How Honest Should You Be About Sobriety at Work?
The Risk of Being Honest
For a long time, I believed that storytelling was mostly a business tool. Something you used to explain a brand, connect with customers, or make a product feel meaningful.
What I’ve come to realize is that storytelling matters just as much on a personal level, especially at work. The story you tell, or choose not to tell, shapes how you show up, how safe you feel, and how honestly you’re able to live.
This has been especially true for me since getting sober.
When I started Seir Hill, I wanted it to stand for something real. Not just another non-alcoholic option, but something grounded in truth. That meant building it around two things that shaped my life in a real way: farming and sobriety.
But this isn’t just a story about a brand. It’s a story about what it means to bring your whole self into your work.
The First Part of the Story: Where You Come From
Part of Seir Hill’s story comes from my father. He grew up working on farms throughout Connecticut, moving from place to place and trading labor for room and board. Those years stayed with him for the rest of his life.
I now live in a converted barn on Seir Hill, surrounded by that same farming history. Naming the company after this place wasn’t about branding. It was about acknowledging where I came from and what shaped me.
At work, this part of the story is easy to share. It’s safe. People like it. Legacy stories usually are.
The Second Part: The One That Feels Riskier
The harder part of the story is my sobriety.
When I stopped drinking, I didn’t announce it at work. I didn’t know how. I wasn’t sure how people would react or what assumptions they might make. I just knew that alcohol had stopped working for me, and I needed to make a change.
As I started building Seir Hill, that truth became impossible to separate from the work. The company exists because I got sober. I wanted alternatives that didn’t feel like a punishment or a downgrade. I wanted something that felt intentional and grown up.
But sharing that part of the story felt different. Sobriety still makes people uncomfortable. It raises questions they may not want to ask themselves.
The Tension Between Fitting In and Being Honest
In most workplaces, moderation is easy to talk about. Sobriety is not.
Cutting back sounds reasonable. Quitting altogether sounds extreme, even when it isn’t. Alcohol is so normalized that choosing not to drink can feel like you’re breaking an unspoken rule.
That creates a tension many people in recovery know well. How honest do you need to be? How much of your story belongs at work? When does authenticity help, and when does it feel like a liability?
I don’t have a clean answer. What I do know is that hiding parts of yourself takes energy. Over time, that cost adds up.
Why Authenticity Still Matters
Being authentic doesn’t mean oversharing. It doesn’t mean making your sobriety the center of every conversation. It means not pretending to be someone you’re not in order to feel accepted.
For me, owning my story, including sobriety, has made work feel lighter. I’m not managing two versions of myself anymore. The one who builds, creates, and leads is the same person everywhere else.
Not everyone will relate. Some people will feel uncomfortable. That’s part of the risk.
But the people who do understand often connect more deeply than I ever expected.
Living With the Question
Is my story helping or hurting me at work?
The honest answer is probably both.
But I’ve learned that trying to be universally palatable usually leads to being quietly disconnected. For me, clarity has mattered more than comfort.
Sobriety didn’t just change how I drink. It changed how I work, how I lead, and how honestly I’m willing to show up.
And that, more than anything, has been worth it.
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