Does Your Sobriety Have Seasons? with Kate Baily & Amy Doyle

Does Your Sobriety Have Seasons? with Kate Baily & Amy Doyle

How do people find strength in their journey to sobriety? This Sober Awkward episode chats about how recovery can ebb and flow like the weather, and why that’s actually okay.

Host Victoria Vanstone kicks things off with her trademark humour, musing that, "recovery, like life and sheep, moves in seasons." She admits she once imagined sobriety as a permanent summer holiday of green juices and glowing skin, only to find there are also lonely winters, emotional sideways winds and the kind of Tuesdays you just have to survive. Holistic counsellor Amy Doyle joins first to explain seasonal living in down‑to‑earth terms.

Instead of living on autopilot, she talks about tuning into nature’s cycles and your own energy. Summer can be busy and playful, autumn about letting go, winter for proper rest, and spring for new plans. Amy suggests that giving yourself permission to slow down in certain seasons can mean more energy and stability later. She shares how simple tracking of mood, sleep, movement and sunlight over months can reveal patterns and make future tricky periods less frightening.

Then coach, author and Love Sober founder Kate Bailey talks about "seasonal sobriety". She describes how different times of year carry different triggers: summer parties and patio wines, low winter moods, end‑of‑year overwhelm. Instead of assuming sobriety should feel great all the time, Kate uses the seasons as a framework for planning: adjusting diaries, protecting sleep, spotting high‑risk dates and actively building in small pleasures like rose gardens, bluebell walks or fireside cosiness.

Both guests stress that tough patches are often seasonal, not permanent. You might be in an early‑sobriety "winter" of staying home and nesting, but that doesn’t mean you’ll never want to go out again. The big message? Your alcohol‑free life doesn’t need to be linear or relentlessly joyful; it just needs to be honest, cyclical and kind to the version of you that exists right now. What season of sobriety are you in today?