We Recover Loudly – Personal Recovery and Mental Health Stories · Shell Righini

S3 Episode 014 Dawn Comolly (Sober Fish): Recovering Loudly … Swearing, Sobriety & Owning Your Story

·56 min·3 clips

Dawn says a low relationship-with-self score is why many people drink, and she rates hers as an eight or nine now.

1. We Recover Loudly ends season three with Shell and Dawn Komelitz, also known as Sober Fish, talking about sobriety, recovery, and mental health. 2. Shell is the host, and Dawn is a recovery creator who says she has built an online sobriety community since getting sober in 2016. 3. The episode asks what changes when recovery is treated as a long-term life shift rather than a short sober stint. 4. Dawn says her drinking started around age 14 and became heavier in her early 20s after she moved into flat shares and lived with her best friend. 5. She says a bottle of wine in the fridge turned into finishing the bottle, buying another one, and filling the wine rack. 6. Dawn links alcohol to her move from London to Liverpool at 16, saying the new school, new friends, and new area made alcohol a crutch for confidence and fitting in. 7. She says she first thought seriously about sobriety in 2016, after repeated attempts to stop smoking kept failing whenever she drank. 8. Dawn describes seeing a Bored Panda article titled “how people looked after a year of sobriety,” which prompted her to try one year without alcohol. 9. She says her goal was to be “slim, non-smoking and be able to moderate” after 365 days. 10. Dawn says the year that changed her life became the year that kept her sober, because she never went back. 11. Shell says she tells newcomers that “one day, one hour, one minute” can feel impossible, and Dawn agrees that people need shorter timeframes. 12. Dawn says her membership group is for long-term sobriety, not moderation or short-term stints, and that many members have already tried other approaches. 13. She says COVID and the 2020 lockdowns were a major turning point because people got sober, drank again, and then returned to the group repeatedly. 14. Dawn says she worked every day of 2020 and still hears from people in 2025 who started drinking heavily in 2020 and never stopped. 15. She describes being trapped in Tesco’s alcohol aisle during pandemic queuing rules and emailing the store about making newly sober people stand there. 16. Dawn says Morrison’s in Malvern had spiced rum at the checkout and argues alcohol is placed everywhere for financial reasons, not public health. 17. Dawn says a low relationship-with-self score is often the real reason people drink, and she uses a two-to-nine scale to show how that can change. 18. She says writing, journaling, therapy, nutrition support, stopping smoking, and changing caffeine and sugar habits all mattered in her recovery. 19. The tone is direct, conversational, and openly sweary, with Shell and Dawn trading personal examples and jokes throughout. 20. People who like honest recovery stories with practical detail and no moderation gloss will likely enjoy it, while listeners wanting polished inspiration or light treatment may skip it.

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