Soberful
Uncover a Sustainable, Fulfilling Life Free of Alcohol
by Veronica Valli
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Pub Date Jan 25 2022 | Archive Date Jan 25 2022
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Description
How to stop drinking, stay stopped, and develop emotional skills for a life of excitement and connection … without the hangover.
“No thanks—I’m not drinking tonight.” In a culture that equates alcohol with enjoyment and social acceptance, making this simple statement can make us feel like we’re depriving or even punishing ourselves. “When we realize we don’t want to drink anymore or can no longer drink safely, it can feel like the only choices are to spiral out of control or embrace a joyless life,” says psychotherapist and sobriety expert Veronica Valli. “But it’s not true! Sobriety can be a path filled with fun, excitement, belonging, relaxation, and romance.”
Soberful offers a practical and straightforward program on how to get sober and stay sober by increasing your self-worth, energy, and participation in life. Valli begins by debunking widespread beliefs about alcohol and sobriety, including the illusion that alcohol itself is the problem. Then she takes you into the heart of her method for building an alcohol-free life that works—the Five Pillars of Sustainable Sobriety:
• Movement—Taking care of your body for physical and emotional health
• Connection—Using self-compassion as a foundation for creating healthy and authentic relationships
• Balance—Learning how to disarm the triggers that make you want to drink
• Process—Validating, honoring, and accepting the past to move forward into the future
• Growth—How to keep changing, keep learning, and keep choosing to stay sober throughout the journey of your life
“When we change how we experience the world, we can stop trying to escape our feelings with alcohol,” Valli says. As a leader and pioneer in the field with 21 years of sobriety, Valli now shares the same steps that worked for her and her clients. Written with gentle humor and compassion, Soberful provides a road map to a life beyond drinking—one that is expansive, fulfilling, and joyously free.
Advance Praise
“Veronica gets it, and this book is the missing piece for people who want to live a vibrant life without alcohol. If you’re questioning your relationship with alcohol in any way, this is the book you need right now. In straight-talking chapters filled with compassionate advice and accessible tools, Veronica delivers a message that is both hopeful and actionable.” ―Laura McKowen, bestselling author of We Are the Luckiest: The Surprising Magic of a Sober Life
“I love Veronica Valli’s new book for its clarity, approachability, and basic common sense. Persuasive without being preachy in the slightest, this is a fabulous book and essential reading for anyone wanting to kick the booze.” ―Lucy Rocca, founder of Soberistas, coauthor of The Sober Revolution: Women Calling Time on Wine O’Clock, and author of Glass Half Full: A Positive Journey to Living Alcohol-Free
“Valli posits a new and different narrative about the perception of alcohol, its pervasiveness in our culture, and how it has historically (and systematically) affected our behaviors and belief systems. Soberful suggests that we can change our misguided beliefs about the benefits of alcohol by revising our perspective, learning a new language, and realizing the power of connection. Valli’s Five Pillars of Sustainable Sobriety provide the inspiration and structure necessary for us to discover the root of the problem and attack it with gusto.” ―Laurie Dhue, National Recovery Advocate and former CNN, MSNBC, and Fox News anchor
“Veronica Valli has written a comprehensive guide to getting sober. This simple, straightforward program will help anyone who applies it. Based on her years of experience as a therapist and coach, Veronica takes the reader through a process that will not just get them sober but help them live an empowered, expansive life. Highly recommended.” ―Sherry Gaba, LCSW, coauthor of Love Smacked and Infinite Recovery and the go-to expert on VH1’s Celebrity Rehab
“For those of us who happened upon the ‘cyber-sober sphere’ in and around 2010, Veronica Valli was already a bit of a legend in the recovery blogging space. A woman in long-term recovery herself, Veronica has always excelled at delivering a no-nonsense, inclusive, and easy-to-understand message to people either exploring their relationship to alcohol or trying to save their lives from alcohol destruction. Being a skilled therapist helps her hammer home the simple truth―life is better when we show up for it fully present. This book is a distillation of decades of Veronica’s work and is a welcome addition to the burgeoning literature devoted to recovery from behavioral health issues.” ―Dawn Nickel, PhD, founder of SHE RECOVERS® Foundation
“Soberful, the new book by my friend Veronica Valli, is a discussion of the great big sober secret: you can get to the land of fun, excitement, belonging, connection, relaxation, rewards, and romance without alcohol. Sober does not mean somber; it simply means awake to all that life has to offer. This book will walk you through the process, answer questions, and open your eyes to new possibilities.” ―Mary Gauthier, Grammy®-nominated American folk singer and author of Saved by a Song
“With over 21 years of sobriety, Veronica is an oracle of all things alcohol-free and shows that happy and sustainable sobriety is not only possible but wonderful too.” ―Millie Gooch, founder of the Sober Girl Society and author of The Sober Girl Society Handbook
“Recovery is a lifestyle, and Veronica Valli has established herself as a leading ambassador of this beautiful lifestyle. Soberful provides readers with practical solutions for trying on a new pair of glasses in their approach to life, addressing many of the common fears and roadblocks that people face along the way. I am proud to add Soberful as the latest book to my recovery library, and I will be enthusiastically recommending it to my clients, students, and members of my recovery circles.” ―Jamie Marich, PhD, author of Trauma and the 12 Steps: An Inclusive Guide to Enhancing Recovery and founder of the Institute for Creative Mindfulness and the Dancing Mindfulness approach to expressive arts therapy
“Soberful is an insightful read for anyone seeking change in their relationship with alcohol. Veronica Valli’s personal and professional expertise combine to give her a level of compassion and wisdom that informs and resonates.” ―Jean McCarthy, author of UnPickled Holiday Survival Guide and The Ember Ever There and host of The Bubble Hour podcast
“Soberful is a great road map from a sober legend who knows the pitfalls and the joys of the sober path, which gently and expertly guides you through the transitions of early sobriety to a place of happy and sustainable sobriety. This book is going to help so many people to embrace a sober and full life.” ―Kate Baily, coauthor of Love Yourself Sober
“In Soberful, author Veronica Valli offers a gentle self-accepting path forward to live the life you crave, one that substances have robbed you of feeling you actually deserve. The practical steps in this book to help you rediscover a meaningful sober life make this an indispensable guide for those who want to take the first step and also for those who work in the recovery field.” ―Alina Frank, cofounder of EFT Tapping Training Institute and author of How to Want Sex Again
“A must read for anyone who is concerned about their own drinking or someone else’s. Wise, simple, practical advice written with compassion and genuine concern.” ―Joe Schrank, clinical social worker, founder of The Fix, and executive editor of The Small Bow
“Veronica is the voice of wisdom we all need in the ever-growing jungle of alcohol addiction and recovery books. She is an accomplished professional with years of education, training, and practice, who also has personal experience living a healthy, vibrant life without alcohol for 21 years. If you are questioning your relationship with alcohol, this book offers you clear guidance for making sense of this relationship. With the Five Pillars of Sustainable Sobriety, Veronica has developed a sustainable program for shifting your mindset, doing the work, and truly transforming your life.” ―Lynn Matti, clinical psychotherapist, addiction specialist, and host of The Sober Therapist podcast
“Refreshing, hopeful, and compassionate. Veronica has a gift for breaking down the true key to lasting sobriety and creating logical guidelines that make achieving it possible for anyone who reads this book. No overwhelming science jargon, just understandable and truthful concepts to help you get where you want to go.” ―Kelly Fitzgerald Junco, founder of Sober Señorita
Available Editions
EDITION | Other Format |
ISBN | 9781683648291 |
PRICE | $23.99 (USD) |
PAGES | 240 |
Featured Reviews
I picked this book up thinking it was targeted towards the Sober Curious crowd (my mistake for not looking closer!), and later realized it's more of a book about working towards sobriety. Both are important topics, I just thought I would point that out.
Anyway, Soberful includes information about why people start drinking and also a framework of strategies on how to work toward the path of becoming sober And more importantly, staying sober. I learned a lot from this book and appreciated that it was a balance of information and actionable steps and also pushed the reminder that sobriety isn't linear.
The big part of this big that really stood out for me ice the Five Pillars. Valli uses them to help the reader "to uncover what is within us. We find out what it is we truly seek and why. We discover what our purpose is in the world." The Five Pillars include -Movement, Balance, Connection, Process, and Growth.
This book is compassionate and also has a lot of wisdom and I appreciated that it focused so much on what happens next in someone's path to sober living, post recovery.
Thank you to Sounds True and NetGalley for my gifted review copy.
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Jodi Picoult; Jennifer Finney Boylan
General Fiction (Adult), Literary Fiction, Women's Fiction