Author: Alysse Bryson

“I literally felt like my cells were rearranging themselves because now I was complete.”Margy Schaller What happens when people stop hiding their sobriety — and start celebrating it out loud? For Margy Schaller, that shift felt like a physical transformation. After 18 years of sobriety lived mostly in silence, she finally came out publicly — and found freedom through Sober Life Rocks, the community she co-founded with Laura Nelson. Together, they’re now leading something bigger: Amplify Sober Voices, a conference debuting at Podfest 2026 designed to unite sober creators, coaches, writers, and leaders from every corner of the alcohol-free world.…

If your passport is begging for a new stamp and your soul is craving connection, Guatemala might be calling your name. On a recent episode of The Sober Curator Podcast, I teamed up with our Senior Sober Curator Travel Journalist, Teresa Bergen, to chat with Philippa Myers, founder of SoberTravelRetreats.org. Philippa has called Antigua, Guatemala home since 1992, and she’s turned her decades in the travel industry and her long-term recovery into something pretty magical: eight-day sober journeys that blend cultural immersion, service, recovery principles, and serious fun. National Geographic named Guatemala its #1 destination for 2025, and after hearing…

When The Real Margaret Josephs tells you she’s “always been the designated driver—and the life of the party,” you know she means it. Alongside her best friend and business partner Lexi Barbuto, she’s rewriting what it means to celebrate with Soirée—a luxury non-alcoholic drink brand that’s part beverage, part movement. Soirée isn’t just a pretty can—it’s a vibe. Vintage prints, glamorous design, and flavor profiles that whisper Palm Springs and confidence. Think cucumber-mint lychee, watermelon-basil, or the new Café Spritz launching for Dry January. Each sip says: you belong here, no explanations needed. For Margaret, the inspiration came from watching…

“Hello, I’m Richard.”  That’s how the door opened for Wendy Correa — Ringo at the threshold, sobriety on the other side. The handshake at her very first AA meeting didn’t fix anything overnight; it simply gave her proof that recovery is human, possible and sometimes standing there with a Beatles grin.   Wendy’s story arcs like a mixtape: LA label years that were glittering and gritty; a DUI that snapped the soundtrack; a late-night audition in a tiny booth where knobs and sliders looked like a spaceship; and a mountain town where the request line rang at 4 a.m. with a familiar gravelly voice asking for Warren Zevon.   She had spent…

I didn’t go to Good Day Sauna planning to cold plunge. In fact, I declared to anyone who would listen (the ferry, the clouds, my poor Adidas wedge flip-flops) that I absolutely would not be plunging. Cut to me borrowing Libby’s Crocs, squealing my way into Puget Sound, and popping back out with a whoop that startled a seagull. Spoiler: I survived—and I slept like a dream afterwards. A Sober Spa Day, Seattle-Style On a gray Saturday afternoon in Seattle, I met up with two of my favorite co-conspirators, Libby and Nina, longtime ride or dies from my magazine days, to check out Good…

If there’s one thing we’ve learned since swapping cocktails for mocktails and hangovers for early-morning clarity, it’s this: traveling sober is the ultimate luxury. No fuzzy memories, no bar tabs, no FOMO. Just full presence, connection, and experiences that actually stick. Whether you’re in year one of recovery or year twenty, these curated sober retreats and trips are proof that the world is wide open for those ready to explore it — zero-proof style. And before we dive in, let’s give a huge round of sober applause to our Senior Sober Curator Contributor + Travel Journalist, Teresa Bergen, who has…

Another year, another wave of sober curiosity, recovery conversations, and culture-shifting content. From deep dives into pop culture to product reviews that spark curiosity (and sometimes controversy), The Sober Curator community continues to show up, click in, and stay inspired. Here are the Top 25 Most-Read Articles of 2025, as voted by your views, shares, and saves. Let’s take a look at what resonated most this year. Fun fact! This list isn’t just curated — it’s data-driven. With 763 articles from 40+ contributors and 220,000 unique visitors spending an average of three minutes per visit since January 1st, 2025, it’s…

“Today I am sober and you are sober.”That’s how the episode ends — two grown women wearing alien headbands, debating whether the ocean is actually space. Because let’s be honest, sobriety doesn’t mean you stop asking weird questions. It just means you remember to hydrate between them. The internet is currently losing its collective mind over something called 3I Atlas — apparently the third interstellar visitor to enter our solar system. Detected in July 2025, moving like it knew where it was going, and then—because drama loves a plot twist—it vanished for 19 seconds before popping back up. Cue NASA’s…

Looking for a night out that’s playful, creative, and completely alcohol-free? Mark your calendars, because Sober AF Bottle Shop in Tacoma, WA is hosting its Build, Sip & Chill LEGO® Event Series this fall—and it’s guaranteed to bring out your inner kid while keeping things fresh, fun, and sober. The Event Each evening, guests will gather to build epic LEGO® sets (themes announced soon), sip on craft zero-proof cocktails, and chill in one of the most Instagram-worthy sober spaces around. Every ticket includes one non-alcoholic craft beverage, with rotating options to keep things exciting. My Experience I attended one of…

There’s something I wish someone had told me early in my sobriety journey:Letting go of alcohol is only step one.Learning how to live again is the real transformation. It wasn’t the alcohol I missed — it was feeling alive. The spontaneous fun. The deep belly laughs. The sense of connection and adventure. For a while, I wondered if that part of life was gone for good. I didn’t want to just exist in sobriety; I wanted to come alive in it. But here’s the thing no one really teaches you — how to build a life that feels exciting, purposeful,…

Gray Area, Bright Lines: Why Kelley Kitley’s Honesty Lands Where It Hurts — and Heals  “I just want to take the edge off.” It’s the whisper that pretends to be help. On a quiet out-of-town night, therapist and author Kelley Kitley felt that old whisper again — years into sobriety. The picture looked harmless enough: hotel room, kid at practice, fatigue baked into the week. Then came the honest math: half an hour of exhale in exchange for a full day of consequences — and, if history has any say, a lot more than one day. So she did what…

Start in the Dark: How a Celtic Year Teaches Recovery to Breathe “Most things are conceived in the dark.” Anne Marie Cribbin drops that line with the steadiness of someone who has learned to trust beginnings that don’t look like beginnings at all. On our latest episode, the recovery coach and Sober Curator contributor unpacks why the Celtic New Year starts November 1—not with fireworks and sprint-worthy resolutions, but with slowness, shedding, and the quiet courage to begin again. For years, her drinking wasn’t dramatic; it was intimate. The problem wasn’t how much, it was the daily breach of promise—the…

If you’ve ever wondered what it looks like when compassion meets storytelling, PBS and Independent Lens have your answer. The two short documentaries — Do No Harm and Brother — are part of filmmaker Joanna Rudnick’s Opioid Trilogy, a hauntingly beautiful exploration of addiction, recovery, and the deep humanity often lost beneath headlines and statistics. In Do No Harm, we meet Raina, whose 17-year battle with heroin began with a simple truth: she never felt comfortable in her own skin. Growing up in chaos and isolation, she ran away young, and addiction became her constant companion across Portland, Seattle, and…

Move over, mocktails—your pets are now joining the sober revolution. That’s right. Just when you thought the sober-curious movement couldn’t get any more creative, a New Zealand company has launched an alcohol-free wine collection made exclusively for pets. Introducing Muttley’s Estate, the brand bringing refined leisure to your four-legged friends with a lineup that includes Purrno Noir, Proseccat, Sauvignon Bark, and more. We’re not kidding. This isn’t our “Fake Sponsor of the Week.” Sobriety has officially gone to the dogs (and cats). Wait—Pet Wine? Yes, Really. When we first stumbled across this, we had to double-check that it wasn’t a…

“Alcohol is liquid dessert.” The line lands with a thud of recognition — half confession, half revelation. On this week’s episode of The Sober Curator Podcast, the crew (Alysse, T-Boog, Megan Swan and Amy Liz Harrison) scoop into the complicated relationship between sugar and sobriety, and it tastes… familiar.  Why “Liquid Dessert” Makes Sense  Early recovery has a way of rearranging cravings. You swear off wine and suddenly you’re courting cake. Alysse calls it the “ice cream era,” that stretch when a pint becomes an emotional support item and church-basement trail mix is both a sacred offering and a hazard…

“Mood swings, mood swings, mood swings.” That opening lyrics sets the tone — or should I say vibration — for Gucci’s latest short film (33 minutes), The Tiger, directed by Spike Jonze and Halina Reijn. It’s part fashion film, part existential therapy session, and part psychedelic fever dream… wrapped in couture. And I am here for it. Thanks to Kate Vitela for mentioning this film to me; I might have missed it otherwise. The Sober Standout: Demi Moore Front and center is Demi Moore, radiating elegance and hard-earned wisdom. As a woman who’s been open about her recovery journey, Moore…

In the fiery debut episode of HOT TAKES, Host Alysse Bryson, co-Host Tamar Routly (aka T-Boog), and Senior Sober Curator Contributor Lane Kennedy grab their metaphorical popcorn — and maybe a canned mocktail — to unpack Saturday Night Live’s controversial “Non-Non-Alcoholic Beer” sketch. Was it harmless satire poking fun at modern drinking culture, or a tone-deaf jab at people living alcohol-free? As you might expect, opinions are… spirited. 🍿 Why It Hit a Nerve For many in recovery or living alcohol-free, sobriety isn’t just a lifestyle — it’s a cultural identity. So when a late-night comedy show turns that identity…

There’s a moment every sober person knows: the pivot from spectacle to humanity. Watching the Charlie Sheen documentary together, our Curator crew kept circling the same question — who was really “winning” during that infamous tour? The hat said one thing; the reality said another.  From the opening minutes, Alysse’s spoiler-friendly PSA sets the tone: we’re not here for reverence; we’re here for truth with sparkle. Early on, the conversation lands on a line about shame — how it can become a North Star, a South Star or a Death Star. It’s the kind of metaphor that hints at deep…

Hey, You Guys! We Finally Did It. Four years ago, in one of our first-ever conversations, Tamar and I discovered we were both obsessed with The Goonies. That magical 1985 treasure hunt movie set in Astoria, Oregon, sparked something between us — the kind of connection only two ‘80s-loving, pop-culture-saturated sober Gen X women can truly understand. We made a pact that day: someday we’d head to Astoria, live out our Goonies dreams, and recreate our very own sober treasure hunt. Fast-forward to today — we’re colleagues, podcast co-conspirators, and besties — and we did it. We turned our mutual…

Every once in a while, Saturday Night Live drops a skit that tries to lampoon culture, but instead lands squarely in the territory of tone-deaf. The recent “Non-Non-Alcoholic Beer” sketch is one of those moments. I get it. Comedy is meant to push boundaries. It’s supposed to hold up a mirror and make us laugh at ourselves. But there’s a big difference between clever satire and lazy humor that perpetuates stigma. This fake commercial—where a cheerful dad discovers a “non-non-alcoholic beer” that’s 90% alcohol—doesn’t just miss the punchline. It takes a cheap shot at people who are doing the hard…

Fall has arrived — that golden stretch between iced coffee and hot cocoa season — when the days grow shorter, the playlists get moodier, and every snack somehow tastes a little better. Maybe it’s the crisp air. Maybe it’s the cinnamon. Or maybe it’s because we’ve learned to savor life’s simple pleasures, fully and consciously — snacks included. At our last Sober Curator contributor meeting, we ran an unofficial “Snack Census” to see what fuels our crew during those long creative sessions, late-night writing bursts, road trips and lazy Sunday scrolls. The results? A delightful mix of comfort, nostalgia, and…

“Give people permission not to drink, and watch the trip transform.” That’s the quiet thesis humming beneath Ryan Lee’s story — a story that begins in tech sales and a hospital bed, and then sprints toward fresh air, steep trails and a passport full of second chances.   Ryan didn’t just walk away from a lucrative career; he walked toward himself. Early sobriety peeled away the “I’m fine, I’m performing” armor, exposing a truth many high achievers recognize: survival isn’t the same as fulfillment. “I decided to quit that job… I need fulfillment now, not just survival,” he recalls, describing the…

🎬 Grab Your LaCroix and Your Emotional Support Squirrel The October 7th episode of This Just In is here, and your sober newscasters Alysse and T-Boog are coming in hot with recovery wins, weird news, and at least one fake sponsor we wish were real. This week’s Top 5 Buzz-Free Headlines feature everything from birth order and addiction genetics to Questlove’s sober vibes — and yes, a water-skiing squirrel who’s living his best life. 🧠 Big Story #1: “The Bear” – Birth Order, Family Roles & Addiction Genetics Addiction might run in the family, but so does redemption (and sarcasm).…

💖 A New Kind of Board Game: Where Recovery Meets Real Life Move over, Monopoly — there’s a new game in town, and it comes with rhinestones, iced coffee, and emotional intelligence. ICYMI, I recently wrote about some upcycled Monopoly canvas wall art pieces I scored at HomeGoods (because of course I did — I can quit whiskey, but not throw pillows). While researching how many themed versions of Monopoly exist (over 3,500 in case you were wondering) — from Star Wars to Golden Girls — I had a lightbulb moment: What would a Sober Curator version look like? Cue…

It’s no secret that I love all things sparkly. I was basically born with glitter in my veins and a coupon for Michaels in my hand. It’s also no secret that I have a HomeGoods problem—and by “problem,” I mean the thrill of the hunt is my cardio. For those following my crafting and upcycling escapades, buckle up. It’s rhinestone season, baby. Because if it stands still long enough, I’m gonna glue something shiny to it. But you know what else I’ve been hopelessly obsessed with since childhood? Monopoly. The OG paper-money version, the fancy credit-card one, and all the…

Let’s be honest: this one feels exactly like what it is—a Hallmark Hall of Fame movie. If you’re into the history of AA, curling up with a Hallmark binge and a cozy blanket, you’ll probably settle right in. But if you’re expecting Winona Ryder to deliver the raw intensity of Girl, Interrupted or the haunting vulnerability of Edward Scissorhands, pump the brakes. The Oscar-nominated Winona we know and love doesn’t exactly shine through here. For a 2010 release, I went in with higher expectations and left feeling… let’s just say, underwhelmed. That said, as a 12-step gal myself, I’m always…

Addiction fiction isn’t just about substance use disorders; it’s about people — their choices, their pain, and their growth. At The Sober Curator, we review books that illuminate the dark corners and unexpected beauty of life on the edge. And now, as cool, hipster-style reading events with no phones or tech are popping up across the country — think candlelit book clubs, silent reading parties, and unplugged literary gatherings — addiction fiction is finding a whole new audience. These events give readers the chance to slow down, connect in person, and experience powerful stories together, away from screens. Why Addiction…

HEY YOU GUYS! We’re back with another episode of This Just In, and this time we’re broadcasting straight from the land of the Goonies — Astoria, Oregon. Rain boots on, Truffle Shuffle ready. Let’s go! This week we dive into three big sober lifestyle stories: We also drop two quick hits: The Wednesday mocktail recipe (Addams Family vibes included) and our Sober October 2025 Gift Guide — think chic journals, luxe candles, and zero-proof treats. This week’s fake sponsor, Trigger Treats Chocolate, reminds us that sometimes therapy is edible. And in our celeb spotlight, we raise a glass to Denzel…

This episode is a not-to-miss conversation for anyone curious about how lessons from sports can enrich recovery. Hosted by Alysse Bryson, this dynamic episode welcomes Chris Marshall, founder of Sans Bar, and former college basketball athlete and coach Anne Skriba, co-hosts of the “Clean Play Podcast.” Together, they offer profound insights and genuinely motivating stories about the overlap between athletic devotion, community and living a meaningful sober life. Why Sports and Sobriety Go Hand in Hand  Anne Skriba gets to the heart of the matter in the opening moments: “I speak the language of sport to relay my experience.” For…

If you’ve been following my sober style journey, you already know I love a bold accessory moment. Sunglasses, eyeglasses — they’re not just vision tools, they’re statements. That’s why I’m obsessed with GlassesShop — an online destination that’s rewriting the rules on how we see (and show up in) the world. Whether you’re a bookworm, a boardroom boss, or a brunch-loving bestie, the right eyewear can completely change your vibe. GlassesShop makes it easy (and affordable) to curate your own eyewear wardrobe without sacrificing style. Prescription Eyeglasses That Actually Feel Cool We’re talking about frames that say I’m in charge…