Dear Vernon

EP 11: Is It Normal to Keep My Sober Friends Separate?

This week on Dear Vernon, The Luckiest Club Founder Laura McKowen and The Luckiest Club CEO Eric Johnson are answering a question that came in directly from a member with almost four years of sobriety—and honestly, it's one a lot of people can relate to. She loves her sober friends. They've been her lifeline. But they exist in a completely separate world from the rest of her life, and that separation feels strange to her. Almost like keeping secrets. So she wants to know: is this just how it is? Laura and Eric both talk about how different friend groups naturally serve different purposes. Your sober friends know your inner world in a way that's hard to explain to anyone on the outside. That's not a secret, that's just intimacy. And it doesn't mean something is wrong with your other relationships. They also talk about how this tends to soften over time. The hard line between your sober world and everyone else tends to blur as sobriety becomes less of a focal point and more just...who you are. Laura shares a story from a recent trip to Italy with non-sober friends (and the Instagram comment that followed) that perfectly captures how much can shift with time. This conversation is a good reminder that not every friendship has to go deep to be meaningful. You need the friends you can say everything to. You also need the friends you can just watch the game with. Both matter. If the show resonates, please leave a review and share it with someone who needs it. Have a question for Dear Vernon? 👉 Submit your question [https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSemIptEB9wRpRzTX-qjolRqLJCTKg952iqx4w97Bm-4uyuU1A/viewform], and it might be featured on a future episode. Get a FREE week of The Luckiest Club here! [https://www.theluckiestclub.com/join-community] Need more support? We offer three 13-week programs designed to meet you exactly where you are in your sobriety journey: The Sober 90 [https://apricots-duck-an2p.squarespace.com/courses/the-sober-90]- foundational work to get you through the early days The Sober Steady [https://apricots-duck-an2p.squarespace.com/courses/the-sober-steady]- for those with some sober time who need more resilience and tools The Sober Life [https://apricots-duck-an2p.squarespace.com/courses/the-sober-life]- focused on the deeper work of emotional sobriety

EP 10: The Violence of Self-Improvement

Getting this episode recorded and out was like pulling teeth, but here we are. We couldn't let this question go unanswered, it's that good. A listener asked, "I'm sober, but finding myself shopping, scrolling, and using food as a way to fill that void where alcohol was, how do you (Laura and Eric) feel about this?" Laura McKowen, Founder of The Luckiest Club, and Eric Johnson CEO of The Luckiest Club, talk about their own experiences with transfer addictions and some guidelines that might help listeners understand if their habits are a problem. They also talk about how there can be harm in the need to constantly seek self-improvement. If the show resonates, please leave a review and share it with someone who needs it. Have a question for Dear Vernon? 👉 Submit your question [https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSemIptEB9wRpRzTX-qjolRqLJCTKg952iqx4w97Bm-4uyuU1A/viewform], and it might be featured on a future episode. Get a FREE week of The Luckiest Club here! [https://www.theluckiestclub.com/join-community] Need more support? We offer three 13-week programs designed to meet you exactly where you are in your sobriety journey: The Sober 90 [https://apricots-duck-an2p.squarespace.com/courses/the-sober-90]- foundational work to get you through the early days The Sober Steady [https://apricots-duck-an2p.squarespace.com/courses/the-sober-steady]- for those with some sober time who need more resilience and tools The Sober Life [https://apricots-duck-an2p.squarespace.com/courses/the-sober-life]- focused on the deeper work of emotional sobriety

EP 9: How Do I Talk About My Sobriety?

This week on Dear Vernon, The Luckiest Club Founder, Laura McKowen, and The Luckiest Club CEO, Eric Johnson, are answering the question "how do I tell people I'm not drinking?" and this is one we hear all the time. We've had close to a dozen people write in asking some variation of this question, so we knew it was time to answer it on the podcast. Truthfully, the answer you give your colleagues might be different than the answer you give to close friends and family. Laura and Eric give a few examples that they use in different situations and they'll share some of the responses and questions that they've got about their drinking. They also briefly touch on sober dating and how and when you might disclose this to your date. This conversation serves as a reminder that you don't have to tell everyone, but you do have to tell someone. Leaning it to a sober community is helpful way to gain the confidence to say "I don't drink." If the show resonates, please leave a review and share it with someone who needs it. Have a question for Dear Vernon? 👉 Submit your question [https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSemIptEB9wRpRzTX-qjolRqLJCTKg952iqx4w97Bm-4uyuU1A/viewform], and it might be featured on a future episode. Get a FREE week of The Luckiest Club here! [https://www.theluckiestclub.com/join-community] Need more support? We offer three 13-week programs designed to meet you exactly where you are in your sobriety journey and registration is open now: The Sober 90 [https://apricots-duck-an2p.squarespace.com/courses/the-sober-90]- foundational work to get you through the early days The Sober Steady [https://apricots-duck-an2p.squarespace.com/courses/the-sober-steady]- for those with some sober time who need more resilience and tools The Sober Life [https://apricots-duck-an2p.squarespace.com/courses/the-sober-life]- focused on the deeper work of emotional sobriety Want to learn more? We're hosting a Q&A Friday, May 1, 2026. You can register here [https://www.theluckiestclub.com/tlc-public-q-and-a-sessions]!

EP 8: Why Can't I Cry Anymore?

In this episode of Dear Vernon, Eric Johnson and Laura McKowen respond to a question that doesn’t get talked about enough: What if you get sober… and you still can’t feel anything? The listener who wrote in shared that they hadn’t cried in years — not while drinking, and not in the months after stopping. No big emotional release. No tears. Just… nothing. Eric and Laura both know that feeling. They talk about: * how alcohol can numb your emotions for a long time — even after you stop * what it means to be in a kind of “freeze” or shutdown state * why some emotions show up before others (and why it’s not usually sadness first) * how anger, fear, and shame can block access to deeper feelings * and why your body might not be ready to go there yet Laura shares about her own experience with not being able to cry, both in early sobriety and while being on antidepressants for many years, and what it’s been like to slowly feel things come back online. Eric talks about how long it took for him to get there too, and how emotions didn’t come back all at once, they showed up in layers. If the show resonates, please leave a review and share it with someone who needs it. Have a question for Dear Vernon? 👉 Submit your question [https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSemIptEB9wRpRzTX-qjolRqLJCTKg952iqx4w97Bm-4uyuU1A/viewform], and it might be featured on a future episode. Get a FREE week of The Luckiest Club here! [https://www.theluckiestclub.com/join-community] Need more support? We offer three 13-week programs designed to meet you exactly where you are in your sobriety journey: The Sober 90 [https://apricots-duck-an2p.squarespace.com/courses/the-sober-90]- foundational work to get you through the early days The Sober Steady [https://apricots-duck-an2p.squarespace.com/courses/the-sober-steady]- for those with some sober time who need more resilience and tools The Sober Life [https://apricots-duck-an2p.squarespace.com/courses/the-sober-life]- focused on the deeper work of emotional sobriety

EP 7: How Do I Like My Eggs?

In this episode of Dear Vernon, Laura McKowen and Eric Johnson dig into a question that comes up way more than people talk about — what do you do when sobriety just feels... boring? The question came in from a member who's 60 days sober, a busy working mom, and feeling this strange flatness she can't quite name. Laura and Eric unpack why "boredom" in early sobriety is rarely just boredom, and what's really going on underneath it. They talk about: Why drinking feels like fun (and why that's kind of a lie) The brain chemistry behind early sobriety flatness — dopamine deficits, anhedonia, and why the color seems to drain out of everything Why "I'm bored" often really means "I have no idea what I actually like" The Runaway Bride moment: figuring out how you like your eggs when you've always ordered what someone else wanted Why action has to come before inspiration (not the other way around) How to find joy in the small stuff when you don't have time for big stuff Why going big and letting it fly isn't actually fun — it's just loud This one's for anyone sitting in that strange in-between place where the chaos of early days has settled and you're left wondering... now what? 🎧 Listen to the full episode on Apple Podcasts [https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/ep-1-so-who-the-hell-is-vernon/id1871522237?i=1000746371247], Spotify [https://open.spotify.com/episode/4FXWQqinlrCksuZG1yGZql?si=3f21ad0fa493410d] or your favorite podcast player. If the show resonates, please leave a review and share it with someone who needs it. Have a question for Dear Vernon? 👉 Submit your question [https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSemIptEB9wRpRzTX-qjolRqLJCTKg952iqx4w97Bm-4uyuU1A/viewform], and it might be featured on a future episode. Get A Free Week Trial of The Luckiest Club here [https://community.theluckiestclub.com/]! Need more support? We offer three 13-week programs designed to meet you exactly where you are in your sobriety journey: The Sober 90 [https://apricots-duck-an2p.squarespace.com/courses/the-sober-90]- foundational work to get you through the early days The Sober Steady [https://apricots-duck-an2p.squarespace.com/courses/the-sober-steady]- for those with some sober time who need more resilience and tools The Sober Life [https://apricots-duck-an2p.squarespace.com/courses/the-sober-life]- focused on the deeper work of emotional sobriety