Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Kristen Bear. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Alright, Kristen thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Let’s start with the story of your mission. What should we know?

When I decided to get sober in February of 2020, I went looking for a modern approach to the sober lifestyle. I wanted to feel empowered by my choice to prioritize my wellness and creative ambitions, not be forced to say I was powerless. While traditional recovery rhetoric works for many people I found it to be rigid and lacking room for nuance. I decided to start sharing my experiences with alcohol and my newfound sobriety on social media, opting for the name @creativesobriety to acknowledge that I was a creative artist, something that for a long time I thought meant I needed to imbibe. There’s this perpetuated trope of the “tortured artist,” that I believe many creative people fall victim to. We are innately sensitive and deeply feeling individuals, making and sharing art is an incredibly vulnerable experience, and many folks use substances to escape the intensity of those feelings. I went on a mission to change the narrative, change the language around sobriety. It is not about giving up anything, it’s about reclaiming everything and remembering who we were before the world told us we weren’t enough. Sobriety gets to be as unique and quirky and creative as we are and there is no one-size-fits-all model. We get to create a sober lifestyle that keeps all of our magic in tact.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I started posting content on social media when I was about a month into my sobriety. I used the platform to connect with other sober people and curate a feed of only sober-positive content. That page grew over the years and I’ve been able to connect with and support people from all over the world as they navigate their own sobriety journeys. I host a podcast, also called Creative Sobriety, that’s available on all listening platforms, and write on Substack about all things sobriety, creativity, and grief-mostly in the form of personal narrative. I’m currently working on a full-length memoir and I love getting immediate feedback from readers. Last fall, I created a four-part video masterclass called The Creative Sobriety Method, an alternative to traditional recovery and a condensed version of the mindset I teach 1:1 clients. This series is available exclusively to paid subscribers of my Substack newsletter. I have found that The Creative Sobriety Method approach is especially helpful for people who need to feel like they have some agency and power over their sobriety. A lot of women, specifically, have issues with some of the language in twelve-step programs and need to take control back as they heal, not give anymore of it away. I’m really proud of the community I’ve built over the last five years, we are constantly emailing and messaging each other to check in and the support has been paramount to my own success. I’ve spoken on panels about the booming non-alcoholic beverage industry and hosted in person events across the US. I am currently working on a proof of concept for a docu-series to take the message to an even bigger audience. My mission is to let people know that life and all of its juiciest pleasures do not end in sobriety, it expands.

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

The goal for me, something I now know for sure after getting sober and understanding myself on a deeper level, is to never allow anyone to put me in a box and slap a label on me. I am a creative person. I have varied interests and express myself through a variety of mediums. I measure success by the freedom I have to create. I am always looking for new ways to be more truthful with my work. Whether that’s on the page, as an actor on screen, or in my advocacy-I want it to be honest. As I learn more about myself, that honesty deepens and the work gets better. Your art and creations, like sobriety, aren’t limited to what other people can comprehend or hold space for. It’s taken me a long time to feel comfortable in my own skin and everything I do is in service of preserving that self-acceptance.

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

I started a new social media account just for sobriety content with the intention of posting things I’d never post on my personal account. I wanted to be free to be completely honest. Turns out that is all people want. Owning my story, the dark and the light of it, really resonated with people and the ones who needed to see it, found it. My best advice for anyone wanting to start a page is to be fearless. Say the thing you’re scared to say. It won’t be for everyone, but who it is for it will REALLY be for. I found people that I had heard on podcasts or read their books, etc, and followed them and then checked their followings to find more people in the sobriety space. Consistently posting, at least once a day, was the key for me. It became a source of accountability for me that was helpful to my own sobriety, too. It was a win, win. Building genuine connections with your audience is super important. I respond to every single message I receive unless it’s hateful or inappropriate. I show up as raw and unfiltered as I can and try to provide valuable information and advice for those who want it. It’s often the least planned out content that strikes a chord. Remember that your audience can smell fake a mile away, they want real.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.creativesobriety.co
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/creativesobriety
• Other: kristenbear.substack.com
  TikTok @creativesobriety
  Apple Podcasts/Spotify Podcasts: Creative Sobriety

Image Credits

Caleb Sheridan, John Schell