E142: The Pressure of Needing to Hold it All Together with Laura Cathcart Robbins

Hiding your addiction is a full time job. It requires a lot of mental energy to keep up appearances and seem like nothing is wrong. Laura Cathcart Robbins was in a high profile marriage. She wanted this amazing life, but once she got there she realized it wasn’t the life she wanted. The pressure continued to build once Laura became the first Black PA President for her children’s school since 1972. In this episode, Laura and I discuss the pressure of maintaining a perfect image, how she found relief with Ambien, whether she had resentments in sobriety from this pressure, and how she learned how to just be herself in recovery. 

Laura Cathcart Robbins is the host of the popular podcast, The Only One In The Room, and author the new book, Stash. She has been active for many years as a speaker and school trustee and is credited f or creating The Buckley School’s nationally recognized committee on Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Justice. Her recent articles in Huffpo and The Temper on the subjects of race, recovery, and divorce have garnered her worldwide acclaim 

In this episode you’ll learn:

• How it felt writing a memoir and being so vulnerable
• The experiences that connect us in addiction: obsession and impulsivity
• How the recovery space needs more diversity
• How we don’t even realize how chaotic our situation is and how much we are compromising our values while we’re in it

For the extended episode please check out my Living a Sober Powered Life community.

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Resources I offer:

• Community: Living a Sober Powered Life https://www.soberpowered.com/membership
• 30 Day Quit Drinking Course with daily audios to help you work on your mindset about letting drinking go https://quitdrinkingcourse.supercast.com/
• Monthly office hours: ask me anything you’d like live. My audio will be recorded for anyone who can’t join live. I will not be recording the meeting participants. https://officehours.supercast.com/
• Weekly emails on Thursdays where I explain the latest episode in more detail, share images to help you understand the concepts, share announcements, interviews, writing, discount codes and more. https://view.flodesk.com/pages/6107260617e156c4839768b5
• A free 3 day quit drinking challenge https://view.flodesk.com/pages/62f2cb3de5ea6b3d8aea4ab2
• You are not alone eBook with data from almost 700 sober people https://www.soberpowered.com/you-are-not-alone-ebook

 

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Sources are posted on my website

Disclaimer: all of the information described in this podcast is my interpretation of the research combined with my opinion. This is not medical advice.

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