Drunk-ish - A Sobriety Podcast · Stefanie Wilder-Taylor

The Sober Diaries: Clare Pooley Gets Real

·48 min·3 clips

Clare says her last drink was red wine from the bottom of a bottle poured into a “world’s best mum” mug.

1. Drunk-ish - A Sobriety Podcast centers this episode on Clare Pooley’s sobriety story and The Sober Diaries. 2. Stephanie Wilder-Taylor hosts Clare Pooley, the author of The Sober Diaries and several novels, because Clare’s year of sobriety became a book and a blog. 3. The episode asks what changes when a “secret drinker” starts telling the truth and publishing the story. 4. Clare says she started drinking socially in her teens, then more heavily at university and in advertising in 1990s London. 5. She describes an office culture with a bar, a large drinks budget, and long boozy lunches that sometimes ended the next morning. 6. Clare says the drinking felt normal in the era of Bridget Jones, Sex and the City, and Absolutely Fabulous. 7. By age 46, she says she was easily drinking a bottle of wine a day without feeling drunk. 8. Clare says she blogged under the name Sober Mummy and titled the site Mummy Was a Secret Drinker as therapy. 9. She says she told no one at first, including her husband, friends, and doctor, because she felt ashamed. 10. Clare says the last drink came the morning after her birthday party, when she poured leftover red wine into a mug labeled “the world’s best mum.” 11. She says that moment made her feel her life as she knew it was over and that she had “messed up.” 12. Clare says she initially quit for her children and believed she was giving up alcohol as a punishment. 13. She later says sobriety became something to celebrate because it brought more relief than regret. 14. Clare says early sobriety felt hard at night but easier in the morning, so she went to bed early and woke up early. 15. She says mornings became her most creative, happy, and energetic time. 16. Clare says she had “brownouts,” not full blackouts, and that guilt about her children mattered more than lost hours at parties. 17. The conversation stays direct, personal, and reflective, with Stephanie sharing her own sobriety parallels. 18. Clare’s tone is candid and practical, while the interview moves between humor, shame, and specific coping strategies. 19. People weighing alcohol use and family life will get the most from this episode. 20. Listeners wanting true-crime or plot-driven storytelling may skip this one.

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