Looking At The World Through A Sober Lens with Non-Alcoholic Beverage Advocate Chris Clemens

To kick off the new year Ryan sits down with Chris Clemens, the founder of nonROCaholic, to talk about sobriety and the Dry January movement. Chris struggled with drinking and drug abuse before becoming sober in 1996. He has channeled his addictive tendencies into various creative endeavors including nonROCaholic, a social media presence and blog dedicated to showcasing and promoting non-alcoholic beverage offerings. But Chris is no stranger to online publishing. In 2012 he founded the popular website exploringupstate.com, a blog documenting his travels around Upstate New York and the various food, history, and tourism opportunities within just a few hours drive. Exploring Upstate offers readers the ability to find things to do but also viewed regional tourism through the lens of a sober individual who wanted to find funs ways to travel through wine country. Chris created the Fingers Lakes NON-Wine Trail to showcase non-alcoholic options people could partake in on a traditional wine tour. This idea eventually morphed into nonROCaholic where Chris regularly reviews non-alcoholic beverage options at bars and restaurants, canned offerings from beverage makers around the world, and facilitates sober meetups for those looking to make better connections in their local communities.

It's a great conversation to kick off the year and offers a chance to do some self-reflection into our own unhealthy or addictive behaviors. Chris talks about the origins of Dry January and helps give advice for those interested in starting the New Year fresh.

For more information on Chris Clemen’s work you can find him at www.nonrocaholic.com and www.exploringupstate.com. On social media nonROCaholic can be found @nonrocaholic on Facebook and Instagram.

For more information on the Meditations with Ryan Zlomek podcast, you can find The World of Ryan Zlomek on Facebook, @ryanzlomek on Instagram and TikTok, or email [e-mail].