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I have a theory about why so many women in sobriety get curious about all things ‘woo woo’ when they quit drinking. But let me back up for a second.
By ‘woo woo’ I’m speaking to all things spiritual, but which often transcend to the tangible. Crystals, astrology, and tarot, for example. But also things like auras, human connection to nature, and of course, the afterlife. Even among my atheist and agnostic friends, I’m hard-pressed to find anyone who doesn’t experience increased curiosity to the movement of energy between nature, people, death and birth.
I grew up a flexible Christian. I went to church regularly but I didn’t assign hard, strict rules to my religion. It was a more fluid feeling of belief that God was loving and wanted to see me thrive, or sometimes simply survive. My faith helped me get through my first experience with depression as a teenager and I still carry this idea that God is love, and God wants us to live, serve and grow in all things love.
I didn’t grow curious about more metaphysical things, like crystals, learning about my birth chart and paying attention to the moon cycles until well into my sobriety. In part fueled by the interest of those around me, the increased information available online, and my fascination with learning, astrology felt like a new world I was ready to explore.
After falling into a discussion on astrology for the umpteenth time with my sober mom friends, I posed my theory out loud. “We get our intuition back in sobriety,” I remember telling the others on the call. “We also learn to welcome our empath nature to recognize and listen to the energy around us. I think understanding the where and why we feel the energy shifts all around us is a natural progression in sobriety.”
When you think about it, that’s all so much of this is. Most of astrology isn’t communicating with the devil and black magic and all the BS we were told growing up (I say “most of” because anyone can turn something more sinister, but it’s not truly representative of the vast spectrum). It’s recognizing that everything contains energy (basic science fact there) and understanding how to use that energy to our advantage.
If the moon cycles can and do impact when I’m going to get my period each month, I want to know more about what else is happening around me. It’s the simple act of finally looking up. And sobriety does that.
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