Hey. Dana here. I have some news.
My last three essays—lengthy reads that prompted record (for me) opens, views, and subscriptions—brought new clarity around this Substack and where it’s headed. Find them here:
I started this newsletter as an extension of Alchemist Academy and replacement for the MailChimp one I’d been sending since 2012.
For a while, everything was seat-of-my-pants—skipping around with much resistance to settling in and picking a niche. I wrote whatever I felt called to write—usually about Chinese Medicine, sobriety, and soulful living…but, also, all over the place.
Since most of my attention these past three years centred on my work as a college dean (a position that I left in late February), I considered this passionate yet eclectic approach to Substack good enough. The writing was important. Consistency in tone and subject matter, less so.
My audience is much bigger than when I began. After writing to familiar faces for more than a decade, folks I don’t know personally now make up the vast majority of readers.
Subscribers come from 46 US states and 79 countries! I am amazed and honoured by that. Thank you. Feel free to shoot me an email introducing yourself!
In the wake of this shift (and leaving the dean job), I feel pulled to make things clearer, tighter, and more useful to a particular segment of my audience:
The ones seeking what I was seeking in the years leading up to getting sober.
The ones grappling with or in recovery from all manner of addictions—whether to alcohol and other drugs, eating disorders, obsessive compulsive patterning, online technologies and social media, overwork, perfectionism, external validation, fucked-up relationships, etc.
The ones seeking an intimate, personal exploration of addiction, sobriety, and being human.
So, that’s what this’ll be, from here forward:
Sober Soulful: raw, unfiltered writing about sobriety and soulful living.
What can you expect?
If you read the last three essays, that’ll be the general texture—though not all of them will be as lengthy, clocking in at 20-plus-minute reads. (She says hopefully, knowing full well that the writing has a mind of its own and will take as long as it pleases.)
Think: explorations of addictions I’ve struggled with in the past or am struggling with lately.
Also explorations of how to show up and grow up, in this body-mind-soul. And how to navigate being and becoming with honesty, heart, curiosity, and a willingness to un-know—rather than insisting on answers.
That’s the soulful part. For me, in sobriety, it couldn’t be otherwise.
Nothing here will be overtly self-help-y. You won’t find: “7 Tips to Stress Less!” Or: “How to Quit Your Toxic Relationship Once and for All!” (Related: I avoid exclamation points unless I mean them. Also collective language that assumes we’re having the same experience and making the same choices—likely, we are not.)
Unless you’re seeing me as a patient in clinic or asking as a friend or loved one off platform, I’m not offering advice about what you should do—whether when it comes to sobriety or anything else. I’m sharing my personal, living experience.
Take what’s useful. Push off from there. Leave the rest.
Changes in free versus paid
So far as logistics, you can still expect a weekly essay. This will arrive on Friday, Saturday, or Sunday (except this week, which I’m taking off while rebranding the backend).
I’ve decided to make all new essays free, in their entirety, from now forward (vulnerability hangovers be damned). Three weeks after publishing, they go behind the paywall.
I’ve also decided to make comments open to all subscribers. This is a leap of faith in humanity and kindness. I ask simply that you are kind here, and that you refrain from using collective language and offering any advice to others (me included) unless you’re explicitly asked. Fine to share your experience and what’s worked for you. Please do!!
In addition to the free essays, paying subscribers will receive separate emails twice a month sharing ebooks, guided audio meditations and readings, and bigger-ticket swag on occasion (free access to courses at Alchemist Academy, for instance).
They’ll also get gold stars, extra credit, and heart-sourced appreciation and gratitude.
Writing this newsletter is one of my jobs—my most meaningful, time consuming, underpaid one at that. You are standing for something and making a difference through your monetary and energetic offering. Thank you.
Should you stay or should you go?
I recognize this refined direction, while more “professional,” isn’t for everyone. I have folks on my list from all different ages and phases of my own life—never mind the age and phase you happen to be on at the moment!
Just don’t feel as though you need to identify as an addict, sober, sober curious, or in recovery to stick around. If you’ve been here a while, you know how I feel about conventional narratives, boxes, and labels.
I hold recovery and sobriety in a living, breathing, ever-changing way. A way that’s expansive, inclusive, and quintessential human. (And we’re all human here, still figuring it out.)
On the other hand, if you’re not the least bit soulful (which is not synonymous with or equivalent to “religious,” though they can overlap), this might not be the newsletter for you (or maybe, it’s exactly for you). I approach sobriety and life through a spiritual, soul-conscious lens—even when on a tear about those boxes and labels.
If you’re a reader who’s been around a while (11 years even!), just know that this is the part where I finally Go Pro. Meaning, I now consider it my job and my “beat” to produce raw, unfiltered writing about sobriety and soulful living. It’s no longer a side hobby or “cute little newsletter.”
I mention this most of all to reassure you (especially if you know me personally and/or are family) that just because I’m writing about this topic each week doesn’t mean it’s the whole of me or the whole of my existence.
It’s my job. I also have other jobs. And I have a wider life. Understanding this is important—most of all, for me. Understanding it helps me show up with confidence and take reactions to the The Work less personally.
Subscription sale
To herald this change, I’m having a sale on paid subscriptions through June 25th. Get one year for just over $20 (and lock in that rate forever) here:
You can also gift a subscription to someone who’d benefit…or support my work through a heart ♡, restack, or share.
If you’re feeling extra generous and wish to become a Founding Member ($31-$111/year), you’ll receive an abundance of gratitude and karma points for supporting my work. It means more than I can say.
And that’s it! Thank you for being here.
With love,
Dana
P.S., As promised last week, paying subscribers will receive a short ebook on eating disorders this week (applies to other addictions too, including online technologies and social media). Look for it in your email inbox this Friday.
P.P.S., The promised essay on body dysmorphia (for everyone—paid or not) will drop the following weekend (not this coming one).
P.P.P.S., Find what’s up for me now (with a bit of then) on my Now page here, updated weekly.
Yes! Thanks you Dana. More of us need to dig deep into the “what and why” of living while sober. I intend to read all 🙏
So excited about this - Thank you for sharing your experiences.