarye.com/ Fit, Healthy & Happy Podcast Welcome to the Fit, Healthy and Happy Podcast hosted by Josh and Kyle from Colossus...Listen on: Apple Podcasts   Spotify Support the show 📫 Get more honest conversations about sobriety delivered to your inbox! Subscribe to The Sober Friends Dispatch, our weekly newsletter where we go beyond the podcast to share real strategies for alcohol-free living. Join our community by clicking here.

    What If I Don’t Need to Get Better at Drinking? — Suzanne Warye

  5. Sep 15

    Is It Okay to Question AA?

    Send us Fan Mail What happens when something that helped save your life starts to raise questions? For many people in recovery, there can be an uncomfortable tension between gratitude and honesty. You can believe that AA, meetings, and the recovery process have given you something valuable while still having questions about parts of the program, the language, or the way recovery is sometimes presented. Matt and Steve talk about what it means to question recovery without rejecting it. They explore the difference between healthy curiosity and resistance, why questioning can actually be part of personal growth, and why one person’s path to recovery does not have to become everyone’s path. Sometimes the most honest question is not “Why am I struggling with this?” but “What can I learn by being willing to ask?” Fit, Healthy & Happy Podcast Welcome to the Fit, Healthy and Happy Podcast hosted by Josh and Kyle from Colossus...Listen on: Apple Podcasts   Spotify Support the show 📫 Get more honest conversations about sobriety delivered to your inbox! Subscribe to The Sober Friends Dispatch, our weekly newsletter where we go beyond the podcast to share real strategies for alcohol-free living. Join our community by clicking here.

  6. Sep 8

    I’m Doing Everything I’m Supposed To. Why Isn’t It Enough?

    Send us Fan Mail I’m doing what I’m supposed to do. I’m showing up. I’m putting in the work. So why does it still feel like I’m falling short? Matt and Steve talk about the nagging belief that you should always be doing more—at work, in recovery, and in life. That leads them into a bigger question: are you doing things because they actually help, or because you’re trying to prove you’re doing recovery the “right” way? Prayer, meetings, reading, routines, productivity—even good habits can become boxes to check when the purpose gets lost. Recovery isn’t about performing it perfectly. Eventually, it becomes about learning how to live: handling difficult days, treating people well, taking care of yourself, and building a life you no longer need to escape from. Fit, Healthy & Happy Podcast Welcome to the Fit, Healthy and Happy Podcast hosted by Josh and Kyle from Colossus...Listen on: Apple Podcasts   Spotify Support the show 📫 Get more honest conversations about sobriety delivered to your inbox! Subscribe to The Sober Friends Dispatch, our weekly newsletter where we go beyond the podcast to share real strategies for alcohol-free living. Join our community by clicking here.

  7. Sep 1

    Something Actually Wrong, or Does It Just Hurt?

    Send us Fan Mail Sometimes something can hurt deeply even when nothing is wrong. After dropping his son Owen off at college, Matt expected the hard part to be worrying about whether he would be okay. Instead, the emotion hit when he realized the opposite: Owen was ready. He had found his people. He was going to be fine. And a chapter of Matt’s life as a parent had changed anyway. Matt and Steve talk about grief that comes without tragedy, what it means to be present for moments you can’t fix, and how sobriety changes the way we experience painful feelings. Not every uncomfortable emotion is a problem to solve. Sometimes it just hurts—and learning not to run from that can be part of recovery. Fit, Healthy & Happy Podcast Welcome to the Fit, Healthy and Happy Podcast hosted by Josh and Kyle from Colossus...Listen on: Apple Podcasts   Spotify Support the show 📫 Get more honest conversations about sobriety delivered to your inbox! Subscribe to The Sober Friends Dispatch, our weekly newsletter where we go beyond the podcast to share real strategies for alcohol-free living. Join our community by clicking here.

  8. Aug 25

    I Keep Finding the Next Thing That Could Go Wrong

    Send us Fan Mail Sometimes you solve the thing you were worried about and feel relieved for about five minutes. Then your brain finds something else that could go wrong. Matt and Steve talk about what uncertainty does to them, from travel and job changes to money, family responsibilities, and situations where you've prepared as well as you can but still can't control the outcome. They also look back at the role alcohol used to play as a reliable way to shut down that discomfort, at least temporarily. Matt isn't trying to become fearless or convince himself everything will work out. He's trying to notice when fear of an uncertain outcome is keeping him from taking the next reasonable action—and learning that sometimes doing what you can has to be enough. Fit, Healthy & Happy Podcast Welcome to the Fit, Healthy and Happy Podcast hosted by Josh and Kyle from Colossus...Listen on: Apple Podcasts   Spotify Support the show 📫 Get more honest conversations about sobriety delivered to your inbox! Subscribe to The Sober Friends Dispatch, our weekly newsletter where we go beyond the podcast to share real strategies for alcohol-free living. Join our community by clicking here.

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Trailer

4.3
out of 5
719 Ratings

About

Ever feel like you’re the only one who thinks this way? The Sober Friends Podcast is for people who are learning that recovery is about more than quitting drinking—it’s about learning how to live. Every week, Matt and Steve have honest conversations about the challenges that don’t disappear when alcohol does: anxiety, control, relationships, fear, loneliness, resentment, people-pleasing, and the ongoing work of emotional sobriety. Because getting sober doesn’t automatically make life easier. It just gives you the opportunity to face life differently. No gurus. No perfection. No pretending to have it all figured out. Just two friends with long-term sobriety sharing what they’ve learned, what they’re still learning, and how recovery continues to shape their lives years after their last drink. Whether you’re questioning your drinking, newly sober, or years into recovery, you’ll find practical insights, honest conversations, and reminders that growth doesn’t end when the alcohol is gone. New episodes every week. Matt and Steve are members of Alcoholics Anonymous but speak only from their own experience. This podcast is not affiliated with Alcoholics Anonymous.

Information

  • Creator
    Matt J
  • Years Active
    2019 - 2026
  • Episodes
    476
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © 2026 Sober Friends
  • Show Website
    Sober Friends

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