{"podcast":{"title":"Sober Awkward","slug":"sober-awkward-3755954","podcast_index_feed_id":3755954,"rss_url":"https://feeds.acast.com/public/shows/6595ff3d9616e6001613f21f","website_url":"https://soberawkward.com","image_url":"https://assets.pippa.io/shows/6595ff3d9616e6001613f21f/1769653010047-dccec8a0-9cea-4376-b2b2-14885759a862.jpeg","author":"Victoria Vanstone","episode_count":414,"summary":"Winner, Best Well-Being Podcast at The Australian Podcast Awards 2024 Have you ever woken up after a big night out and declared, “I’m never drinking again,” only to find yourself waving $50 at a barman by Happy Hour? Yep, Vic’s been there too. Join Victoria Vanstone, award-winning podcaster, author, and former binge-drinking party animal, as she explores what it’s really like to be sober in a world absolutely soaked in alcohol. Each week on Sober Awkward, Vic dives into boozy topics, social pressures, anxiety, identity wobbles, and the messy reality of quitting drinking, opening up the shame shed of humiliating stories so you don’t have to feel alone in yours. With humour, honesty, and zero judgement, Vic tells it like it is, from vomit and one-night stands to life on the other side of destructive drinking. If you’ve hit a wall, you’re fed up with anxiety, headaches, and blackouts, or you’re just quietly sober-curious, pop the kettle on and learn how to feel the awkward, and do it anyway. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.","last_synced_at":"2026-06-25T04:19:56.661306+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/sober-awkward-3755954"},"episode":{"title":"Finding Your Way Back to You - with Mel Bampton","slug":"finding-your-way-back-to-you-with-mel-bampton","published_at":"2026-03-01T14:01:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/sober-awkward-3755954/finding-your-way-back-to-you-with-mel-bampton","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/sober-awkward-3755954","url":"https://soberawkward.com","audio_url":"https://sphinx.acast.com/p/open/s/6595ff3d9616e6001613f21f/e/6979a8f7eded5f2d3c1d8e39/media.mp3","summary":"Is alcohol confidence, connection, and a doorway back to yourself, or is it a liquid barrier that keeps you further away? In this episode, Vic is joined by Australian broadcaster and former Triple J presenter Mel Bampton. Now 15 years sober, Mel has come full circle back to radio after spending years rebuilding her life around yoga, surfing and sobriety. Together, they explore one powerful question: how do we make our way back after losing ourselves to alcohol? Mel explains how alcohol can feel like a shortcut back to playfulness, imagination, and that light, giggly version of us we lost somewhere between school rules, expectations, and being told to “behave”. They talk about how drinking can seem like it’s giving you freedom, when it’s quietly taking pieces of you away, and why it can be so hard to notice that loss of self when you start young. They also dig into timing, the moment you know it’s time to stop, the shift from chaos to clarity, and the surprising truth that sobriety can be less about becoming someone new, and more about returning to who you were before life made you small. There’s tequila, hangovers, bins full of glass bottles, silent discos in the jungle, and a full-circle comeback story that proves this, even if you’ve taken the scenic route, you can always find your way back to you. Enjoy! @melbampton_ https://www.thepranaproject.com/blog/whats-in-a-name 💛 Resources & Links 📘 Victoria’s memoir – A Thousand Wasted Sundays A brutally honest and hilarious look at motherhood, anxiety, and ditching the booze. 👉 Buy the book here 🎧 Listen to more Sober Awkward episodes 👉 www.soberawkward.com 🫖 Join The Cuppa Community Our private, supportive online space for sober folk 👉 www.cuppa.community 📘 Get the Sober Awkward Guide Our downloadable toolkit for ditc…","meta_description":"Is alcohol confidence, connection, and a doorway back to yourself, or is it a liquid barrier that keeps you further away? In this episode, Vic is joined b…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":3401,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/sober-awkward-3755954/episodes/finding-your-way-back-to-you-with-mel-bampton/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/sober-awkward-3755954/finding-your-way-back-to-you-with-mel-bampton.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}