r/stripper•
sasha_loverr

Any advice for going back to the club in sobriety?

NSFWRant/vent

Pls no judgement here, I'm an addict in recovery I am sharing abt my personal experiences, nobody else's. Seeking advice from other sober baddies <3

Former dancer here, I've been really struggling to find a "normal" job that is NOT food service / retail, and that pays enough to afford living in the Bay Area and I'm considering going back to the club. I recently left my club in January to focus on my sobriety, personally I did find it hard to work completely sober in the club, honestly most of my time as a dancer at all the clubs I worked at I was on drugs esp xans and coke. (I have struggled with addiction years before I ever became a stripper.) I got so used to having that buffer that helped me sort of dissociate and detach from the shit that customers do that bothers me. When I did work for a few weeks completely sober, I literally had to turn down drugs/drinks from customers multiple times throughout my shift and come up with fake reasons which whatever I could do that, but eventually I was irritated at a customer crossing my boundaries which happens all the time and it's hard to say no when you're constantly being offered substances in that environment, and I gave in. I have a greater tolerance for dealing with the bs that comes along with this job when I'm on drugs, it can be super emotionally draining doing all this completely sober. One thing led to another and I had a thankfully brief relapse but I did end up quitting dancing because I was scared to relapse again and have it go a lot worse (I have a lot at stake and worked hard to build my life back after losing everything to addiction). But, now I'm clean again and doing really well, and have been unemployed trying to get a job on all the job sites mostly admin assistant or office coordinator stuff, and I did go to a great college and have a resume but I'm having no luck finding any job, I apply every day to multiple jobs and have had a couple leads with a few recruiters but nothing yet. I refuse to do food service or retail, it's literally a waste of time and not nearly enough money to cover the cost of living even if I worked hella hours. The last few years I have only made money dancing and escorting (I'm def not going back to escorting I could not do that shit sober). I miss having money, I miss not being broke, I honestly love dancing other than gross disgusting men (lol), and it's lowkey all I know. It's always been a reliable thing for me to fall back on and even helped me move to Los Angeles and get a 1-bedroom completely on my own last year, and gave me a lot of financial freedom. I guess I'm just wondering if any dancers who are in recovery have any advice, I'm in NA and my sponsor used to be a dancer/sw herself but she advised against me going back. I really don't want to do anything to jeopardize my sobriety but I literally cannot afford to continue to be unemployed much longer... idk if it's time to find something else but I don't even know what that would be :/ would it be better for me to wait until I have some more time in sobriety before going back to dancing?

Posted Mar 4, 2026, 7:12 AM UTC

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