What Happens When You Stop Drinking for a Month? | Soberness Podcast with Hilary Sheinbaum

Author and journalist Hilary Sheinbaum dives into the transformative power of dry challenges like Dry January. Drawing from her personal experience and research for her book *The Dry Challenge*, Hilary explains what happens when you stop drinking for a month and the surprising physical, emotional, and social benefits of going alcohol-free.  

Hilary shares practical tips for navigating a booze-filled world, overcoming peer pressure, and making the most of a dry month. Whether you’re sober-curious, considering a dry challenge, or looking for ways to improve your relationship with alcohol, this episode is packed with relatable stories and actionable advice.  

sobriety motivation, how to go alcohol-free.  

KEY TAKEAWAYS:

1. **Small Steps Lead to Big Changes**: Hilary explains how starting with a short-term commitment like Dry January can lead to lasting changes in health, sleep, and overall well-being, proving that even a small break from alcohol can have transformative effects.  

2. **Community Matters**: From navigating social events to finding support in dry challenges, Hilary emphasizes the importance of community and connection when making lifestyle changes, showing how a supportive environment can help sustain sobriety.  

3. **Rethink Your Relationship with Alcohol**: Hilary’s journey highlights the value of questioning habits and finding alternative ways to connect, celebrate, and unwind without relying on alcohol. Sobriety doesn’t have to mean missing out; it can open the door to new opportunities and experiences.  

ABOUT THE SOBERNESS PODCAST

Soberness is a new podcast  from Cat Greenleaf, creator and host of Talk Stoop. 

Cat brings her legendary interviewing style and ten years of sobriety to wild conversations with celebrities and notable people who have been on their own sober journeys, either out loud in public or quietly at home.

Soberness is not a somber show about sobriety. 

It’s about the one-of-a-kind stories that define the lives of people we all know, sharing the aching humor and the meaning that comes with a life in recovery. 

And it’s about how that life redefines the work and the art of the actors, musicians and thinkers around us. 

Soberness is built upon the primary belief that there’s no one definition for sobriety and no one way to get sober …and there are a million stories that can lead the way for anyone who’s trying to make it happen.

WATCH THE FULL EPISODE HERE: 

https://youtu.be/-gkNENcBJPM

LISTEN TO THE FULL AUDIO PODCASTS HERE: https://open.spotify.com/show/6CT7iEJi0PIzaVHxEBVZVi

ABOUT CAT GREENLEAF

Cat Greenleaf is a veteran TV personality and host, best known for her long-running series, Talk Stoop, where she interviewed and entertained actors, musicians, politicians, and other notable folks on the stoop of her Brooklyn brownstone. When she’s not TV-ing, she’s working on her non-profit the Restorative Housing Organization which provides employment for formerly incarcerated folks and affordable waterfront housing.  She also leads AA meetings for inmates at Bedford Hills Women’s Maximum Security Prison, and for formerly incarcerated men and women in East New York.  She lives in Brooklyn’s Coney Island with her husband, two sons and three dogs.

TIME CODES:

00:00 Introduction  

00:05 The shocking hangover statistic  

00:42 Hillary’s journey to the dry lifestyle  

01:04 Becoming a lifestyle expert on sobriety  

02:11 The beginnings of Dry January  

04:07 How cutting alcohol improved sleep  

06:09 Navigating friendships without alcohol  

09:00 The surprising benefits of drinking less  

10:45 Writing "The Dry Challenge"  

12:19 Activities that replace drinking  

14:05 Questions to ask before starting Dry January  

16:04 The growing demand for dry events  

17:12 Is Dry January a path to full sobriety?  

18:26 Hilary’s advice for those wanting to quit  

20:33 The challenges of changing habits  

22:41 Sugar cravings and alcohol  

24:29 The evolution of Hilary’s dry months  

26:25 Long-term benefits of drinking less  

28:30 Closing thoughts on sober living  

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