Jen greets viewers, names the show and sets up that she'll be sharing personal reflections about sobriety and recent events. This short opening frames the episode's focus on recovery and community.
Jen greets viewers, names the show and sets up that she'll be sharing personal reflections about sobriety and recent events. This short opening frames the episode's focus on recovery and community.
Jen shows her medallion collection and explains why the first year of sobriety is intense, highlighting small milestones like 24 hours to one year. She reflects on how those tokens mark progress and resilience in early recovery.
She describes celebrating her soberversary at Portal sauna with friend James and introduces the theme of community support. The segment transitions toward discussing what happens in AA rooms and how community helped her.
Jen recounts first attending AA about 14 years ago, her returns to use, and the vulnerability of trying again. She addresses the common fear of having to immediately identify as an alcoholic and reassures listeners about entry into meetings.
In a lighthearted moment she mixes a nonalcoholic 'Three Spirit' drink with tonic and explains her casual hosting ritual. This pause humanizes the conversation and segues into the story of her soberversary morning.
Jen narrates waking early on her sober date, attending a meeting where a newcomer helper presented her medallion, and the warm, supportive reactions from people she hadn't met. She emphasizes leaning on community as central to her recovery.
She explains what AA meetings are like, how people step up to help newcomers, and the role of sponsors. Jen also describes celebrating, reconnecting with supporters, and the positive response to sharing her anniversary publicly.
Jen describes attending a packed Orono meeting, a Wayzata retreat event, and the power of collective vulnerability in recovery. She closes by encouraging viewers to check out local AA meetings or reach out for help and toasts to 12 years sober.
Hello, hello, welcome. It is time for sober, not somber hour. I'm your host, Jen Varale. And yeah, I cannot believe it is August. Here we are August 2026 and. Thinking back on this last week, and I have a lot I want to share with you guys today. And the content that comes up, I think for a lot of our contributors, we have certain themes we talk about, and mine obviously is sobriety and my sober journey. And last year, I'm going to just zoom in on this for you guys. Look at that shiny medallion. There's a nice weight to it.
I have an entire collection and it's not just for each year of sobriety. It's actually for like 24 hours. I have one. I have one for a month. I have one for three, 6, 9 in a year. And that is because it is intense in the first year. If you are trying to make different changes to your life and your lifestyle and essentially taking away alcohol or a substance that was once your main source of coping, your main coping mechanism, whether it was to numb out or whatever you used or are using a substance for.
It's a tough road and I just am so proud of this and the community that really helped me achieve this. So this was last Tuesday I celebrated and I came at you from Portal sauna. If you caught up to last week's share and I was at Portal with my dear friend James Gannino. Hi Speak Wonder. It's so fun to like see people coming in. I haven't had many guests on lately for whatever reason. Some are hiatus. But yeah, James and I were at a sauna and we were talking about the power of community and not just virtual or online like this, which is so amazing, but extending that connection into real life.
So we were in the sauna. I asked him if he would come and celebrate my soberversary with me of 12 years and he did. And yes. So anyway, what I wanted to share was just the idea of like what actually happens in the rooms of AA. And I stepped foot in for the first time about 14 years ago. And if some of you know my story, I had two returns to use. over the course of about a year and a half before an alcohol-free lifestyle finally stuck. And I think that is highly common to continue and try again. And the beauty is in the vulnerability of saying, I didn't get it right this last time, but I'm gonna try again.
And there are stories upon stories in these rooms. And I go once a year and there are a lot of people who do AA meetings daily weekly. And I for whatever reason, after about three years of going weekly, I took my work in the sober space and the mindful drinking space more to the public and in coaching one-on-one. And that's just my path. But oh my goodness, I was reminded of 20 years of a fear that kept me from going into that room because my perception was I would have to say, I'm Jen. I'm an alcoholic right away.
And despite rehearsing that in my mirror to myself, I did not want I wasn't ready for that. And I have to think others have that perception, like they're not ready to go right into that room and immediately declare that. So if you are, you know, considering attending an AA meeting or you think you need to, I will say that you do not have to share that. You don't have to declare anything. You can just say that you are a newcomer to the meeting. That is it. And I wish I had known that because it can be pretty intimidating if you have a perception of what those groups or those gatherings might be.
But here's the cool part. And I will pause because if you know me, I'm always drinking a favorite NA Bev. Today I have three spirit. This one actually is called Livener and it has some caffeine in it. But I need that this afternoon. I just need it because I have a longer night tonight. And then I mix it with one of my favorite tonics, Thomas Henry. So it's like 2 parts, three spirit, little splash of tonic water in a fun glass. And we are celebrating non-alcoholic happy hour. So I made that before I got on because I was just like, I'm so I don't want to wait to make it.
in my stream, I want to just dig in. Anyway, so I will share my experience this last Saturday. So my sober date was July 28th, last Tuesday. And on that date, I woke up early. m. and went to a 6:30 meeting across the city where I received this medallion from a woman who I had just met. I walked in the door at 6:28 and I said is there a trusted servant here? I you know I'm celebrating an anniversary and Amy immediately stepped up and was like, I can help you. And she got the medallion and she asked me a few questions.
And then when it was time during the meeting to make announcements, she got up and she said what little she knew of me, you know, maybe three things. And it's Jen, you know, she's returning to this group meeting. She hasn't been for a while, made this really sweet introduction. And then it's always, you know, how'd you do it? And I gave a, you know, I don't know, few minutes talked about the journey, but ultimately community was the way that I did it. Leaning on others, letting go of control because that had gotten me into consistent alcohol misuse in the past.
So community was the way that I did it. So I want to leave that with you all if you're wondering like how does that, how do those meetings work? And what I will share was People are just so welcoming. Like I knew not a soul in that room. I hadn't been back for years. And after I shared, and then after the one hour long meeting, people came up to me at the end, wanted to talk to me, congratulate me, ask questions, people that I had never met before. But you know what? We share a common bond in our sober journey and it is powerful.
So I would just say, if you are questioning, what are meetings like? Will they help me? How can I step in the door and not feel so intimidated? I just, I think that was, I mean, it truly was the only way that I got sober because I didn't go to treatment. I didn't have any other paths. So AA and a sponsor, having a sponsor. So people will step up in your very first meeting you go to if you do need help and they will connect with you after the meeting. And that could just be a conversation. No pressure, just a conversation to find an avenue in to have someone to talk to.
So and there are two things that I did after that Tuesday meeting. I celebrated during the day. I reached out to people. I thanked them for their help along the way. I just rekindled that. And then I had an amazing outpouring of love and support when I posted on my social channels that today was the day. the 12 year anniversary for me. And that is always amazing to me. People just want to show up. They want to see you succeed, especially on this journey. And yeah, so that, gosh, that was a day of reflection.
And then I took that into Saturday and attended this wonderful recovery and AA meeting out in Orono, Minnesota. So quite a drive for me. in a beautiful renovated church and it's called Fox Street. And I don't know, 70, 75 some people there packed into a church. You know, we go through all the names. Everything is rapid fire, but there's a small group breakout and that piece of the meeting I really loved. And then of course connecting with people before and after. And then I also went to the retreat of Wayzata, which is an incredible foundation in Wayzata that is built on the idea that we help each other.
So recovering alcoholics support those that are trying to get help and they have a new addition and incredible campus out there. and they announced their new retreat director. And it was just such a wonderful day of coming together in the recovery community. So I just, I think it's such, sometimes AA or the rooms and what you might experience there gets a bad rap if you have not. And I just want to open it up to say it is so incredible and the power of people coming together, being vulnerable about their stories and asking for the help they need to stay sober is so powerful so um check out your local AA meeting if you think you might benefit from that and you do need help and I'm also always always available as a resource through the cadre app um and I'm open to having those kind of conversations so uh NA cheers to 12 years of sobriety thank you all for being here to celebrate with me and here's to another Shiny gold medallion.
