In this episode of Dear Vernon, Eric Johnson and Laura McKowen respond to a question that doesn’t get talked about enough:
What if you get sober… and you still can’t feel anything?

In this episode, Laura McKowen and Eric Johnson dig into a question that comes up way more than people talk about — what do you do when sobriety just feels... boring?

This week's question comes from Karen, who's five months sober and asking something so many of us have wondered: when will I be happy again? Sober, everything feels flat., boring, and gray. She's not in danger of relapsing, she just wants to feel like herself again.

The camaraderie of early recovery has faded, old relationships feel less relatable, and this listener is wondering: if connection is the key to long-term sobriety, what do you do when you feel more alone than ever?

There’s a lot of guidance out there about no major changes in the first 12 months of sobriety.

But is that a rule? A myth? A suggestion?

Laura reflects on what recovery means to her now, more than a decade into sobriety, and Eric dives into the difference between sobriety (not drinking) and recovery (learning how to live, cope, and regulate without alcohol).

What do we actually think about the new Surgeon General's alcohol guidelines? And maybe more importantly… why do they feel so confusing?

In this episode, Laura McKowen, our founder, and Eric Johnson, our CEO, sit down to talk through the why behind Dear Vernon—where the idea came from, what it’s meant to be (and what it’s not), and why creating a space for honest questions about sobriety felt necessary.