The sweet and the sour of sober spacesThe sweet and the sour of sober spaces
LOL Sober
Nelson reflects on walking through midtown New York City, revisiting places tied to both his active addiction and early sobriety. He talks about the emotional "sweet and sour" contrast of getting sober in the same spaces where his life once fell apart.
6:14•8 Nov 2025
Sweet and Sour Sobriety: Walking Old Streets with New Eyes
Episode Overview
- Old drinking and using spots often become the same places where people later build their sober lives.
- Memories of addiction lows can sit right alongside fond memories of recovery milestones in the same locations.
- Most people have to get sober while keeping the same house, job and relationships, without escaping to a new setting.
- Support from sponsors and sober communities helps turn triggering spaces into scenes of growth and connection.
- Negative past experiences can strengthen gratitude and reinforce the desire to avoid returning to old behaviours.
“"The place they try to get sober is the place they couldn't do it before. So that's quite the contrast, you know."”
What are the common struggles and victories in addiction recovery? This LOL Sober episode zooms in on the emotional whiplash of revisiting old drinking and using spots once sobriety has taken root. Nelson, an alcoholic addict writing under a pen name, takes you back through midtown New York City, where street corners, pharmacies, bars and even a McDonald’s hold both horror stories and hard-won joy.
He talks about the years spent "running loose as an active addict and alcoholic" in Times Square and around the Empire State Building, hustling urgent cares, hospitals and doctors’ offices for pills while drinking heavily. One of the grimmest moments comes at a Subway/Dunkin’ Donuts combo where he mixed painkillers with caffeine, saying he was "doing uppers and downers at the same time at the same place" and hitting an absolute bottom.
But that same shop later became the place he visited with a year sober to pick up party subs for his home-group anniversary celebration. The same chairs and tables that once held him half-conscious on opioids later held him planning a "beautiful anniversary party." That clash of memories becomes the heart of the episode: the "sweet and sour" of sober spaces.
Nelson reflects on how most people try to get sober in the exact spaces where they once couldn’t stay sober, pointing out that "most sober people… can’t just move to Hawaii or go to California for 90 days" to start over. The gratitude he feels for those who "invested their time" in him slowly outweighs the shame and sadness, turning old triggers into reminders of how far he’s come.
If you’ve ever walked past an old bar or pharmacy and felt both a shudder and a smile, this candid, darkly funny story might leave you asking: what sweet and sour places are on your own sober map?
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