.png)
Confident Sober Women
Join Shelby John, sober since July 1, 2002, for empowering conversations on the Confident Sober Women podcast with women who've found joy and confidence in their alcohol and drug-free lives.
This show is a rally cry for empathetic, resilient, and wisdom-seeking women dedicated to building a life you don't want to escape from after that crucial first year of a sober lifestyle.
Discover how to:
· Build unshakable confidence in your sober life
· Break free from societal drinking norms
· Overcome the shame cycle and emotional numbing
· Resist the glamorized, over-hyped social influences around alcohol
· Create a pure and joyful life beyond recovery
Hear inspiring stories and practical advice on:
· Healing trauma
· Mindful parenting in recovery
· Optimizing physical and mental health
· Building a new, empowered identity
· Transforming your life beyond substance abuse recovery
We dive deep into questions like "Who am I now?" and "How do I pursue my heart's desires?", taking the intimidation out of sobriety and showcasing how to thrive in long-term recovery. This is truly a space for women supporting women in this modern recovery era.
New episodes every Tuesday. Subscribe now for weekly inspiration on your journey to becoming one of the happiest sober women, free from the cool crowd's pressure to drink.
Please leave a review if you love the show, it helps us on the mission to make the Confident Sober Women community a household name.
Confident Sober Women
Nerding Out On The Science Of Addiction, Recovery And Women w/Judith Grisel
Do you ever wonder about the "science" behind addiction?
Judy shares her history of using drugs and alcohol and even though she was doing exactly what she thought she wanted she was miserable. Today, after decades of sobriety her life is beyond what she could have ever imagined.
Her neuroscience journey has been driven by her desire to understand what is different about the brains of people like her before she got started, then as she succumbed to the substances and then in recovery.
Judy became curious about what was so compelling about substances for people like her and also the fact that the same obsession and compulsion that drove her to substance use helped her succeed in school and her career.
Judy shares her neuroscience research on what happens to the brain when we use drugs. For women, the relief or using drugs to cope is a big mechanism more so than with men because they are more susceptible at the biological level to stress.
She shares how addiction comes about from experiences and how the brain is adapting in addiction. It can also adapt in recovery but that adaptation takes time. Our feelings and thoughts are the most reliable indicator of how things are going. Our actions and decisions about what we are doing etc are more reliable for gauging progress.
Judy’s research on the use and abuse of recreational drugs began during adolescence. After hitting bottom and getting clean and sober in her twenties, she went on to earn a doctorate in behavioral neuroscience and is currently a professor at Bucknell University. In 2019 Judy published a bestselling book Never Enough: The Neuroscience and Experience of Addiction, which has since garnered a worldwide audience.
You can reach out to Judy via email j.grisel@bucknell.edu
Grab her book Never Enough: The Neuroscience And Experience Of Addiction can be found wherever you get your books.
Support the show
Oh, and by the way, if you didn’t know, my program Sober Freedom Transformation is now open! It is for women who have been sober for a year to many and are ready to discover who they want to be in long term sobreity, develop confidence and improve their relationships.
If you aren't part of the Confident Sober Women Facebook group, it's a great place to be. There are over a thousand other sober women there building lives they don't want to escape from. Come on over and join us.
And if you haven't read my memoir, grab a copy today and maybe a second one for a friend. There is so much hope in recovery, and I shared my story so raw and vulnerably so that others would know they aren't alone and that there is a way to live well, manage relationships, parent your kids, and have a healthy body, all while staying sober. Grab a copy of Recovering in Recovery: The Life-Changing Joy of Sobriety wherever books are sold.