Ready to explore the world without the booze? On Friday, February 27 from 7:00 to 9:00 PM, The Sober Curator is taking over SOBER AF Zero Proof Bottle Shop in Tacoma for a night dedicated to all things sober travel. We're talking books, packing hacks, crafts, mocktails, and a room full of people who prove every single day that you don't need a drink to see the world.

Whether you're planning your next adventure or just dreaming about one from your couch, this is a Friday night worth leaving the house for.

Part of getting sober is learning how to care for ourselves in ways we used to avoid—especially when it comes to our health and the parts of our bodies we minimized, ignored, or dismissed. Sobriety teaches us to stop abandoning ourselves. That includes in the doctor’s office.

Here’s the hard-won truth: the most important thing you will ever bring into a medical appointment is your voice.

In the last couple of weeks, I have been lucky enough to attend two incredible, albeit very different, events. The first one; an ear drum-pounding, rock your socks off gig at London’s O2 Arena – the former Millennium Dome, if that means anything to anyone further afield – in which my favourite band, Scottish trio Biffy Clyro, did their utmost to blast the roof off the venue. The second; an intimate retreat in nature for those seeking clarity, with alternating sessions between a wood-fired sauna and dips in the ice-cold River Avon.

"The Disenchanted" is a short but powerful novel about talent, ego, and self-destruction. It is loosely based on Budd Schulberg’s real experience working with F. Scott Fitzgerald in Hollywood during the 1930s. The book tells the story through the eyes of a young writer who is hired to help a once-great novelist finish a movie script. What begins as admiration slowly turns into disappointment.

The first time I heard the title track, I didn’t just listen — I stopped.

Within the opening lines, Ross Hopman delivers a gut punch:

“When no one’s watching am I even safe from me.
I’m the great director of a movie no one’s meant to see.
I can still fuck up and still be loved.
When no one’s watching can I be who I’m meant to be?”

That song brought me to tears the first time I heard it. Not because it’s dramatic. Not because it’s loud. But because it’s honest.

And that honesty sets the tone for the entire album.

Dearest Sober Reader,

If you’re searching for a salacious distraction to carry you through the winter months, I should think you could do much worse than viewing the first half of the latest Bridgerton season. With the early episodes centered on Benedict Bridgerton, we quickly learn of his excessive imbibing and ‘rakish’ ways. Whispers float through the halls of high society while Benedict experiments in every conceivable manner, both in the bottle and the bed. He seems determined to conceal his true tapestry of emotions - building a wall between all others and his heart, such that many a gentleman and lady in recovery can recall the burden of those weighty bricks. Shall Benedict find a path through his pain and settle down, as his ever-hopeful ma-ma dearly dreams? Or will the drink pull him further into the depths of despair over which he has been dangling his feet, taunting fate?

Margaret Cho has been open about her winding road to recovery for decades. In 2016, what she thought was a birthday celebration turned out to be an intervention staged by friends who had watched her opioid and alcohol use spiral. She stayed in treatment for a year and a half and has been sober since. Cho had actually been sober for more than a decade before that relapse proving that recovery isn't always linear. Now over eight years sober, Cho says her sobriety "feels like another life" and has completely shifted how she sees herself. "I thought that the party would be over, but actually when you put all that stuff down, the party begins," she's said. She's described her sobriety as "a constantly evolving project" and "an ongoing piece of art you have to keep applying yourself to." The comedian, who has also spoken publicly about surviving sexual abuse, trauma, and anti-Asian racism, continues to use her platform to talk honestly about how these experiences intersect with addiction and mental health.

For anyone struggling, know that help is available: 📞 1-800-662-HELP (SAMHSA Helpline).

Sober 4/24 is a global movement designed to do one radical thing:
celebrate sobriety as something joyful, powerful, and deeply alive.

Not hidden.
Not medicalized.
Not framed as “what you gave up.”

But as what you gained.

The creators of the 4/24 Movement are calling it “the 420 of sobriety” — not as a gimmick, but as a cultural counterweight. A way to say: Hey, we get our own day too.

Here's the thing about kindness: it doesn't require a Pinterest board, matching t-shirts, or a dramatic reveal set to an emotional piano soundtrack. Sometimes the most powerful thing you can do is just... be a decent human in small, unglamorous ways.

February 17th is National Random Acts of Kindness Day, and before you roll your eyes at another made-up holiday sandwiched between Valentine's Day chocolates and Presidents' Day mattress sales, hear me out. In a world that can feel like a dumpster fire scrolling through your phone, intentional kindness is basically a radical act.

I did not expect a Scottish castle full of reality stars whispering about murder to become one of my weekly rituals, and yet here we are.

This season of "The Traitors" is peak television. Cloaked figures slipping into a turret under cover of darkness. A Round Table where grown adults deliver dramatic speeches at Shakespearean levels. Alan Cumming sweeping into the room like he has been personally styled by Rachel Zoe for a cover of Vogue: Castles Edition. His dog Lala wandering through scenes like a small, furry executive producer. Housewives serving full personality before coffee. Gamers analyzing and foreign alliances. And for reasons that remain unclear, a castle full of people under psychological stress fighting for salmon at breakfast - if there is any left.

Here's a Friday night plan that doesn't involve a single drop of alcohol, a single awkward "no thanks," or a single regret the next morning. Just your breath, your body, and a room full of people choosing presence over proof.

On Friday, March 6, my cousin Ariel Young and I are teaming up for At Home in the Body: Sober Yoga, a yin and restorative session focused on welcoming you back home to embodiment. We'll be at Yoga on Beacon in Seattle's Beacon Hill neighborhood, a studio built on inclusivity and community where Ariel teaches regularly. And yes, there will be NA beverages. Because we're The Sober Curator and hydration is kind of our thing.

Classy Problems is a daily post of thinking in motion by Dan T. Rogers. Each post stands alone as a thought-provoking piece, yet together, they create a puzzle of ideas. They invite you to see things from a different angle, rethink what you thought you knew, and explore what’s beyond your current understanding.