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There are people who have dramatic stories of recovery and then there’s Sabyn Mayfield. Do you know anyone else who showed up at a rehab and, a few years later, ended up as that rehab’s CEO? Well, now you do because Mayfield is the CEO of The Bridge to Recovery—a rehab where he was a client in 2022. A Nashville native, filmmaker, musician and nephew of Dolly Parton, Mayfield spent years in the entertainment business while struggling with addiction, low self-esteem and the belief that becoming rich and famous would finally make him feel like somebody. What he eventually realized was that he didn't particularly want fame or fortune as much as he wanted to feel seen, safe and worthy (we couldn’t have said it better ourselves). We talk about the strange transition from freelance artist to businessperson, why Mayfield prefers the word "woundedness" to "trauma" and how drinking and using can become a survival strategy when being sober feels unbearable. We also get into the voice in our heads that can make us feel worthless even after decades of sobriety, the freedom of creating art without depending on it to pay the bills and how a three-day silent retreat at a monastery inspired his song "Worthy," featuring Callie Twisselman. Along the way, Mayfield offers one of the better descriptions we've heard of addiction: most people who burn their hand on a stove run it under cold water, while someone struggling with addiction may put their hand right back on the stove in an attempt to relieve the pain. In this episode: ·       How Mayfield went from receiving treatment at The Bridge to Recovery to running the place ·       Why his dreams of becoming rich and famous were rooted in wanting to feel safe and worthy ·       The surprising similarities between struggling artists, entrepreneurs and people in recovery ·       Why getting sober doesn't automatically silence the vicious voice in your head ·       What three days of silence with a group of monks taught him about spirituality, creativity and not overthinking everything ·       Why Mayfield believes the deeper work of recovery involves much more than putting down the drink or drug

Open Instagram, Ruin Your Night?We love to hate social media. But it’s also a singular tool for staying in touch, getting the word out on things we care about, and even learning a thing or two. We talk about our early days on the socials and how we use it now. Sober tools can help – just like with a drink, before opening that app, maybe ask yourself why you want to log on and play the tape through on where it might lead. Check out all things Lisa and all things Anna.

Some people love sober anniversaries, some people dread them, and some people don’t keep up with them at all. There’s no right or wrong way to do it. We talk about what counting days and keeping time looks like for us. Anna never misses an opportunity to celebrate herself, from her first soberversary (a karaoke party in West LA!) to her upcoming 25th (a full on 90s party with food trucks and costumes). For Lisa, it’s changed multiple times over 21 years. Check out all things Lisa and all things Anna.

Our friend Stefanie Wilder Taylor, author of SIPPY CUPS ARE NOT FOR CHARDONNAY and DRUNKISH, and host of the Drunkish podcast,  joins us to talk about being publicly outed as a sober person and what the backlash was like. Stefanie was barely sober when she was thrust into the spotlight as a sobriety expert. We talk about owning our own stories and what anonymity is and isn’t.Check out all things Lisa and all things Anna.

It’s bound to happen. At some point in our early or not-so-early sobriety, something is likely to trigger that overwhelming feeling of anxiety or even panic. Maybe it’s in a situation we’d drink our through or maybe it’s out of nowhere. For Lisa, it was the latter. For Anna, smoking cigarettes eased her newcomer sobriety—until she realized it was only exacerbating the issue. Check out all things Lisa and all things Anna.

Plenty of people struggle with the Higher Power part of AA. Natasha Ruby had a particularly good reason: she’d already dismantled the entire religious framework she was raised in and wasn’t especially eager to replace it with another male authority figure.   So she chose a mini-dachshund.   Before that came Mormonism, an eating disorder, alcoholism and a terrifying psychotic break that left Natasha unable to understand a New York subway map she’d used for years. She believed every conversation was prophecy, gave her phone to a stranger and told the hospital staff she was essentially Bradley Cooper in Limitless. The aftermath was darker: she returned to Utah, covered her windows with a felt blanket and drank in a locked closet because she believed her life was over.   It wasn’t.   Nearly 10 years into sobriety, Natasha has turned 15 years of journals and voice recordings into the brilliantly titled memoir Latter Day Psychosis. She also found something she once believed she could only access while drinking: creativity. Now she makes art sober, which may be less cinematic than Bradley Cooper becoming superhuman but has worked out considerably better.   In this episode:   ·      Why leaving Mormonism made alcohol feel like freedom—very briefly ·      What Natasha remembers about losing touch with reality in New York City ·      Why AA offended her until the moment it saved her ·      How a mini-dachshund became a perfectly legitimate Higher Power ·      What she discovered inside 15 years of journals and recordings ·      Why publishing her memoir feels like a 12th step   Natasha celebrates 10 years sober on September 28. Latter Day Psychosis will be released November 17.   Find her at natasharubyart.com and on Instagram at @natasharubyart.

If a quarter of the people at your conference don’t drink, greeting everyone with champagne is less “festive” than it is “we have made absolutely no effort to know our audience.”   Laura Nelson discovered this when she asked a room of 125 professional women how many were sober or sober-curious. About a quarter raised their hands—hesitantly, while looking around to see who might be watching. Laura, who had kept her own sobriety separate from her professional life, realized this was ridiculous. So she did what every reasonable person does after identifying a problem: started a company, wrote a book and put on a conference.   Lisa spoke at the first Amplify conference, where a sober crowd took over a hotel bar, had an apparently suspicious amount of fun and woke up feeling fine. Now Laura is bringing Amplify back for two days—and trying to convince event planners that one syrupy mocktail served in a child’s glass does not count as inclusivity.   In this episode:   ·      How Laura reacted when she was recognized from her sober TikTok  ·      What happened when 25% of a room admitted they didn’t want the champagne being handed to them ·      Why your mocktail may actually be more insulting than having no mocktail ·      How Sober Life Rocks built the largest sobriety community on LinkedIn ·      Why Laura swore she’d never put on another conference—and is now planning one twice as long   Laura is the co-founder of Sober Life Rocks and the author of The Inclusive Event Planner: A Quick Start Guide to Sober-Friendly Conferences That Boost Attendance.    Find Laura on IG @sober_life_rocks.

Have you ever been ayahuasca-curious? Dr. Jeff McNairy, Chief Medical Officer at Rythmia, the world’s first medically licensed ayahuasca retreat, joins us for a candid conversation about what plant-based medicine can and can’t do. We get into the science, what actually happens at the retreat, who may benefit and what happens when an experience doesn’t go the way someone hoped.

What do you do when the Instagram account you built to more than 200,000 followers suddenly disappears? If you’re Jessica Jeboult, you freak out—and then keep building. Jessica is the founder of A Sober Girl’s Guide and author of Save Your Own Damn Life. She joins us to talk about losing her account, starting over and launching the Best Day app, which takes her modern, community-driven approach to recovery beyond alcohol and into all the behaviors that keep us stuck. Find Jessica on her new Instagram: @bestdayapp

Comedian and TV writer Laura House has a gift for making you laugh while casually dismantling your entire worldview. Laura joins Anna to talk about the winding road from stand-up comedy, MTV and teaching at an Orthodox yeshiva to finding sobriety after finally realizing she wasn't going to "grow out of" her drinking. The conversation somehow covers drunk houseboats, food addiction, emotional sobriety, writing for Mom, losing more than 100 pounds and why recovery turned out to be the best thing that ever happened to her.

For years, Anna was convinced she couldn't write without cocaine. Lisa was convinced she'd eventually write the Great American Novel from a bar stool. Neither plan worked out particularly well. This week, they talk about what it's like to create without drugs or alcohol, the myths artists tell themselves about substances and creativity, and why sober writing is infinitely better—even if it feels terrifying at first. There are stories about disastrous writing habits, terrible first drafts, writing classes, famous authors, the beeping computer that nearly drove Anna insane and the surprising realization that inspiration sticks around long after the drugs are gone. Plus: a spirited debate about neighbors who only want to chat when you're already late.

If you've ever heard someone in recovery whisper ominously about "the Fourth Step," this episode is for you. Anna and Lisa talk about why taking a fearless moral inventory has such a terrifying reputation—and why it turned out to be one of the most freeing experiences of their recovery. They get into resentments, expectations, victimhood, abandonment, impossible bosses, impossible exes and the uncomfortable realization that maybe...just maybe...they weren't always right. Plus: Anna explains why she once walked into a diner carrying a giant poster board covered in resentments, and the two get into a new petty resentment.

Nobody tells you this when you get sober, but eventually a doctor is going to hand you a prescription for the very kind of drug you spent years trying to avoid. So...now what? Anna and Lisa compare notes on anesthesia, Valium and pain medication, and discover they couldn't have more different reactions. One wakes up from a procedure wondering why anyone would voluntarily do that again. The other is mostly annoyed that the drugs work while she's unconscious, which hardly seems fair. They also talk about why medically necessary medication can still stir up fear, how recovery has changed the conversation around antidepressants and pain meds and why honesty—not heroics—is what actually protects sobriety. And in Petty Resentments, they have a bone to pick with people who whisper, "Don't tell anyone..." before revealing information that absolutely nobody was planning to repeat. In this episode: ·       The recovery question nobody warns you about ·       Why Anna and Lisa have completely opposite reactions to anesthesia ·       The surprising debate around medication in early recovery ·       What to do when fear shows up in the doctor's office ·       Why recovery isn't about proving how tough you are

Before Recovery Rocks, Anna’s Recover Girl podcast featured conversations about addiction and recovery that were messy, funny and deeply honest. In this Thursday Throwback, Girls star Jemima Kirke talks openly about getting sober young, bouncing between rehabs and feeling constantly pushed into the role of “the problem.” She shares what it was like navigating treatment centers that often felt more shaming than healing, why she resisted being treated like a patient instead of a person and how she ended up trauma-bonding with the man who became her husband. This conversation gets into the weirdness of getting sober young while still being messy, defensive, confused and very much not “fixed.”

Getting rejected is awful. But as Anna and Lisa discovered, rejecting someone isn't exactly a joy, either. Lisa talks about the first time she had to fire an employee, why she called her sponsor before and after the conversation and the Disney version of "you're fired." Anna shares the story of breaking up with a guy who responded by writing about her in Elle magazine—which, in hindsight, made it abundantly clear she'd made the right decision. What starts as a conversation about rejection turns into something much bigger: the realization that not everyone is your fit. Whether it's a relationship, a job, a sponsor or a sponsee, trying to force something that's wrong usually hurts a lot more than letting it go. And in Petty Resentments, Anna has a message for people who somehow manage to occupy three parking spaces with one car. In this episode: ·       Why Lisa called her sponsor before firing someone ·       The breakup that became an Elle magazine article ·       What Disney employees hear instead of "you're fired" ·       Why "rejection is God's protection" isn't just a cliché ·       How recovery changes the way we think about saying goodbye