Every time I read about Lucy Hale she comes across as curious, independent, and chill. I loved her preaching the merits of solo travel last summer, something I indulge in and thoroughly recommend myself. I hope she finds her way to a project that will give her career a jolt. Not that she hasn’t been working steadily since Pretty Little Liars ended in 2017, but nothing has been as visible for her since that show. Going by her own comments lately, it sounds like she’s in a settled, open mindset after putting in some dedicated self-work. Lucy rang in the New Year in a fabulous set of pajamas and by marking two years of sobriety. Bravo, Lucy!
“This continues to be the greatest gift I’ve given myself,” she captioned her Instagram post Tuesday.
“I remain so grateful for another year of growth, growing pains, lessons, joys, and self-realizations.”
Hale said the “interactions, conversations, and moments of vulnerability” she’s shared with people since quitting drinking has given her “so much meaning.”
“Those experiences have been my favorite takeaway from this last year,” she continued. “To every person I have connected with…thank you from the bottom of my heart.”
Hale, who has been open about her past “self-destructive” battle with alcoholism, addressed fans who may be having battles of their own.
“Lastly, if you are struggling please know you are not alone and that you do not have to trek this path alone,” she wrote.
“There is no right or wrong way to heal and it is deeply personal and unique to each of us. My only advice is to remain open hearted, curious, and to find the people who see and support you. It does get better. Take it moment by moment.”
“I’ve been working on getting sober since I was 20,” Hale said in Feb. 2023 during an appearance on “The Diary of a CEO” podcast with Steven Barlett. “I’m 33, it takes time. It took patience with myself.”
“I can show up exactly who I am and share my story, and to actually be able to talk about this is so freeing because it’s not chaining me down anymore,” she went on.
“It takes the power away from it. I can be Lucy, which is not always cute at times. It’s dark and disgusting and scary and that’s what makes us all complex, beautiful human beings, is we all have got this shadow self.”
Oof, her comments on it taking time and patience really resonated with me. I’m not a drinker, but I am an eater. It’s overwhelming whenever I think of the total amount of weight I want to lose, and that just makes it harder for me to get started and to stick with it. And I say that as someone who did lose a lot of weight when I was younger at a very steady pace over a period of a couple years. I just, well, managed to find the weight I’d lost! So I salute Lucy in her victory of two years of sobriety — she should absolutely celebrate it and be proud of herself. Sobriety, like all aspects of health and wellness, isn’t something that’s achieved, it has to be perpetually maintained. Lucy seems to have found peace with the work being ever-present. I’d say that deserves splurging $137 on feather-cuffed silk pajamas (and that’s the sale price!).
photos credit: Xavier Collin / Image Press Agency / Avalon and via Instagram
Just FYI, Lucy Hale was in a really cute movie called “The Hating Game” that I believe is available on Hulu. It was based on a book (I’ve read it and looove it), and while it didn’t quite pull off what the book did, she did a very good job and it’s turned me into a bit of a fan of hers now.
My sister worked with her on A Nice Girl Like You! I think it’s on Netflix now, maybe also Hulu? She really should lean into the romcom genre. She does pretty well there.
We’re currently doing Dry January, like we do every year. Every year, we say we’re going to try to keep it going. Maybe this will be the year. Thanks for this post, Kismet!
one day at a time❤️🌹👏
We are doing Dryanuary in our house too. Best wishes to you! I’m not sure what my final goal will be, other than getting through the month, but I will take it one day at a time in February and see where I wind up.
Believe it or not, I think weight loss is harder than sobriety (I’m 4 years sober and used to LIVE for wine).
A lot of people get sober when they realize they can’t moderate and the urges to binge don’t calm down until they stop drinking altogether. Welp, you can’t quit food cold turkey. You HAVE to moderate. So that food mania never really go away. Plus regular binges are built into our culture (holidays). It’s really hard.
Plus, your body fights back. That’s why you lose weight in the first few weeks of a diet, but you may start to plateau after that.
And I agree with your point about alcoholism vs. disordered eating. When I was still trying to lose weight, it frustrated me to no end that eating is a biological imperative, so I couldn’t just stop.
Does anyone else listen to Maintenance Phase? I swear I saw it recommended in the comments here. It opened my eyes to how much diet culture has affected me and my family. And how relatively few people lose weight, and keep it off. I don’t begrudge anyone who wants to lose weight, but I do begrudge the systems that have made us feel like failures for not succeeding at something that was highly likely to fail.
I used to own a tequila company AND I had an impressive wine cellar. I would not say I had a drinking problem, but I absolutely had above average consumption. Something happened through chemo and I can no longer tolerate any alcohol at all. The hangovers are so stupidly outsized for even a sip of booze, I have happily (and easily) walked away from it. Every now and then I try a little, my sleep gets interrupted and I shun it again for months on end. I suppose I’m lucky to have that long term side effect from chemo? I imagine that ozempic might have the same effect on appetite.
I really LOVED and APPRECIATED her comments!! I’m making a huge effort to lose weight SENSIBLY, to really put in the emotional and social work involved. I joined TOPS (Taking Pounds Off Sensibly), and my local group is super supportive and no one tells you to do anything. But the holidays really derailed my progress, and I’ve found it hard to get back my focus and not succumb to old, negative eating habits. Her take on patience working for sobriety helped give me hope, and stop hating on myself for backsliding…
For those trying to lose weight may I suggest the instagrammer, halfofcarla? This Irish woman lost 13 STONE, literally HALF of her weight, kept it off, got pregnant and put on a few stones and has lost that again. She is sympathetic, generous, encouraging, understanding and soooo empathetic. Her daily blogs are deeply, deeply helpful.
Good luck everyone! With or without the weight loss, you are 👌🏻
Generational food issues are a thing. My mom is super crazy about weight always has been, when we were kids she’d brag about packing her scale in her suitcase on her honeymoon. She’s always greeted me with an assessment of whether I’ve lost weight or not, no hugs, or I love you. I’m mixed with Syrian, my mom is all white, I’ve grown up hearing I was going to be stalky from everyone, before thicc came on the seen. My sister is tall and lanky like my grandma. To say making peace with myself has been tricky is an understatement. I try to just accept myself daily and marvel at all I can do, food is fuel and I try to eat healthy 90% of the time, nothing is off limits and I just love me for me. I also try to walk every day though I fractured my spine recently so I’m not doing much but snack lol. As I’ve gotten older, I’m 51, I care less and less about what anyone thinks and just want to be healthy for myself and my fur kids, cats and dogs. When trying to motivate myself I equate my weight loss to 5 pound bags of sugar as I can pick it up or something 5 pounds, so I tell myself I’ve lost 3 bags of sugar 3 to go. If I make getting a certain level of fitness and wight loss a game I’m more likely to keep at it, also if I break what I want to lose into more manageable size, hence bags of sugar.
On the topic of drinking I abstain, I used to drink but alcoholism runs in the skinny side of my family, lol, and it’s always terrified me. I have rheumatoid arthritis so drinking is in contradiction with my medication and I quit a long time ago. I’ve seen people I really admire lose their battle with booze over and over growing up. Kudos to Lucy it’s takes perseverance when you quit drinking.