Tag: Kristi Coulter

[Audio] Sober Tools

Belle 3 Comments

A couple of days ago I recorded a new podcast about sober tools ... what helps and what doesn’t. 

You know, how we try to take vitamins to help us be sober, and French classes, and sign up for marathons — hoping they’ll provide the accountability we need to quit drinking.

This new podcast (episode 267) went out to podcast subscribers.

Here's a 7-minute clip where you can listen to a bit of the audio. This begins at about the 17 minute mark in the full-length 30 minute podcast.

extract from Sober Podcast 267. Sober Tools

You can leave a comment below, anonymous is fine ... To download the entire audio, you can use the link below.

Download SP267. Sober Tools

Sign up for the ​podcast membership
(1-2 new full-length audios each ​week, you can cancel whenever you like ... but you won't. more sober tools = good)

if booze is an elevator that only goes down, you can exit the elevator. when the door opens, be sure to get off. and stay off.

original Exit art > here

[Audio] Interview with Kristi Coulter 2018

Belle 7 Comments

It's been 2 years since I spoke with sober penpal #128, Kristi Coulter. She has a new book coming out on Tuesday, August 7th called Nothing Good Can Come From This. 

But the story of how she got here has a lot to teach us sober folks.

Like, how do you deal with people telling you that you just don't get it, or that you're shit?

I sent out this audio today (episode SP260) to podcast subscribers ... 

BUT I am going to make this full podcast available for 48 hours, even if you are not a podcast subscriber.

You'll want to hear this. Start now, just for a few minutes. 

Sober Podcast 260. Kristi Coulter (2018)

If you could leave a comment after you listen, that'd be great. Anonymous is fine. To download the entire audio, you can use the link below.

Download SP260. Kristi Coulter (2018)

Sign up for the ​podcast membership
(1-2 new full-length audios each ​week, you can cancel whenever you like ... but you won't. more sober tools = good)

Feedback from listeners:

GermanLena: Love that part about it not being about willpower. Because I guess, that’s what works ... slowly getting to know a perspective of things to be great and even greater! And particularly inspiring awesome to getting to know real people who are showing up, and what is possible if you just go through that tough stuff. 'cause grass IS greener on the other (sober) side! Love for that <3"

Emsyface: "​Before she quit she felt like she was just fulfilling everyone else’s needs and that her writing/pure creativity was “not essential”. This I think is important because it shows how alcohol makes us just focus on getting through and we deny ourselves any sense of pleasure or frivolity. ​She talks about reading your blog and you “liking” being sober. Catherine Gray in her book talks about sobriety having such a negative image whereas the reality is anything but. That was so worth hearing again. I found it affirming to hear from someone who didn’t have underlying mental health issues that if one did, one might need more support. Other little nuggets were “drinking doesn’t change reality” (but changes how you process it); and that feelings don’t kill you. ... Thanks for this- one of the best I’ve heard in a while."

from me:
there have been weeks, now, with no update from the painting studio. what you doing?
stuff.
got anything to show?
not yet.

so when he presents me with this painting (Fender 1), i'm like, have i seen this before?
yes. it's been hanging on the wall in my studio for inspiration.
inspiration?
so that i'll play more guitar. do more of those hobby things that we talked about. this is one.
this is one what?
this is one of the guitar paintings...
how many are there? 
seven. 

seven guitar paintings, hanging on the wall in his studio. let it be said that i never go up to his studio, like twice in 6 years, because it's up 7 flights of stairs (no elevator).

and now he's ready to sell his personal collection 🙂 

this painting also shows us what's available when we step 'outside' of the booze elevator. all the things that used to bring us joy, they're still there ...

Fender ​2

​Fender ​2
canvas itself is 30 x 30 cm (12" x 12")
acrylic on wrapped canvas, varnished, edges of the canvas are painted black
Wood frame is African ayous (hardwood), pale straw colour.

Free shipping included.

Available with or without frame
link here > www.artsober.com

hugs from me & him 

Interview with Kristi Coulter (2016)

Belle 1 Comment

There was a time when Kristi Coulter and I were sober penpals, and we both said "oh you used to be a writer? me too. before drinking. did you also study writing at school and then not really use it? me too."

I'm sure you've done something like this. You were a person before, and then booze soaked into the fabric of your life and you lost some of the old person, some of the fresh-ideas person, some of the adventurous person.

Then you remove the booze, and the real you starts to shine again. (Really, it is exactly like drowning the little orchid with bottles of wine—it doesn't bloom—and then you stop pouring alcohol on it and it brightens up again.)

OK, so time has passed and now KC is here (book writing and widely-shared-viral-article writing) and i'm here (one book done, sober fiction book underway). 

KC is sober penpal #128 and she's on day 1786 today (Saturday). 

And way back, before she was well and truly famous, I interviewed her on my podcast. I've pulled that audio out of the archives and am sharing it as my weekend audio.

Here is a three-minute sample starting at about the 11 minute mark. This was recorded in July 2016 and it's so cool that we mention the Medium article that would then go on to become the viral piece...


If you would like to hear the entire one-hour interview, you can click the red link below. The price is ZERO and then you get the entire MP3 file of our podcast.

Download the entire podcast episode
#150: Kristi Coulter (FREE)

Sign up for the monthly podcast membership
 (1-2 new audios per week, you can cancel whenever you like ... but you won't. more sober tools = good)