About Sober Awkward

Sober Awkward is what happens when two former booze bags stop drinking, start talking, and realise there are an awful lot of people out there quietly wondering whether booze is actually making life any better.

Hosted by Victoria Vanstone and Ulrika Jonsson, Sober Awkward is an award winning podcast about the weird, brilliant, uncomfortable and often very funny reality of life without alcohol.

Vic is an author, podcaster, mum of three and former binge drinker who spent about 25 years being the life and soul of the party, usually followed by being the death and despair of the following morning. She got sober in 2018 and started sharing the bits people didn’t seem to talk about enough, the shame, the anxiety, the cravings, the identity crisis, the friendships, the parenting, the joy and the strange experience of discovering who you are when you’re no longer hiding behind a drink.

Ulrika is a broadcaster, writer, mum of four and a woman who grew up in the full glare of British ladette culture, when drinking hard was practically part of the job description. She brings decades of stories, a wonderfully low tolerance for bullshit and her own perspective on questioning alcohol, changing old patterns and navigating life when you decide you’d quite like to actually be present for it.

Together, they’re interested in what happens next.

Not just how you stop drinking, but how you build a life you don’t constantly need to escape from.

Sober Awkward began five years ago as a conversation about giving up booze. Since then, millions of episodes have been downloaded around the world and what started as honest chats about sobriety has grown into a big, slightly unruly global sober community.

Now Vic and Ulrika are taking that message even further, sharing the reality of alcohol free life with people around the world and proving that sobriety doesn’t have to mean becoming a completely different person.

They want Sober Awkward to be one of the places changing how the world talks about alcohol. Less judgement. Less shame. Less obsession with labels. More honest conversations about why people drink, what happens when they stop and just how bloody good life can get when hangovers are no longer stealing half the weekend.

They don’t think sobriety needs to be beige, serious or whispered about.

It can be awkward, hilarious, rebellious, emotional, sweary and full of life.

And there are loads of ways to get awkward with them.

Listen to the podcast. Join the community. Come on a retreat. Tell them your sober story. Apply to be a guest. Work with them. Advertise on the podcast. Invite Vic or Ulrika onto your show, stage or event. Or simply stick your headphones in, make a cuppa and start listening.

However you found Sober Awkward, welcome.

It might just be time to feel the awkward and do it anyway.