If you’re tired of self-help memoirs that are all #inspirational quotes and no substance, you’ve found the book for you in Catherine Gray’s The Unexpected Joy of Being Sober. Gray takes pains to make her book about recovery from alcoholism into a level-headed, conversational look at the hardest journey some of us ever undertake.
She manages to inspire her readers to follow in her footsteps without making them feel like she’s patronizing them or talking their ear off with meaningless mantras. Gray even makes a canny reference to the new-agey platitudes of other self-help books by telling her readers that if they start going around saying “Today is a gift. That’s why it’s called the present,” they’ve gone too far!
As you can probably tell from that zinger, the style of this book makes it easy for the reader to engage with heavy topics without being overwhelmed. In discussing emotional regulation, Gray compares feelings to children: “You don’t want them driving the car, but you shouldn’t stuff them in the boot either.” With this kind of crushingly wry wit, Gray details how she went from letting her emotions drive to putting them in the back seat in the proper safety-regulated booster chairs.
This is a fabulous book. Funny and Scary all rolled into one. Definitely helped me keep sober (5 stars)
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In this manner, Gray discusses neurology, mindfulness, and personal growth in blunt, easy-to-understand language. She starts from her rock bottom period and tells her story with total candor and unflinching courage, which is admirable in this age of Instagram-perfect personas.
A delightful combination of straight-shooting, helpfulness & devilish humor (5 stars)
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At no point does Gray make it seem like being sober is easy. From having to wrestle with her emotions after removing her habitual coping mechanism to her encounters with other people’s criticisms of her choice to be sober, Gray’s sobriety has been as difficult for her as it has been for all of us who have walked this path. But the upshot is that she does show beautifully the benefits of being sober, and the pride she has in the life she has built in the aftermath of her addiction. Gray has been fitter, happier, and wealthier than ever now that she can pursue her life goals without addiction taking her off-track, so anyone looking for a reason to go sober will find many from the outcomes she details in The Unexpected Joy of Being Sober. From a relatable struggle to an inspiring future, Gray has given us a successful story of life after alcoholism.
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