Jen welcomes viewers to Sober Not Somber Hour, explains the show's purpose, and frames the topic of mindful drinking versus abstinence. This short intro sets expectations and invites people to join the conversation.
Jen welcomes viewers to Sober Not Somber Hour, explains the show's purpose, and frames the topic of mindful drinking versus abstinence. This short intro sets expectations and invites people to join the conversation.
Jen mentions her upcoming 12-year sober anniversary and uses it to introduce the theme of belonging. She asks listeners to consider whether they've settled for social settings (like bars) that offer limited belonging and prompts reflection on better alternatives.
Jen introduces a complimentary set of botanical 'NABEV' spirits, describes each variety (aperitif, digestive, etc.), samples one on camera, and explains how these drinks can recreate social rituals. She describes flavors and initial tasting impressions to help viewers know what to expect.
Jen explains how NA beverages helped her feel included in social settings, offers to share recipes, and invites viewers' favorites. She also acknowledges that for some people, drink-like NA options can be triggering and discusses the recovery community perspective on that tradeoff.
Jen closes by reminding viewers of her upcoming 12-year celebration, encourages celebrating any sobriety milestone, and invites people to reach out with questions or feedback before the next episode.
Hi, everyone. I love it. just popped up on Cadre that myself, Jen Varoli, has joined your live stream. I hope others join in today for Sober Not Somber Hour. Your host, Jen Barale here chatting about all things sober, sober, curious. What would my life look like without alcohol entirely or just with less alcohol and more mindful drinking? Got the Cadre hat on today. Cadre has a lot of cool swag. If you guys have seen other contributors wearing stuff, there are shoes, there are T-shirts, there are sunglasses, there's a whole wealth of cadre merch you could get your hands on.
So anyway, inviting you in today. Sober Not Somber Hour is a time and a place to find joy even through the struggles of choosing to not drink and an alcohol free lifestyle, which for me 12 years ago meant a really hard decision minute to minute to not drink alcohol. I mentioned last week coming up on a sober anniversary, my 12 year anniversary of being alcohol free on July 28th. So would love it if you guys joined in next week to celebrate that. Yeah, so every Sober Not Somber hour, I try to share a non-alcoholic beverage of choice because that's also how I found joy in belonging.
And if you've been paying attention on the Cadre Sphere this month, we are talking about belonging and all its aspects. And today, week three of July is about finding belonging, like where do we find it? So I thought I'd share a little bit today about how as a sober person did I find belonging? And I can start with where it wasn't, which was the bar. And so my question for everyone today, just in general, could be in relation to how you want to partake or not in alcohol in social settings. But do you feel in your social settings like you have accepted a low bar for finding belonging or feeling like you belong?
And I ask that because my My thought process in the beginning of sobriety was, yeah, I don't belong in a bar. It's not a good place for me, but the height of my probably high bar for belonging was being able to be in a bar setting, socializing with friends who were drinking. Oftentimes I was the only one maybe not drinking. And I always thought that, you know, is this the height of belonging? Is this as good as it gets? So that's what I want you to ask yourself today in terms of the communities and the spaces that you are in.
If you are finding belonging and perhaps you have maybe settled for a bar that is less than the ideal amount of the feeling of belonging and what that can bring. So as you ponder that, I want to share an awesome NABEV that I've had before at different events and this company parentheses. I mean, look at that beautiful design, just sent me 4 complimentary bottles of their botanical spirits. So I'm going to try a few today. We've got before, which is a bold floral and citrusy apertif. Look at that.
And then we have an after, a before and after, like almost like before sobriety, after sobriety. This is a strong and woodsy and a smoky digestive. So all these new terms, aperitif and digestive. And then we have a before dusk version. And this is elegant, citrusy, bitter and floral. Two drinks in here. I'm going to sample a couple. And then this is after midnight, balanced, smoky, woodsy and complex. So the botanical spirit world is has just exploded over the last years and I think it's so fun.
So this is the After Midnight and my little shot glass which makes me feel like I belong. Wow and any of these you can have just straight up on the rocks. That is definitely smoky. I like that. Not everyone might. Yeah it is very complex. Wow. Drink parentheses, if you can find them on Instagram. And they are available in a lot of non-alcoholic bottle shops and the NA section in your local liquor store, like Total Wine. So I would say, you know, sampling some of these has helped me feel like I can belong in certain spaces that are social and places where people traditionally drink or drink heavily.
I've got my NA version of something that feels celebrated and that had really has been my platform for a lot of things that I've questioned over the years. Like where do I belong? Well, these beverages help me feel that way, which is why I share that more in the live stream. So I'm going to make some cocktails with these and I will post these and their recipes in the cadre chat so that everyone can have access to those. And yeah, let me know. Do you have any favorite beverages that you're liking this summer?
And yeah. I would also ask because I might be in a very small percentage of the people in recovery who actually really love these type of non-alcoholic beverages. I realized that years ago as I thought providing these type of NA beverages would be super exciting for people in recovery. And in general, I found that is not always the case. I think that has a lot to do with AA and kind of the idea that anything resembling an alcoholic beverage might be triggering and cause a return to use. So I always mention that because that is a very real and true thing for people to consider if they are protecting their sobriety and have any doubt that some other sort of drink might trigger that.
So I just mentioned that, but for me it was different. It's an absolute way to feel like I'm along. What are your thoughts? Do you enjoy the NABEVs? How do they make you feel in a situation? Is it take it or leave it for you or are they a game changer in being able to be in today's social experiences? I'd be curious. Let me know. And yeah, I'm going to post about all these drinks and let me know if you want to try any of them and how, if you do, what you think of them. I always love to hear. Until next week when I'm celebrating my 12 year, yeah, enjoy the rest of the day and be, I guess, celebratory.
If you've got any amount of sobriety, I always do like snaps for that. And yeah, I'd love to hear from you. Reach out if you have any questions until next week.
