The Unexpected Joy of Being Sober: THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER

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And I just wanted to tell everyone what it’s actually like, I think a lot of quit lit focuses on that struggle that painful bit, before you start even trying to quit, or the bit where you do have the 37 day ones. In this podcast, my goal is to teach you the tried and true secrets of creating and living a life you don’t want to escape from. The Unexpected Joy of Being Sober came to me at a time when I much needed it... The book became my best friend, and got me through, and took me on a journey.' - Sadie Frost

So and the most recent research here shows only one in 10 Brits knows that alcohol is related to cancer, that alcohol can cause cancer. So obviously, the education is not bad, and it needs to be done. But it’s not being done. The truth about your drinking that you probably don’t want to admit is that it stopped being enjoyable a while ago. But your brain doesn’t care, it’s built the habit already. Anytime you have a problem of any kind, your brain goes to alcohol as the solution. If you want to hit refresh on life, you need this book. Consider The Unexpected Joy of Being Sober your healthy new addiction.' - Kate Faithfull-Williams, former health editor of Grazia, co-author of The Feelgood Plan and Hey, Where Did My Day Go? bloggerDating and sex are two other realms that alcohol seems to go hand in hand with. But they’re both far better when we’re sober. Take sex for example. A riveting, raw, yet humorous memoir with actionable advice.' - Annie Grace, author of This Naked Mind A nd so I flipped that and made most of the book about the light that comes after the dark. There’s still you know, a lot of gritty stuff in there, but most of it is about the, you know, the the dawn rather than the darkness. And why not talk about it on socials? Now that’s completely socially accepted. When I when I yeah, it just wasn’t I didn’t come out on Facebook until, I don’t know, it was three years even when I joined Facebook groups that were full of people in recovery. I used a pseudonym at first because there was still this real shame and stigma attached to it. And that’s not the case anymore. I mean, that has really receded and died out. So it’s it’s definitely something that’s shifting and changing. It’s been quite glacial, but it’s finally really, really happening. Catherine's writing style and voice captivate me. She has a way of translating her story into an experience I don't want to end. I want to drink every drop she produces.' - Holly Whitaker, founder of Hip Sobriety School and co-presenter of Home podcast

The balance of the book is tilted toward how to override an ingrained habit. In response to repetitive acts, our brain does what it is supposed to do, it carves out a familiar route to action, but it's not necessarily helpful. The brain can be retrained, a new path cleared, science at its best. Eventually, you’re going to have to be at some event where there’s booze. To remain mentally strong and keep a healthy distance from this carcinogen, compare fantasy to reality. So it’s clear that it’s beginning to die out just like smoking did. And we’re just really early adopters. Non-Fiction Books» Industry & Industrial Studies» Media, Entertainment, Information & Communication IndustriesAnd that makes so much sense. I’m glad you dug into that, because I thought that was incredibly interesting. When I think of trauma, I think of, you know, the really dark stuff, you know, bereavement and sexual abuse, and of course, those do feature in that question, but some of the other ones are less likely and more surprising. One of them is a good wolf which represents things like kindness, bravery and love. The other is a bad wolf, which represents things like greed, hatred and fear. The sad thing with that is you’re just putting off the joy of being sober. You’re just putting off the feeling of freedom and happiness and contentment of life in full color without hangovers. That is out there for you. I spent so many years trying to hang on to drinking, and didn’t realize how good I was going to feel once I finally gave it up. But there truly is nothing to lose other than the crucifying hangovers; the ability to laugh at jokes that aren’t funny; propensity to pull people you don’t fancy; and the inclination to stay out beyond 1am (after which nothing good happens, I promise, having done my research on 16,807 occasions). The only – yes, only! – social skill I have lost is the ability to do karaoke.

The author has a few good points: that it can be a nightmare to have to explain to people why you don’t drink as if you told them you replaced food with the energy of the Sun or something, that alcohol is overrated and that you really can live without it and also that once you have a problem it’s really worth it to quit. Yeah, and I mean that that is what we can do to help the people coming up behind us is obviously, you know, attraction, not promotion, don’t preach, because that really turns people off. So if people are curious, and they ask about it, tell them the truth, tell them how much better it is. This book is a gamechanger. Everyone deserves to have Catherine hold their hand as they navigate the new world of not drinking - whether exploring alcohol-free periods or going for full-on sobriety - and this book enables just that. Wise, funny & so relatable.' - Laurie, Girl & Tonic blogger Sentence-Summary: The Unexpected Joy Of Being Sober will help you have a happier and healthier life by persuasively revealing the many disadvantages of alcohol and the benefits of going without it permanently.

This book seemed to talk a lot about myself. I saw things I have done because I wanted to drink more in her real-life stories. I would help clean up at the end of art openings to score a bottle of wine, I would join the drunk-boys brigades to ensure complete and utter toxic falling over. I'd mess up my PhD because the drink was more interesting. My relationships suffered and broke. I didn't see I was trapped, but this book helped me out of that trap- and I still have some way to go, but I am no longer a slave to the booze. THEY SAY: ‘CAN’T YOU JUST HAVE ONE?’ Oh, man, I never thought of that! You’re a genius! Just one, you say? Rather than five or six? Thanks, Captain Obvious.” This is because when you drink you get a release of dopamine. And as getting drunk each week or day dulls your senses, it becomes the only thing that can get you a significant dopamine release. In other words, drinking rewires your brain, and not to your advantage. Wow, I had no idea that alcohol is so bad for you and that being sober is something to be extremely grateful for! I’ve never drunk but every story I hear about booze just makes me never want to. The Unexpected Joy Of Being Sober just reinforced my commitment to sobriety even more! Who would I recommend The Unexpected Joy Of Being Sober summary to? Our brains have learned to drink to this level to become addicted to this substance. And they’ve now placed it on a survival in a survival region of the brain that normally you would have, you know, eating, sleeping, you know, running away from lions, things like that.

Yeah, it’s like this circular firing squad, right? Because, you know, we’ve been conditioned since birth, to basically believe that we need to drink. It’s part of being an adult and bonding and, and then there’s the marketing and then your friends keep reinforcing it too. Only a few drinks are okay, right? Everything in moderation? Actually, according to the chief medical officer in the UK, “there is no level of regular drinking that can be considered completely safe.” And it gets worse. When she’s not writing, Catherine can generally be found taking twenty (identical) pictures of the sunset, wondering why she’s always the sweatiest person in yoga, fighting her ‘spend it all!’ financial urges, or scanning the body language of strangers to see if it’s OK to pet their dog. You don’t have to spend all day sleeping off your hangover, you can leap out of bed at seven and go on an early morning walk, or join your friends for a lovely brunch. If you’ve read any Quit Lit, Catherine Gray’s book, The Unexpected Joy Of Being Sober , is likely on your bookshelf or Kindle. It’s a book I absolutely love and it’s one of the first books about giving up alcohol I recommend to women as they’re starting their journey to stop drinking.Catherine Gray is an award-winning writer and editor. She has worked on staff for magazines such as Cosmopolitan, GLAMOUR and the Sun's Fabulous supplement. She has written as a freelancer for publications like Stylist, Marie Claire, YOU, Women's Health, Grazia, the Guardian, Shortlist, BBC Earth, Emerald Street, Heat and the Daily Mail. I read this book during my dry January spell and I found it gave me serious food for thought. Catherine's experiences through her drinking were very open and honest. There were some funny stories however some very serious ones which was very brave of her to put in to a book for all to read.