Oh Bridget Jones you have a lot to answer for. The endless boozing with your pals, fabulous dinner parties, staying home alone with a broken heart and a bottle of wine – singing along to those sad songs…
Your fixation with alcohol “units” and of course never keeping to your resolutions..
Struggling into work with a massive hangover – you made it all look so cool, such fun. Crazy Bridget you were my perfect role-model…
Of course I knew that in real life the role was played by super skinny, American actress Rene Zellweger who was quite possibly an alcohol free vegan at the time.
Of course I knew that Rene had piled on the pounds and learnt the “Notting Hill” accent.
But somehow that didn’t matter – I was still going to “be” Bridget…
Someone else who was busy “being Bridget” was author Clare Pooley…
In fact when some documentary filmmakers were looking for “real-life Bridget Joneses”, they called up Clare
Reluctantly, she agreed to be in a scene shot in a Chelsea restaurant, got “tanked up with booze” on the free bar, and found herself, to her horror, the lead voice in the trailer, uttering this line:
“Look. I’ve got a great job, a really cool car, and I own my own flat. Why on earth would I need a man to make myself complete?”
So here we both are – 18 years after “that movie” came out and things are very different.
Indeed that Bridget Jones lifestyle was huge fun…until it wasn’t…until it turned into a bit of a nightmare.
Both Clare and I teetered on the edge of alcoholism before ditching the drink 4 years ago – not only did we get sober but we became “sobriety advocates”
I founded WorldWithoutWine and Clare became a blogger and went on to write the fabulously successful Sober Diaries.
We are both loving our alcohol free lives and getting so much joy from the fact that we are helping other people to make this lifestyle choice.
London Workshop
Last October we ran our first London workshop which was a great success so Tribe Sober is teaming up once more with the awesome Clare Pooley to run workshop number 2 on Saturday October 12th. More info and bookings HERE
Here is a testimonial from Lucy, one of last year’s participants:-
“I went to the first UK Tribe Sober workshop October last year with a shaky 4 weeks sobriety to my name and am proud to say that I am now over 10 months alcohol free. The workshop was such a hard thing to sign up for and attend (admitting you may be drinking a tad too much is one hard gig!) but the welcome and lovely atmosphere couldn’t have been better. No judgement, no lecturing, just empathy, support, facts and a great quit alcohol tool kit from people who’ve got the t-shirt and are proud to be wearing it. The most successful way out of addiction is connection and one of unique things a Tribe Sober workshop gives you is your own ‘tribe’. This support for me has been without doubt one of the key factors in me maintaining my AF status.
My mental and physical health has improved dramatically and I am enjoying not just enduring my life again.
If you want to kick ‘the only drug you have to justify NOT taking’ or are in any way sober curious, I really recommend this workshop to you.”
South African Workshops
We continue to run our very popular South African workshops in Cape Town and Joburg. More info and bookings for workshops number 35 and 36 HERE
Janet x