Building Your Community with Sarah O’BrienBuilding Your Community with Sarah O’Brien
The Elevate Experience
Sarah O’Brien Hammond shares how feeling lost at 42 led her to create a global women’s community and to stop drinking. The conversation focuses on honest connection, questioning alcohol’s role in life, and finding a more meaningful version of success.
52:11•15 Feb 2022
Building Real Connection and Sober Confidence with Sarah O’Brien Hammond
Episode Overview
- Traditional markers of success do not guarantee happiness, and it is valid to question your life even if it looks “great” from the outside.
- Women benefit from spaces where personal and professional lives are not separated and where difficult topics can be discussed without judgement.
- Choosing sobriety does not require an “alcoholic” label; anyone can simply decide alcohol is not serving them.
- Staying present through grief and discomfort, rather than numbing with alcohol, can lead to deeper healing and clarity.
- Language matters: saying “I choose not to drink” can feel stronger and more accurate than “I can’t drink”.
“My only ask is like, just evaluate your relationship with alcohol. Just evaluate. See what, what is that relationship? Is it serving you?”
Curious about how others navigate their sobriety journey? This conversation with Sarah O’Brien Hammond, founder and Chief Community Officer of The Network of Women, zooms in on what happens when a high-achieving life still feels strangely empty – and how community and sobriety can change everything. Sarah shares how she “came out of the womb ready to get shit done” and spent 40 years doing exactly what society shouts is success: career, money, marriage, kids, property, travel.
Yet at 42 she hit a wall, realising, “I was really lost… I just didn’t know what made me happy.” That honesty sparks a wider chat about purpose, burnout, and the pressure to be grateful when you already “have enough”.
You’ll hear how failing to find a space where women could be real about topics like trauma, body image, ageing, sex, money, motherhood and career led Sarah to build The Network of Women herself – a mix of digital events, live meet-ups, retreats and workshops. The focus is simple but powerful: a judgement-free space where women can drop the Instagram gloss, “drop their shoulders”, and say what’s actually going on. The second half leans into sobriety.
Sarah explains how reading *Quit Like a Woman* and then losing her brother-in-law pushed her to stop drinking, and how staying sober through deep family grief showed her just how much society leans on alcohol to dodge pain. Her stance is clear and refreshingly direct: “My only ask is like, just evaluate your relationship with alcohol.
Is it serving you?” Perfect for anyone sober, sober-curious, or simply feeling that midlife ‘there must be more’ itch, this chat blends humour, swearing, and sharp honesty into one key question: what kind of life – and community – are you actually choosing?
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