There is a very specific hour of the day that belongs to the sober person.

It’s somewhere between 5 and 7pm. The sun starts doing that thing where everything goes warm and gold. Your neighbors are pouring something cold on their back porches. The bar down the street is an hour deep into happy hour. Every restaurant on the block is doing the low lighting and the clinking glasses and the ritual. For a lot of people in recovery, this is the hardest hour of the day.

It’s the hour that used to mean something. It’s the hour that your body still remembers, even when your brain has moved on. It’s the hour that fills with a low hum of “I used to.” And it has been, historically, one of the most dangerous hours in a sober person’s day, because not having something to do with your hands at 6pm is how people end up doing things they don’t want to do by 9pm.

We named our signature mocktail recipe collection after that hour on purpose. Welcome to The Golden Hour Recipe Cards Series.

A bi-weekly creative practice for sober and sober-curious women exploring identity, creativity, and life after alcohol. No art skills required.

When I got sober, I thought I had cracked the code on life. I was down 20 pounds, booked a trip to Mexico, enrolled in college for the first time, and was walking around like sobriety Oprah handing out 24-hour coins like, “You get serenity! You get serenity!” to newcomers.

Television has never been particularly good at portraying addiction.

Most shows fall into one of two predictable storylines: the reckless party disaster or the tragic spiral. Both are dramatic. Both are tidy. And both usually resolve themselves once the character reaches a moment of clarity.

Real addiction is not nearly so cooperative.

Alcohol use among athletes is well documented, especially when looking at the connection between athletes and alcohol within team environments. Research shows that college athletes often report drinking at rates equal to or higher than their non athlete peers, particularly in team sports where social norms encourage group drinking (Martens, Dams O’Connor, & Beck, 2006). The pressure to fit in with teammates, celebrate victories, or cope with stress reinforces the idea that alcohol is simply part of the athletic experience.

While Samuel L. Jackson was in rehab in 1991, Spike Lee called with an offer. The role was Gator in Jungle Fever — a crack addict. Jackson had just spent years living a version of that life.

He took the role. He brought something to it that no amount of preparation could have manufactured. He won a special jury prize at Cannes for it, a category the festival created specifically to honor his performance. He was 42 years old and had been a working actor for over a decade.

What happened after that is one of the more documented career trajectories in Hollywood history. What happened before it is what makes the trajectory make sense.

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

At first glance, the can is chic enough to make you assume it has opinions about glassware. The Pantone situation on this can is giving “I know exactly who I am and I don’t need to explain it to you.” Minimalist, intentional, and honestly a little intimidating in the best way. The black-and-gold design feels elevated, celebratory, and just self-aware enough to know that presentation matters. In the NA space, where packaging can swing a little too wellness-core or a little too trying-too-hard-to-be-fun, this one lands somewhere better: sophisticated, festive, and grown.

Join me LIVE on BACKSTAGE Wednesday, April 29, from 6 to 7 PM Pacific for a hands-on demo, tool reviews, and a year’s worth of bedazzle receipts.

Here is a sentence I never expected to write in my sober life: I have strong opinions about glue.

I also have strong opinions about wax picker tips, which rhinestone brands fall off in the dishwasher, why bigger gems are sometimes better than smaller ones, and whether you should bedazzle the cover of a hardback book. (Yes. Obviously yes. I’ll show you mine.)

Two weeks ago, I was outside a concert at The Moore Theatre in downtown Seattle, begging a 20-something to blow cigarette smoke in my face.

That’s where we’re starting. We’ll get to the jelly sandals.

I’m two weeks shy of 20 years sober. My anniversary is May 1. That means when you’re reading this I’m clocking in at 19 years and roughly 50 weeks. Close enough to taste it. Far enough away that life still gets to hand me a pop quiz every once in a while.

This one came wrapped in rubber.

Here’s your sneak peek. That’s what happens BACKSTAGE.

On April 22, 2026, The Sober Curator hosted its very first Backstage Pass live event with author Rufi Thorpe – and the conversation got REAL. We’re talking complex female characters, the cultural parallel between sex work stigma and recovery, single motherhood, and what it actually looks like when an author gets a seat at the table for her own Hulu adaptation.

This is just a taste.

The full replay – plus everything else happening BACKSTAGE – is waiting for you.

When you become a BACKSTAGE Founding member, you get:

Right now, Founding Member pricing is still available – but not for long.

✨ $19/month
✨ $190/year (that’s two months FREE)

These are Founding Member rates. When they’re gone, they’re gone.

👉 Become a BACKSTAGE Founding member: https://thesobercurator.com/backstage-with-the-sober-curator/