Sober Glimmers

Sober Glimmers Founder Tracy Ollerenshaw
Alcohol-Free Mindset Coach and Community Lead. Helping women ditch booze in a world that’s obsessed with it. Coaching. Community.

Rising together ✨

18/06/2026

One of the conversations that came up on the retreat was about rest.

Not sleep.

Not collapsing on the sofa at the end of the day.

A different kind of rest.

The kind where nobody needs anything from you.

You’re not organising uniforms, packed lunches, shopping for your parents, meal plans, lifts, WhatsApps and weekend logistics.

You’re not hearing:

“Muuuuum, I need…”

🖤 Black socks

💜 A purple wig

✏️ A clear pencil case

🧥 My favourite jumper (even though it’s the only one that’s not clean)

You’re not helping with revision or navigating teen angst at 9.27pm.

You’re not holding ALL OF IT together.

Just space…

To be.

For so many women, wine becomes the thing that signals rest.

The ritual of pouring a glass that says:

“You’ve done enough now.”

But what if what we’re really craving isn’t a drink?

What if we’re craving permission?

Permission to stop.

Permission to breathe.

Permission to put ourselves on the list too.

That conversation stayed with me all weekend 💖

What surprised the women most about the Sober Glimmers Retreat?Not the mountain hike.Not the lake dip.(Even though both ...
16/06/2026

What surprised the women most about the Sober Glimmers Retreat?

Not the mountain hike.
Not the lake dip.
(Even though both required some level of stepping out of their comfort zones. The wind up that mountain was knock-you-over type strength and the water was rather fresh!)

It was how quickly they felt comfortable.

How easy the connection felt.

How safe it was to be their authentic selves.

Listening back to the interviews I recorded at the end of the weekend one word keeps coming up again and again:

Connection.

Connection to themselves.

Connection to other women.

Connection to a life that feels bigger, brighter, more alive and full of glimmers. (Yes even the freezing ones whilst wearing swim shoes or being in wind that makes your hood and cheeks flap a lot!)

That’s actually what this weekend was really about 💖

14/06/2026

Glimmer Of The Week
Look at the life we almost missed ✨

Howwwww do you pick one thing after the weekend we’ve just had?

A retreat with an incredible group of women who get it climbing mountains, sharing their experiences, laughter, tears and full hearts, seeing experiencing, achieving, LIVING.

My glimmer wasn’t reaching the summit of the Old Man of Coniston (although 802 metres is not to be sniffed at!)

It wasn’t the stunning scenery try and views.

It wasn’t even the oodles of sheep and lambs.

It was hearing conversation after conversation about what alcohol-free life has given them.

More peace in their everyday lives.

More confidence to come on a retreat with people you’ve never met.

More bravery to take on a 10 mile hike.

More freedom from the daily mental will I/won’t I wine witch.

More trust in themselves.

Not one person was talking about what they’d lost as they battled to stay upright in 40 mph winds!!

And that’s the thing I wish more women knew.

The best bits are all the bits you discovery in sobriety that you never even realised were available to you.

What’s been your glimmer this week? ✨

14/06/2026

These Sunday mornings become so much more than any Friday or Saturday night.

Waking with pride, clarity and an inner feeling of peace will always be a fav.

Am I right? ☕️

Have a super Sober Sunday you beautiful lot x x

A year ago, this retreat didn’t exist.Not the venue.Not the walking route.Not the WhatsApp group popping off with women ...
12/06/2026

A year ago, this retreat didn’t exist.

Not the venue.

Not the walking route.

Not the WhatsApp group popping off with women getting excited about the weekend ahead, a reset in nature, having a much needed breather and as one lady put it “connecting with other like-minded legends!”

And as I’ve been rooting out my rucksack, packing boots, very attractive water shoes and putting together my welcome gifts this week, I keep stopping and pausing to think just how different this all feels now.

A few years ago I’d have had my booze bag front and central.

This week I spent an hour looking for my water shoes 😆 (well, full disclosure I gave up and Jules found them in a bag in the garage - my hero!)

At first this might seem tiny. But it really isn’t.

It’s evidence.

The biggest glimmers are often the quietest.

They simply show you what has become your norm.

And this weekend feels like one big, beautiful piece of evidence that life doesn’t get smaller when alcohol stops being the main event.

It starts showing you what was there all along.

10/06/2026

1220 days alcohol-free today. Wooooooooo hoooooooooooo 🎉

Here’s what I know now that I didn’t know then...

• I crave a 10pm lights out more than a past-midnight sofa blackout.

• The girls prefer this Mum to that Mum on the morning school runs.

• Steak is just dinner

• Waking up proud & at peace is magic

• I trust myself more.

• I don’t start the day flat and feeling behind.

• The hard parts didn’t last forever.

• Ditching the habit I was sooooo fed up with became one of the best decisions I’ve ever made.

1220 days ago I thought I’d just try to see if I could live life for 100 days alcohol free. I thought I was giving something up.

Now I know I was getting my life back. Getting me back.

What have you learned from taking a break from alcohol? I’d love to know.

Big Love,
Tracy xx

You can stop drinking and still spend years trying to make drinking work. This past week I’ve been speaking to women who...
08/06/2026

You can stop drinking and still spend years trying to make drinking work.

This past week I’ve been speaking to women who’ve:

~ done two weeks all-inclusive alcohol-free
~ booked sober holidays and can’t wait to go on them
~ hit milestones they never thought they’d reach
~ started planning things they once believed alcohol was essential for

And it’s reminded me of something.

The toughest part isn’t stopping drinking.
It’s letting go of the version of you who still believes alcohol is required.

Required for holidays, celebrations, relaxing, fun, sitting in the garden, a walk, pizza with the kids, switching off.
I could go on. But it’s exhausting.

Because on one hand you’re trying to move forwards.

But there’s still a part of you trying to keep the old story alive.

The story that alcohol deserves a place in your life.

That wine o clock is adding something.
That Fizzy Friday (after Thirsty Thursday before red with roast on Sunday) is making things better.

That it’s not fair that you can’t just have it.

But as long as we feel like we’re missing out there will always be a pull back towards it.

The women who create lasting change aren’t necessarily the women with the most willpower.

They’re the women who stop asking:

“How do I make drinking work?”

and start asking:

“What if life is trying to show me something different?”

Because once that shift happens, everything changes.

Not overnight. But gradually. You stop focusing on what you’re missing. And start noticing what you’re gaining, those glimmers and what’s becoming possible.

If you’ve taken breaks before but keep finding yourself back in the same conversation, my free Glimmer Shift Sessions are designed to help you uncover what’s really keeping that wine cycle alive.

DM me GLIMMER and I’ll send you the details.

07/06/2026

Glimmer Of The Week

“I’m so excited to go away”

She wasn’t talking about the wine.

06/06/2026

A few years ago, if you’d told me I’d be hosting a sold-out alcohol-free retreat, I’d have laughed.

Not because I didn’t think I could host a retreat.

Because I couldn’t imagine a weekend away without wine being front and centre.

I thought alcohol made life bigger.

More social.

More exciting.

More relaxing.

And on the surface, my world looked pretty full.

Hostess with the mostest.

Social glue.

Always organising something. Thirsty Thursday, Fizzy Friday. For a good while we were staying at friends or they were coming to us almost every weekend.

That was me.

But mentally and emotionally?

My world had become surprisingly small.

So much energy went into thinking about alcohol.

Planning it.

Looking forward to it.

Negotiating with it.

Promising myself I’d stick to my rules.

Doing well for a while.

Then finding myself right back in the negotiation again.

It was more exhausting than I ever realised.

Next Friday, I’ll be in the Lake District with seven incredible women.

We’ll be hiking.

Waterfall dipping.

Sitting in a lakeside sauna.

Having conversations we’ll actually remember.

Connecting properly.

And the thing that still amazes me isn’t the retreat.

It’s realising the life I was frightened of losing never really existed.

The life I was looking for was waiting on the other side.

And honestly?

When I committed to 100 days alcohol-free, I had no idea what I would discover.

I thought I was taking a break from drinking.

What I actually found was a completely different way of living.

It’s been more enlightening, expansive and life-changing than I ever could have imagined.

05/06/2026

Every woman who’s reached out for a Glimmer Shift Session has one thing in common:

She’s already taken a break from alcohol.

The question isn’t whether she’s gathered enough evidence.

The question is whether she’s ready to trust what it’s showing her.

DM me GLIMMER if you’d like a 30 minute free Glimmer Shift Session 💖

Address

Banbury

Website

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Sober Glimmers posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Contact The Practice

Send a message to Sober Glimmers:

Shortcuts

Share

Category