How To Not Sweat The Small Stuff In Sobriety

If stress, overwhelm, or perfectionism feels like it’s running your life, sobriety offers the perfect chance to hit reset. Sobriety isn’t just about quitting drinking—it’s about building a calmer, more intentional, and meaningful life.

In this episode of The Hello Someday Podcast, I talk with Kristine Carlson, co-author of the Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff series, about her book Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff Every Day: 365 Simple Ways to Live a Life You Love and how to navigate sobriety with grace and resilience

Kristine shares her powerful tools for managing stress, cultivating joy, and letting go of perfectionism, so you can stop sweating the small stuff and focus on what truly matters.

Sobriety is more than a choice; it’s a lifestyle shift that allows you to show up fully for yourself and your loved ones. This conversation is packed with actionable strategies for building emotional resilience, practicing gratitude, and finding joy in the present moment—without needing a drink to cope.

In this episode, Kristine and I dive into:

1️⃣ Tools to Manage Stress in Sobriety

  • Discover mindfulness practices like deep breathing and pausing to reflect that help you respond to stress without alcohol.
  • Learn how slowing down to notice your emotions can create calm and clarity during chaotic moments.

2️⃣ Building Emotional Resilience

  • Understand why resilience is the key to navigating challenges in early sobriety and how to develop it as a skill.
  • Get tips on staying grounded during transitions, from letting go of perfectionism to embracing progress over perfection.

3️⃣ Cultivating Gratitude for Long-Term Sobriety

  • Explore how daily gratitude practices, like writing down three things you’re thankful for, can rewire your brain for positivity.
  • Shift your focus from what’s missing in your life to the abundance of what’s already there.

4️⃣ Replacing Old Habits with New Rituals

  • Replace evening drinks with calming routines such as journaling, reading, or connecting with friends.

  • Build a life you love with intentional practices that align with your values and goals.

5️⃣ Finding Joy in Everyday Moments

  • Rediscover the beauty in life’s small moments, like enjoying a quiet morning or savoring a peaceful walk.

  • Use sobriety as an opportunity to notice what truly lights you up.

6️⃣ Letting Go of Perfectionism

  • Free yourself from the pressure to “have it all together” by focusing on self-compassion and authenticity.

  • Learn why valuing progress over perfection creates space for growth and joy.

7️⃣ Navigating Emotional Triggers

  • Respond to feelings of loneliness, anger, or anxiety with healthier coping strategies like mindful breathing or journaling.

  • Build a toolbox of self-soothing techniques to stay grounded in stressful moments.

Why Sobriety and Resilience Go Hand in Hand

Sobriety isn’t just about removing alcohol—it’s about adding resilience, gratitude, and mindfulness to your life. These tools allow you to adapt to life’s challenges with more confidence and less emotional fallout. As Kristine reminds us, when you stop sweating the small stuff, you create space for the big stuff—like connection, joy, and fulfillment—to take center stage.

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Connect with Kristine Carlson

Kristine Carlson is co-author of the beloved New York Times bestselling Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff book series, and has touched millions of lives with her wisdom and compassion. With over 25 million copies sold worldwide, her work—originally co-written with her late husband, Dr. Richard Carlson—has become a beacon for those seeking peace and purpose. Kristine’s journey of resilience is also captured in the Lifetime biopic, Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff: The Kristine Carlson Story, inspired by her memoir Heartbroken Open, a true story of rediscovering life after profound loss.

Follow Kristine on Instagram @dontsweat_smallstuff and on Facebook: @KristineTeriCarlson

 and @dontsweatsmall

Order the new book at www.dontsweateveryday.com Don’t forget to grab your freebies after ordering the book!

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We have a special promo code for Casey’s listeners! Use code THANKYOU40 at checkout on www.dontsweat.com  for 40% all Don’t Sweat products – good for one time use.

Join Kristine’s retreat in Costa Rica at dontsweateveryday.com

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Want to read the full transcript of this podcast episode? Scroll down on this page.

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Are you looking for the best sobriety podcast for women? The Hello Someday Podcast was created specifically for sober curious women and gray area drinkers ready to stop drinking, drink less and change their relationship with alcohol.

Host Casey McGuire Davidson, a certified life and sobriety coach and creator of The 30-Day Guide to Quitting Drinking and The Sobriety Starter Kit® Sober Coaching Course, brings together her experience of quitting drinking while navigating work and motherhood, along with the voices of experts in personal development, self-care, addiction and recovery and self-improvement. 

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In each episode, Casey will share the tried and true secrets of how to drink less and live more.

Learn how to let go of alcohol as a coping mechanism, how to shift your mindset about sobriety and change your drinking habits, how to create healthy routines to cope with anxiety, people pleasing and perfectionism, the importance of self-care in early sobriety, and why you don’t need to be an alcoholic to live an alcohol-free life. 

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READ THE TRANSCRIPT OF THIS PODCAST INTERVIEW

Don’t Sweat The Small Stuff with Kristine Carlson

 

SUMMARY KEYWORDS

sober living, mindfulness practices, gratitude journal, self-soothing, reducing stress, daily rituals, intentional living, emotional regulation, resilience, self-care, community support, identity shift, positive habits, self-awareness, joy cultivation, habit, thought, change, practices, peace, calm, intentions, being more present, gratitude, joy, women reclaim self-identity

 

SPEAKERS: Casey McGuire Davidson + Kristine Carlson

00:02

Welcome to the Hello Someday Podcast, the podcast for busy women who are ready to drink less and live more. I’m Casey McGuire Davidson, ex-red wine girl turned life coach helping women create lives they love without alcohol. But it wasn’t that long ago that I was anxious, overwhelmed, and drinking a bottle of wine and night to unwind. I thought that wine was the glue, holding my life together, helping me cope with my kids, my stressful job and my busy life. I didn’t realize that my love affair with drinking was making me more anxious and less able to manage my responsibilities.

In this podcast, my goal is to teach you the tried and true secrets of creating and living a life you don’t want to escape from.

Each week, I’ll bring you tools, lessons and conversations to help you drink less and live more. I’ll teach you how to navigate our drinking obsessed culture without a buzz, how to sit with your emotions when you’re lonely or angry, frustrated or overwhelmed, how to self soothe without a drink, and how to turn the decision to stop drinking from your worst case scenario to the best decision of your life.

I am so glad you’re here. Now let’s get started.

 

Hi there.

Hi there. Today, we are going to talk about

 

how to not sweat the small stuff in sobriety.

 

And I’m really excited about my guest. Kristine Carlson is the co-author of the beloved New York Times Best Selling, Don’t Sweat The Small Stuff, book series. It has touched millions of lives with her wisdom and compassion. With over 25 million copies sold worldwide, her work, originally co-written with her late husband, Dr. Richard Carlson, has become a beacon for those seeking peace and purpose. Kristine’s journey of resilience is also captured in the lifetime biopic. Don’t Sweat The Small Stuff, the Kristine Carlson story inspired by her memoir heartbreak and open a true story of rediscovering life after profound loss.

 

And I was telling Kristine before we jumped on that I have read a number of books in the Don’t Sweat The Small Stuff series, years and years ago as something to inspire me and as a touchstone in taking down the stress of life and focusing on things that bring me more joy and peace.

 

So, I hope listening to this podcast will give that to you as well.

Kristine, thanks so much for being here.

 

Kristine Carlson  02:43

Hi, Casey, thanks so much for having me.

 

Casey McGuire Davidson  02:46

Yeah, I’m really excited.

 

And one of the things I love about this book is they focus on finding, like, small ways to cultivate joy and gratitude and simplicity. And I thought that might be a great conversation for us to have as women, listening to this podcast, I know I have for years experienced a lot of stress and overwhelm and trying to find a way to relax and connect and cope with difficult emotions through alcohol. So, I would love to give them some inspiration and tools to do that in different ways.

 

Kristine Carlson  03:30

Oh, yeah, no problem.

 

Yeah. I mean, I think that we all look for something, especially when we’re in high level stress times in our lives. And of course, women who are raising families, co doing a career at the same time, in tandem, you know, trying to maintain their, you know, healthy relationship with their partner, or even single moms who are dating is just a whole lot of stuff for them to manage.

 

And do it well and do it feeling calm. You know, it’s like, it takes a lot. It takes a lot of living with mindfulness, living with intention, and I think that would be a great place for us to start.

 

I’m sure you talk about that on your podcast a lot, and certainly the, Don’t Sweat The Small Stuff books are really they were kind of like, as you stated, you read them years ago. If you look back on the whole series, they were books about mindfulness, even though that wasn’t the way we talked about it during that time.

 

You know, 25 years ago, mindfulness hadn’t come into its own and into its full power yet, but we talked about living with intention. And you know, when you live with intention, there’s a couple things that you have to do, and one of them is that you have to come into your breath and into your body and into the present moment to really address what it is you’re feeling. And I think that’s really a great place to start if you want to change a habit, because you have to honor the feelings that you have before you reach for a glass of wine or before you take something to calm yourself down, you know. Be able to honor the fact that you realize you are feeling this sense of stress and overwhelm and just like, oh my god, I just want to, I just want to sit down and relax.

 

And the thing is, there’s so many other ways, once you honor that and you address it, that you can sit down and relax. And simple tools like simply just taking that deep breath, you know, just sitting down and taking 10 deep breaths. If it takes 10 deep breaths, and just putting your hand on your heart and asking yourself, you know, wow, how am I feeling right now? And as soon as you get into that feeling, then you can kind of start to also look at what, how is your thinking?

 

You know, because a lot of times it’s our thinking that comes before our feeling, a thought becomes before an emotion that we feel. And so, if we can sit back and get into our own self, deeply with awareness, and sit down and ask yourself that question, how are you feeling, then you can kind of track the idea that, Oh my gosh, your thoughts are spinning, so you can begin to understand that and also talk to yourself slightly differently, calm yourself down by just self-soothing, you know, by talking to yourself. I mean, a lot of times we get into these negative thought patterns, and we don’t even know it, right?

 

Casey McGuire Davidson  06:38

Yeah, absolutely. And I mean, what you’re saying is making a lot of sense to me. I know when I get extremely busy, and it’s so easy for everyone today to overload your schedule. So, I feel like sometimes, especially when I was working in corporate, I was late to everything, or almost late, like getting to the office, leaving the office, trying to make it to daycare before it closed, getting home. You know, all the things felt like I couldn’t even breathe, and it’s hard to slow down when you’re in that place but carving out a few minutes makes a huge difference.

 

Kristine Carlson  07:21

Well, I think you have to realize that, you know, it’s kind of like you’re going to live your life like scrambled eggs, or you’re going to, or you’re going to slow down and calm down because you realize it’s better for you, it’s better for your kids, it’s better for your job. Everything will flourish amidst a calmer, gentler you and but that is, like you said, it’s hard to do when you’re in that, you know, you’re kind of get into a pattern, I think.

 

And so, one of the tools, the tips and tools that we’ve always talked about, that I’ll mention here, is when you’re a really busy person, how you start your day is really important to how you’re going to live the rest of your day. And if you decide that you’re going to start peacefully, then you have to, you know, get up maybe, you know, 20 minutes earlier than your family, maybe a half hour earlier, go to bed a little bit earlier at night, so you can get up earlier, get up when it’s quiet and really with intention, think about what would be inspirational to you and in an inspirational way to start your day. Don’t go right to your phone, because that’s a surefire way to ruin that sense of inner peace and calm that you have just earned from hopefully having a good night’s sleep.

But instead, you know, maybe open up a book for inspirational reading, turn on some inspirational music, maybe do a very simple meditation to just get yourself into that really deeply quiet place so that you can live that way and touch into that place all day long. I think if, if you start doing that, if you haven’t already implemented that kind of strategy, it’s going to pay great dividends to how you live your day. I know it will. It will change the way you scramble. You won’t be scrambled eggs anymore. You’ll be like a slow, a slow boiled, soft boiled egg.

 

Casey McGuire Davidson  09:26

Yeah, yeah. Well, since I got your book, and of course, I’m lucky so I get the pre copies, I have been trying in the morning to read one of your daily practices every day before I get out of bed.

 

So, it is very cool that your new book Don’t Sweat The Small Stuff every day, has 365 sort of practices or thoughts. So, for example, one morning I read, learn the magic of non-attack. Attachment, and then making peace with imperfection, and become less controlling. And it is a really nice, I mean, it’s a single page, but it’s a really nice way to just sort of center yourself and remind yourself of something that will help you navigate the day with more peace and ease.

 

Kristine Carlson  10:20

 

Yeah, and then, if you, if you read about it, and then you have the intention to maybe think about it at lunchtime, you know, even think about, how does this apply to my life today? And take it a step further that becomes more of a self-awareness study, and when we can become more mindful, more intentional, and we can live with this higher level of self-awareness, then we will start to calm down.

 

You’ll start to even see how your habits are kind of funny, you know, like you know that, and that’s kind of, I think, how we change things is one small habit at a time, one thought at a time. It’s not like you just immediately will wake up tomorrow deciding that you’re going to live a whole different life and live a whole different life. It’s like what you said, you have to practice life the way you want to live it. And life really is a series of practices. And I think that’s that it’s doable.

 

You know, it really is. It’s doable and really you have to have that deepest desire, that you want to have more peace and calm in your life, that you’re not going to run on adrenaline, and you know, and that you want more peace and calm. If you really deeply want that, then it is doable, and these daily rituals that you practice will bring calm and they will bring joy, yeah, and I think just again, just repeating that, the more you have that intention, the more you’ll actually find a way to do it.

 

Casey McGuire Davidson  11:51

 

So, in terms of intentions, is the one that you think the best one for busy women to center around is to bring more peace and calm into your life or does it vary depending on what’s going on? What do you think about that? In terms of intentions?

 

 

Kristine Carlson  12:12

Well, I think that when we intentionally do anything, you know, we have actually sat down and kind of put our stake in the ground and said to ourselves, this is what I’m going to do, you know? So, I think it doesn’t really matter what your intention is. It could be to create more joy. It could be to create more calm. It could be to live with more gratitude. It could be, you know, you can have the intention to communicate and listen better to your family and your partner or your friends or your coworkers.

 

Anything that you decide that you intend on, it just means that you’re kind of, you’re putting your stake in the ground. You’re saying, This is what I want. And then, lo and behold. I mean, when we really decide this is what we want, we find a way to get it, don’t we?

 

Casey McGuire Davidson  13:01

Yeah, yeah, you mentioned joy, and I think that’s something that, as we’re rushing around, is hard to focus on, sometimes, if you’re burned out, and you also talk about small ways to add more joy to your life or to notice it. Can you give us some suggestions?

 

Casey McGuire Davidson 

Hi there. If you’re listening to this episode, and have been trying to take a break from drinking, but keep starting and stopping and starting again, I want to invite you to take a look at my on demand coaching course, The Sobriety Starter Kit®.

 

The Sobriety Starter Kit® is an online self study sober coaching course that will help you quit drinking and build a life you love without alcohol without white knuckling it or hating the process. The course includes the exact step by step coaching framework I work through with my private coaching clients, but at a much more affordable price than one on one coaching. And the sobriety starter kit is ready, waiting and available to support you anytime you need it. And when it fits into your schedule. You don’t need to work your life around group meetings or classes at a specific day or time.

This course is not a 30 day challenge, or a one day at a time approach. Instead, it’s a step by step formula for changing your relationship with alcohol. The course will help you turn the decision to stop drinking, from your worst case scenario to the best decision of your life.

You will sleep better and have more energy, you’ll look better and feel better. You’ll have more patience and less anxiety. And with my approach, you won’t feel deprived or isolated in the process. So if you’re interested in learning more about all the details, please go to www.sobrietystarterkit.com. You can start at any time and I would love to see you in the course 

 

Kristine Carlson  13:23

Yeah, and, I mean, I’m going to talk about a broader term that is kind of has become mean. People talk about it a lot, but I’m not sure they really live it that well, because it’s actually quite hard to do, and that is to be very present to your experience. You know, it’s when we are thinking about other things, but doing what we’re doing, then we’re not being present in what we’re doing. And, you know, it’s like presence will bring more joy. I mean, because you’re actually in it when we’re, we’ve got our to do list running, and we’ve got a we’re scrambling or trying to get here and there, and you’re not bringing your attention back to what’s actually happening in front of you.

 

You’re missing your life. It’s like missing the boat. You know, you’re missing your life. And I think that when I’ve been like that at different times in my life that causes me more suffering to realize that I’m not feeling the joy that’s present, you know, than anything else. And I think that’s what then drives us to doing other behaviors, because we’re frustrated, we get upset we’re not living the way we really want to live. And yeah, there’s a whole lot to take care of, but bringing your attention back to the present moment, and bringing it back to, like I had said earlier, your breath, maybe placing your hand on your heart, taking 3 or 4 simple, really deep breaths. I used to do this all the time. And my girls would come in as teenagers, and they would come in, and there was just a plethora of drama going on, like it was just drama, drama, drama. And I would be like, I wouldn’t necessarily be facing them when I did it, but I’d be like, just take. I’d be telling myself, just breathe, just breathe, you know?

 

And so, then, when I could put my attention on what they were saying, I was calm, and I didn’t jump into the drama. Their drama didn’t become my drama. I just became a listener, a good, deep listener. I became a whole, a space holder. I offered my advice if they asked for it, but I didn’t offer any if they didn’t. You know, just some common sense principles of being around kids and teens. But if I didn’t breathe first, I would come I’d be like frustrated with them. I’d get into it with them. And then you take a small fire, and it grows, and it grows because you’re giving the fire air, versus, like, stepping back from the fire and saying, Oh, I’m not going to give this fire air. I’m just going to be present for what it is. And not, you know, not feed it, but I’m going to be present for it.

 

And, you know, these are, this is a mindfulness trick and tool and practice that really will create and foster more joy. And I know, again, I just want to say this seems very simple to do, and it’s not easy to practice, because you have to remember to put the breath in practice. You know, take those deep breaths, calm your parasympathetic nervous system down. Calm down, and then you can be more present.

 

And then again, remembering that when you’re multitasking, multitasking is not present. When you’re on your phone and your kids are talking, that’s not present, you know, so putting your phone down. Having some guidelines at dinner, no screens at dinner, you know, that kinds of thing and you included in that, all pay great dividends to creating more presence, creating more communication and adding to joy. And it’s really the small things that you do every day that create more joy. It’s not these big things, and we all experience joy at the big events of our lives, right? That’s just a given. The weddings, the parties that you know, the births, all the big things that you go through in life, you’re going to look toward having joy. But I think what we want to do as people, is grow our joy every day, and so that it’s part of our normal day experience to feel joy and to connect to joy, not something that we just do on the big occasions, but something that we do daily.

 

Casey McGuire Davidson  17:55

Yeah, and just jumping in on this point. I know that when I was drinking, I mean, the emotions that I felt were so negative. I mean, I would wake up every morning and be like, What the hell is wrong with you get your shit together, you know, just so upset with myself for being hungover and I was, you know, defensive and angry and resentful and basically hiding all of those emotions and trying to overcompensate. And that’s for a very good reason. It’s hard to be present when you literally are turning off your brain and shooting your nervous system to hell and not sleeping through the night and waking up with a headache and a hangover, it’s literally impossible, and drinking like brings down your dopamine and messes your emotional regulation.

 

So, in terms of being more present, the first step that you could take is to take a longer break from drinking to allow your body to sort of heal from that cycle.

 

And I vividly remember the first time I walked into work, where I used to walk into work with my head being like, I hate my life. Walking into work and seeing these birds take off. And it was like 7am in March, which is ridiculous in Seattle, and I had this thought, like, I love my life, and that was incredible, and such a huge shift, like I felt like I wasn’t able to notice those small moments of beauty and peace until I got out of constant hangovers.

 

Kristine Carlson  19:40

Well, yeah, and I mean, alcohol, as we know, it’s a depressant, and so drinking and depression is, depression is a real thing. It’s a disease. So, it’s, you know, it’s a real thing when you’re going through it. It’s hard to want to be present when you’re going through it. But there’s really no way out, I mean, you’ve got to turn inward. You’ve got to acknowledge the feelings that you have. Because, you know, we all want to get away from negative feelings that we have. We all want the easy trick, the easy way out, but the truth is, there’s not really an easy way out. You’ve got to honor those feelings and ask yourself the deeper questions, what are those really about? You know, do the work, and when you do the inner work, and you change your inner experience, then your outer your experience will change as well. And I think that’s something that you know becomes easier not to drink when you don’t feel that high level of stress, or when you’re actually thinking that you don’t want to drink anymore, because you want to reduce your stress in new ways.

 

And I think, again, going back to living intentionally and really having that deeper desire to really ask yourself, what kind of life do you really want to be living? Do you want to be living a life you love, or do you want to be scrambling around and just getting through each day? You know?

 

And I think that slowing down, people think that if they slow down, they’ll be less productive, but when you slow down, your productivity actually rises. When you slow down, you actually get places on time. When you slow down, you actually are present with the people around you. When you slow down, you actually can listen to your kids, you can listen to your partner and your co-workers and your friends. But when we’re speeded up, we’re distracted. When we’re speeded up, we’re living like by flying by the seat of our pants, instead of living intentionally and I think again, you know, just really honoring that life is a practice, and it starts with small ways, small changes. And as you do small changes, it kind of starts to become a snowball, that one small change leads to another and leads to another. And then before long, maybe even after three weeks of not drinking and doing some new practices and living life, you know more holistically, you start to realize, Oh, I feel better like and I think when we get that reward, Oh, I feel better, then we start to do more and more and more of the same.

 

Casey McGuire Davidson  22:27

Do you? What are your favorite daily practices? I mean, I know we talked on a cup about a couple of them, like waking up, not having your phone reading something, breath work. But is there? Are there any that are your go-to, either daily or weekly?

 

Kristine Carlson  22:43

Yeah, I mean, a gratitude practice is really essential. And we’ve been talking about gratitude for 30 years, so it really is a practice that starts to permeate your thoughts, but you have to start somewhere, right? So, keeping a gratitude journal is really powerful. Starting your day with three simple gratitude and ending your day with three simple gratitude will pay great dividends to you.

 

Starting to look for the things that you’re grateful for, and these can be the simplest things. You know, let’s just be grateful for clean water, you know, let’s be grateful that we are healthy, or that we can take a breath, or let’s be grateful that, you know, whatever, just the smallest of things, that you have to be grateful start small and then go big, you know, and you can keep always thinking of new things to be grateful for. And you know, it’s like when your kids get home from school, you know, you have the option to asking them how their day is. But you know, if you ask your kids like, the question, you know, what went right with your day? That’s like, a really great question for kids, what went right with your day to day and what? And if you ask them that consistently, guess what? They’re going to start thinking about the things that went right with their day versus the things that went wrong with their day. It’s not as if you shouldn’t talk about the things that go wrong, because venting, letting that off your chest, you know, all of that is so important. But again, it’s like what we focus on and what we think about. It really does impact how we feel about our day, how we feel about our life, and so I would say, a gratitude practice.

 

I’d also say, you know, meditation isn’t for everyone, but there are simple, simple meditations that you can do. It can be an active meditation, but find a very simple meditation and practice that on a daily basis, you know, and again, you know, I have a golden pause meditation that’s only 10 breaths, and it’s really a pause that you can take in gratitude any practices that align with gratitude and align with your heart.

 

According to Heart Math, which is an institute that has done all this scientific research on the heart and that the heart experiences joy when you’re thinking of something that you’re grateful for. All of these things are going to pay great dividends to you in elevating your mood and lowering your stress.

 

And I, you know, they don’t seem so related, but they really are. It’s because how you feel is how you’re going to handle your stress, too. It’s like, let’s just take a lot of the things that we talk about in our books are what life looks like versus in a high mood versus a low mood.

 

So, you know, when you’re in a good mood, I mean, life looks pretty good, right? Everything looks good, you know, you it’s almost like you have this lens and filter that has sun and light in it.

 

But when you’re in a low mode, it doesn’t look so good, does it? It’s like you’re kind of like, look at you know, you could look at your dog and say, your dog, what are you asking me for breakfast for you know, so early. You could look at your kids, oh my god, they’re always just leaving their stuff on the floor. You look at your husband or your partner, and you say, Oh my God, you’re driving me crazy, you know. And the same circumstances, in a high mood, you wouldn’t even notice those things like that wouldn’t even be on your radar.

 

So, just honoring the fact that, oh my gosh, you’re feeling a little bit low, and you’re in a low mood today, and then, and then take that a step further and say, well, if I’m in a low mood, and my life isn’t looking so great right now, maybe I need to shift my focus and think of one thing I’m grateful for right now. And then, you can close your eyes or not, and just start to feel into what it means to feel grateful. I guarantee you, if you do that, I know it seems so simple, but I guarantee you, if you do that, it’s going to elevate your mood again, and you can wait for your mood to pass until you really tackle any problems, anything that’s happening in your life you don’t want to, like, solve your problems in a low mood, even though everybody wants to and is tempted to do so, you never come with up with a great outcome, because you wait for your mood to rise and lo and behold, you may not even think of those things as problems anymore. But if it is a problem, it’ll still be there, in a high mood.

 

Casey McGuire Davidson  27:22

Yeah, you know, it’s funny when, in terms of when you’re going through hard times in coaching school, we learned this question, obviously, you move through all these coaching practices, but if someone is just really stuck in a very low place and not feeling empowered, and not feeling like they have agency, just feeling like the world is stacked against them. The question we ask them is, why aren’t things worse? And that at least gives them like, Okay, well, this happened that made it like not completely have the bottom, you know, drop out, or at least this is going on, and that, to me, is like the lowest bar of gratitude, but yet it is a place to start, um, and hopefully you can find that long before you get to that place.

 

But when you were talking about, like, starting with the most simple stuff, like clean water, I found that, yes, the most simple stuff helps me, but it’s even more like, Okay, I’m grateful that my 16 year old son gave me a big hug and a kiss on the cheek today when I asked for it. Or I’m grateful that my daughter came out to rake the leaves for us, even if we paid her 10 bucks to do it. Or, you know, like, just stuff like that, that, you know, my friend came over yesterday to go walking with me, and we hadn’t talked in a month. So that, you know that, like, those are some really good things that I hadn’t thought about before we started having this conversation.

 

Kristine Carlson  29:06

Oh, nice. And how did you feel when you were thinking about those things?

 

Casey McGuire Davidson  29:10

Really good. And of course, I was like, All right, I’m going to get off this podcast recording and I’m going to start writing down my daily gratitudes. I did that in early sobriety. I did it for 6 months, and it was really good, and then I’ve come back to it intermittently, but not as a daily practice, and I know that it made a huge difference in my life, because, I mean, I vividly remember.

 

I’ll tell this story really quickly, but I went out with a bunch of friends. We actually went to see Brené Brown in downtown Seattle, speaking, and then we went out for coffee. It was a bunch of women who’d stopped drinking, and I came back to my garage, where I’d parked my car in downtown Seattle, and the garage was locked. I’d missed the window when you were allowed to get out, and instead of completely beating myself up and being like, I’m the biggest idiot. This is awful. The world’s over. I was like, Okay, there’s a phone number. And I called the phone number, and the guy answered, and then the place was only two blocks away. And, you know, like, I was so grateful for every solution and that I was able to get my car out. And then, I was so thankful for him. He didn’t charge me the money that you know he was supposed to. And I was just like it. I seriously was in gratitude that whole time when I could have been in the world sucks. This is awful. I’m an idiot. You know all that kind of stuff well.

 

Kristine Carlson  30:34

And that’s like, that shows you the deeper level of your practice of gratitude, too, when it starts to transcend your daily journal and it starts to permeate your life with gratitude, no matter what your circumstances. Well, then you’re really getting somewhere.

 

Casey McGuire Davidson  30:50

Yeah, one question I had for you.

 

I know your mission, from what I’ve read and what we’ve talked about, is to help women reclaim their identity and live the next chapter of their life. And I think that’s really important for women who are going through this transition from drinking to coping with life and enjoying life and finding joy as a non-drinker, because it’s a huge identity shift, and it’s a huge transformation of the way they’ve been living. So, can you tell me a little bit more about how women can kind of reclaim their identity?

 

Kristine Carlson  31:30

Well, you know, I when I speak on that, I usually speak in terms of, you know, when somebody’s in a crisis, you know, crisis through a loss of some kind. But let’s face it, if you stop drinking, you are in loss. I mean, you are going through a process of transformation, and you can go through loss.

 

You know, I’ve just been watching a friend of mine go through this. He drank every day. I mean, I’ve never known him not to drink. In 10 years, he drank practically a bottle of champagne every day. And this is a guy who’s health oriented and fit and everything. And then he decided that because he was, you know, turning a certain birthday in a decade, he wanted to really clean up his act and do a cleanse. So, he was doing a big fitness push. And so, he had to give up a lot of things, but alcohol was one of them. And I had never known him to give up alcohol. Well, he did this for 30 days. And you know, of course, the first week was a little tough. You know, as part of his routine was, come home at five o’clock and pull his champagne out. He was a bubbles guy. He loved to drink his champagne, pull his champagne out, and then start his cooking, his dinner, whatever. And he went through the first week was pretty tough, but then he started to notice how much better he was feeling the second week, and then the third week.

 

In the fourth week, and then came the identity shift, because he said, God, I’m not a drinker anymore. How do I deal with myself? Like, how am I fun? I’m going to bed at 8:30 at night now, and I want to, you know, I read a book and drink tea. You know, it’s like, and this is a very real issue for people, is, you know, then how do you emerge as a person when you’re in a social situation, especially, I mean, it’s hard enough at home at five o’clock, right? Like you’re used to having that, you know, that thing to kind of just sip on or whatever. So, you have to replace that with something else, like sparkling water and lemon or a non-alcoholic beer or, you know, something like that, that makes you feel like you’re still having something that is a treat, but not alcohol, and, but how do you deal with the identity piece? And so, he’s still struggling with that, not being a drinker.

 

And you just, you have to just do it slowly. You have to start to really accept that this is the new you. And again, allow yourself the space to really honor where you are at in your life, and allow yourself the space to go through transition and to seek support.

 

You know, don’t do it alone. Like seek a community like you offer, Casey. Seek help. Seek friends that don’t drink. You know, seek that, those kinds of settings. I just recently went on a girls trip to Mexico and I just I wasn’t feeling great on this trip, like I was coming down with a cold and I just didn’t feel like drinking. Cabo is like prime party spot, you know. Yeah, but I honestly, I didn’t drink much and it’s true, I was, tired and I was coming down with a cold. But the thing is, I just, I haven’t been drinking, and I didn’t want to go off the rails and just party through Mexico, you know. So, I just, honestly, just drank my sparkling water. I would, you know, sip my sparkling water. I wouldn’t really make a big deal out of it. I just would just, you know, do my thing. And I was still social, I was still talkative. I didn’t change any of that, you know, but again, I just honored my own self-care. I think when you start to think of not drinking as being a choice of self-care, that will help you a lot, because you know your self-care is really important and honoring your energy.

 

And what do you how do you want to be as you, as you age, and how do you want to be as your kids are growing up? You know, what kind of example do you want to set for them? And all of these things. They’re all important to that journey of transformation, to that journey of that new identity, and I think also just not dealing with all of the backlash that you talk about the, you know. It’s kind of like being on a diet and then blowing your diet. You know, how many times, like, I think about, How many times have I beat myself up for trying to do a cleanse and then somehow being in a situation where I, you know, had a piece of chocolate cake, or a bite of chocolate cake, you know, it’s like you can’t make that. You can’t make the failure more important than all that you’ve done up to that point. You have to say, oh, okay, give yourself a little break and say, All right, well, I had a bite of chocolate cake or a piece of chocolate cake, I haven’t failed. You know what I mean? And so, but the more you practice life, the way you want to live it, the less of that backlash you’re going to have to do. It’s like, it’s like backpedaling. You don’t have to backpedal so hard. And you’ll start. Yeah, feel this sense of ease and grace.

 

Casey McGuire Davidson  36:50

Yeah, and just embracing the idea that you are allowed to transform and evolve, and that this is a positive change in your life. Allowing it to be something that you’re curious about, you’re excited about, you’re experimenting with, or you’re empowered by.

 

Kristine Carlson  37:10

Yeah. And as far as identity goes, I mean, I don’t think many people admit to being a passionate drinker, but certainly, if you can find things that you’re passionate about, you know that are, maybe they’re outside of your family interests, one thing having a hobby or having something that you feel really passionate about that’s just for you.

 

You know my daughter, my young, my oldest daughter, jazz, is 34, years old. She has 5 kids, and she bird them all, you know? She’s raising them all. And she’s kind of a super mom, Superwoman. I mean, she got her Masters in Social Work. She’s working, you know? She just, she does it all, you know? But one of the things she looks at is like, her time to study, her time to work is really, like, more focused on being her time. It’s for her. She looks at it like this is for me, even though she’s also doing it for the family that this is for me. This is my time to live more passionately in an area that I want to live and maybe it’s only a couple hours a day sometimes, but if you can carve out one thing for yourself, you know in that early morning, maybe it’s getting up and going for an early morning sunrise walk, or maybe it’s doing art, you know, doing like something that you feel is just for you, and then practice doing that, that’s going to also help you with your identity.

 

Casey McGuire Davidson  38:37

Yeah, yeah. And it’s also the idea of finding, I call them anchor activities but finding an activity to replace the habit of drinking during the times when you would normally drink. You mentioned art, that’s a fantastic one. Or going to yoga, going for a walk, or you know, learning to play an instrument or reading lots of books.

 

You know, the things that you do that are absorbing your interests and your time when you would normally fall into this, you know, habit of drinking.

 

Yeah, absolutely.

 

Question I had is a lot of women I know sort of fall into the trap of, if they take time for themselves, they feel guilty, right? That they feel like even I’m being selfish. If I, you know, tell my kids maybe they can’t do something so that I can carve out time for myself or whatever it is. What do you think are ways that women could sort of let go of some of that guilt or manage it?

 

Kristine Carlson  39:52

Well, that’s funny, because, I mean, I think women have always felt that way, but if you look at what a better mom you are when you do.

 

Take time for yourself. I mean, I noticed that right away. I was like, Oh man, I’m so much nicer. I’m such a better mom when I’m not, like, overwhelmed and overworked and overtired. You know, it’s like, I just think that you have to again, you look at how you feel and how you’re performing based on how you feel, and you do take time for yourself, because that’s like giving your kids the kind of mom you know they deserve to have. It’s like you can’t, you can’t give water from a well that’s empty, right? Like, you’ve got to fill the well. You fill up your own self with whatever you need to in order to give everyone else what they need to, to drink, you know? And, and that’s just, it really is a principle like, Man, I get over guilt, because guilt is like, the guilt is like the evil power that kind of fuels all of this, you know, it’s like that whole, I’m not enough. I’m not good enough. I’m not doing enough. You are good enough. You are enough, and you don’t need to feel guilty about taking care of yourself. And the more you practice, and the more you notice that everyone wins. I mean, if you pay attention, if you have a partner, your partner will start to pay attention, that you’re in a better mood, that you’re nicer, that you’re kinder, that you’re a better version of yourself. When you have a little time to yourself, and they’ll start really making that a priority for you, because their life is better because you’re better, you know, yeah, it’s like the happy mom is the happy home.

 

Casey McGuire Davidson  41:38

I do remember vividly when I was, you know, got home, was running late, was getting the kids ready and doing the dishes, sort of slamming around the kitchen like I’m doing every, you know, without even saying it. And my husband came up to me and was like, Babe, if you think you’re doing this for us, like you can just stop, because nobody wants to live with a martyr. And I was just like, ouch and true. So, I was like, All right, I’m out. And I went upstairs and, like, put my feet up and watched the show and but I was like, Yeah, you’re right. I think that I’m being completely selfless, and I’m really just kind of being a bitch, right?

 

Kristine Carlson  42:17

I know I used to. I used to tell my family when my kids were little, there was a couple things. I would put a sign on my door, and they would say, mom’s taking a nap. And they, you know, even when they were very little, they remember this.  That was the one time of the day I put on a movie for them or something to keep them entertained. And I’d put on the door, I put the sign up, mom’s taking a nap. Don’t interrupt me unless there’s a fire, you know, or there’s an emergency, and they wouldn’t and it was really only about 20 minutes, you know, it was like, but I just needed that 20 minute time out.

 

I would also often say, if I was going to get really mad, I’d be like, I’m going to go take a time out now. Like, I’m taking the time out.

 

Yeah, and, and I would also have, like, Sundays were often until the kids got older. They were sort of sacred days, you know. But when the kids got older, of course, they did have sports on Sunday, which I thought was really bad. Like I was like, How can you do that to a family? You know? You need one day of rest, where you spend it as a family, you know? And I would often tell my kids, look, there’s going to be 2 or 3 hours in the afternoon that I’m going to be in my room and I’m going to be doing my own thing. And you know, if I’m watching a movie or something, you’re welcome to come in quietly and watch with me. That’s totally fine. But if I’m reading a book or I’m doing my own thing, you go do your own thing, but don’t bother me doing my own thing.

 

And yeah, a couple things happened when I started doing that. I stopped getting sick. I never got sick again, because I was always taking care of myself, and I didn’t need to get sick in order to take care of myself. I was getting the rest that I needed, and I felt like I had some time to myself to do nothing, you know, just to be frivolous, to be just take a bath, to do face masks. If I wanted to do my nails, do whatever. It didn’t matter. It was my time, though.

 

And I think as soon as moms get over their guilt and they start to realize that their family is better off. You’re better off. You feel better. You know, it reduces so much stress for the rest of the week, because you actually have time to take care of a few things that are just for you and you, you just, you just feel better. I think once you start to feel better, you’ll, you’ll practice that more.

 

Casey McGuire Davidson  44:37

Yeah. I mean, I totally agree with that. And obviously it changes when your kids are at different ages, or if you have aging parents to take care of, but you know, it absolutely can be done. I mean, you I know I saved over $500 in my first month not drinking that will absolutely hire a babysitter.

 

Kristine Carlson  45:03

For 3 hours on a Sunday, or a lot of money not drinking, that’s for sure.

Casey McGuire Davidson  45:09

Once a month, or once every two weeks, I joined him and, like, put my kids in Kid Care, because they could be in there for 2 hours, and they love it half the time. I wouldn’t work out. I would just sit in the hot tub or the steam room, or they had like a lounge area. I would just sit there and read my book with my kids in child care. So, I think there are a lot of ways that you can carve that out, and in my life now, you said about kids always having stuff like my family knows that one day a weekend. I call it my no alarm day, and I just sleep like I got up at 10:30 yesterday, and I’m just like, no guilt, like, it’s my no alarm day. You guys do whatever you want, but like, I will get up when I’m ready to, and that it’s so nice.

 

Kristine Carlson  46:00

That’s the nice thing about having teenagers. They understand that too.

 

Casey McGuire Davidson  46:03

Oh my god, they don’t get up early, right?

 

Kristine Carlson  46:05

No, you little kids a little harder to get up at 10:30 but you know, can be done with a supportive partner for sure.

 

Casey McGuire Davidson  46:13

Yeah, or you can trade off. And you know, you don’t have that. You can hire someone to help you for a certain amount of time. And I know money is really challenging, but I think that if you can look at the amount of money you’re spending on drinking, you will find that it adds up very, very quickly, and you have the money to, like, actually take care of yourself, yeah?

 

Kristine Carlson  46:36

I mean, and you’re talking 4 or $500 a month, that’s significant.

 

Casey McGuire Davidson  46:41

Yeah, but I drank. I drank a bottle of wine at night, so you know it.

 

Kristine Carlson  46:45

Yeah, yeah. And you didn’t drink cheap wine, no. And it’s not.

 

Casey McGuire Davidson  46:49

What I would say is doing that you talked about your friend, that is not as unusual as people think it is. I mean, there is so many people in this society that do exactly that, and so totally, if anyone’s listening to this, like you are not alone. If you’re drinking a ton of wine or cocktails or beer every night, like no shame about that, but you should give yourself the gift of changing that habit, because you have no idea how much It’s dragging you down.

 

Kristine Carlson  47:21

Yeah, yeah. No, for sure. If you give yourself that gift, you’ll start to feel so much better in all areas of your life, for sure.

 

Casey McGuire Davidson  47:30

So, I had a question for you, Kristine.

 

In this book, it’s 365 simple ways to live a life you love. I know it is sort of your favorites or the best of previous books. How did you choose them? And do you have a couple that are your absolute favorites from this book?

 

Kristine Carlson  47:51

Well, I, of course love them all, but I love I can just pick open like this one.

 

Stay away from the blame game. I love that one. It’s about not holding others to a certain level of blame when you don’t want to be held that way yourself. It’s one of those habits in life that can really encourage empowerment and joy and abundance if you stop blaming others for things that you know are just things that happen sometimes.

 

Um, I love that one. I love the one where it talks about how the ordinary can become extraordinary. You know that that in every ordinary experience there is extraordinary.

 

And again, that’s about bringing your attention to just the simple things in life, about looking at the ordinary thing as extraordinary, bringing your attention to the present moment. You know, stop being so defensive. What a simple one. You know, what that’s like. But when you live with that intention of not being defensive, your relationships will thrive.

 

You know that just happens to be also tied to becoming a real world class listener. I mean, I think that when we become a really deep listener, let’s face it, I mean, the world heals from being heard, right? People want to express themselves. Your kids want to express themselves. Your coworkers want to express themselves. You want to be expressive, you know, but when we can really deeply listen, I think that’s one of the greatest gifts that we can give to the people that we love, is a very just really good ear, you know, where you’re present and you’re really holding space and you’re deeply listening.

 

But there, this book is great if you want to read it with your family of all ages. You know, it kind of facilitates a great dinner time conversation. They’re one page. They’re really basically the best of the best. Don’t sweat the small stuff from nine books edited down to one page each. So, you really get the lesson, the teaching, the practice in a very short space. It’s kind of a really nice compilation for the modern day that we live in, right like this is how we read very fast, and we take information very fast. And that’s how this book is designed. Is for you to just read it one thought, one chapter a day, and with your spouse, with your family alone, whatever it is you how you want to use it. But yeah, those are probably some of my favorites. I love them all, though.

 

Casey McGuire Davidson  50:28

Yeah, the one I really liked, I mean, was the idea of reducing your self-induced stress. Because I know a lot of the stress I feel and the stress I’ve felt in the past are holding things up to my own standards, or what I believe you know I should do, and or even assuming that someone else is thinking x about me, so I have to do Y, and that’s overwhelming, and sort of figuring out simple ways to let that go is really helpful for me.

 

Kristine Carlson  51:02

Yeah, I mean, I think in when you start to think about what, well, let’s just say if stress, I’ll even take it one step further that, and that is that stress actually is all self-created, because it’s not that we don’t have stressful situations and stressful things that happen. Certainly, being in a car accident or something like that is stressful on a universal level to everyone, right like but if all stress was really real and not self-created, then all of the same things, all of the same things, would stress us out. And that’s just simply not true. People have different things that stress them out, and the difference is, you.

 

Yeah, so it’s, it’s how you bring yourself to this situation. When you have high level of a high level skill, and you’re highly resilient, you know, and you bring yourself to a stressful situation. Usually, you’re looking at the situation like a problem of some kind, you know, how can I be curious about this problem? How can I solve this problem versus, you know, allowing it to permeate your whole body, your mind, your body, your spirit, with just this feeling of dread and stress and fear and you know, but this is again, it’s a practice of bringing yourself to the present moment with calm, with peace and calm, and the more you do that when you’re not stressed, the more you’ll be able to do it when you’re stressed.

 

 

Casey McGuire Davidson  52:35

Yeah, I have a question for you. I mean, we talk about stress, but I know you went through profound loss when your husband passed away.

 

Kristine Carlson  52:45

Very. That’s real stress, yeah.

 

Casey McGuire Davidson  52:51

So, can you, that is real stress for everyone, and how you sort of got through that, I mean heartbreaking and devastating experience.

 

Kristine Carlson  52:58

Yeah, and interestingly, which ties us back to your podcast, Casey, is I made a definitive choice that I would not drink at all the first, you know, 6 months that he died. And the reason I did that was because I intuitively knew that could be a terrible place to go into in grief and loss. And I just, I knew, and so I just, I thought, you know, I’m going to have to go through this process. And I didn’t know what it was going to involve. I’d never.

 

My parents were alive. Richard’s parents were alive. I was in my early 40s when he died suddenly from a pulmonary embolism on a flight. It was so crazy. And, you know, my kids were in high school. Kenna was a freshman. Jazz was a senior, and, you know, we were just completely unprepared, like, I mean, in every aspect, however, the way I was prepared was that I had practiced meditation. I had a really solid foundation of a life living these principles of happiness that I’ve been speaking about today. And I knew not to drink. I knew that drinking could completely become a source of masking what I knew I needed to feel in order to heal, and I knew I had to go through a process of grieving. I didn’t know how deep it was or how strenuous it was going to be, which it was both. It was primal sometimes, and it was strenuous. It was hard. Definitely the hardest time in my life. But also, there was this richness of life, because when your life is shattered by one single event. Event that completely changes the trajectory of your life. A lot of the things that weren’t working for you are also shattered.

 

And I remember being really annoyed by some small stuff before he died, and I never remember ever thinking about it after he died, and so that it changes everything. When you go through something big like that, when you’re really living the big stuff, you’re definitely not sweating the small stuff. So, I think though that what I learned was just that there’s a lot of things you have to practice in order to be a resilient human, and certainly being able to slow down, being able to reprioritize quickly for both myself and my kids, living with intention every day.

 

I mean, boy, there’s nothing like a period of grief to teach you what’s really important, and asking yourself, like, what do I really want today? You know, if I had a dental appointment, for example, for me or the kids, and we couldn’t make it because we were grieving, I just canceled it. You know, it was like, I didn’t. I stopped caring so much about meeting other people’s expectations of life because I knew that survival meant I had to meet the expectations of what was present for me and my kids.

 

And so, you know, there’s nothing like giving your perspective, total perspective, when you go through something as dramatic as a death in your family, it’s especially your spouse that you love, or a child, you know, there’s nothing greater that you go through. So, yeah, it was. It was tough, but I’m happy to say I learned so much, and it was both beautiful and horrible. So, it had both in it.

 

Casey McGuire Davidson  56:54

Yeah, I am so sorry that that happened and that you went through that well.

 

Kristine Carlson  56:59

Thank you. And you know, I’ve come to realize that you know life in a lot of ways. You know on the hind side of it, you know, you look at the scope of your life, and I’m about 18 years from that horrible experience now. But of course, I can recall it in a moment. It’s always present on some level. But when you look back, you realize, wow, you know I’m the woman I am today because I went through that. I have an increased level of compassion and empathy for other people because I went through that.

 

So, in a lot of ways, now that I’m 18 years out, believe me, I wasn’t saying this the first few years, but 18 years out, I realize, you know this is something, that’s a part of my story, and it happened as much as it happened to me. It happened for me, and it happened for me to become a better version of who I am today and a better person that helps to serve other women and other people better than I might have otherwise done. So, thank you, and I’m and it’s okay. I realized that, you know, well, I would have loved to have lived the rest of my life with my husband. It just, it wasn’t in our cards, but boy, we sure had a good ride when we had it. So, I love it.

 

Casey McGuire Davidson  58:23

Yeah. I love at the end where you said, like, how it happened for me? Because that’s one of my favorite questions to ask. I actually have it in front of me on my desk. Is trying to switch the question from Why is this happening to me? To how is this happening for me? And obviously, in the situation you were in there, there is no way not to do that in the moment, but just it’s the idea of, you know, when I lost my job, or when somebody else happened. I’m like, Okay, I don’t know how, but this is happening for me in some way, whether it’s Hey, I needed to get out of there, and I wouldn’t have done it on my own. Or I still think that like quitting drinking, meaning it was my absolute favorite thing in the entire world. And trust me, I would not have stopped had it not gotten to the point where I was like, this is this is going to go a really bad direction. But looking back, I do believe it happened for me, because if it had never gotten to the point where I had to quit, if I could have treaded water in that, like managing it somehow, I never would have done the internal work to get what was underneath, why I was drinking, or started a podcast, or gone back to coaching school. None of that would have happened if it hadn’t gotten to the point where I was like, oh shit. I need to stop, you know.

 

Kristine Carlson  1:00:01

Yeah, I mean, I honestly, the people that I know that have really, that have been truly alcohol abusers that have come to the other side of that. There are some of the most amazing, just they are the deepest, most self-aware, amazing people because of the inner work that they’ve done.

 

And, you know, and I think that’s the beauty, and that can be the beauty in all things that come from, you know, that look bad initially. You know, it can be the beauty is that there’s growth. There’s really growth in all things and, you know. And I, like you said, I mean, I wouldn’t have said that Richard’s death happened for me in the first, you know, oh, God, no, first you few years, you know, it’s like, more like, wow, really this. How did this happen, you know, but after a period of time, and you start to, you know, choose life. And I think that you know, the women listening that are maybe struggling with this right now, could really, you know, really think about it that way, that by not drinking, you’re actually choosing life. You’re choosing to find out, what does life have to offer you in this place of sobriety. You know, in this place of moving through the things that cause you suffering, moving through the difficulty, the difficult situations. You know you’re going to just find strength every step forward that you take, every day that you don’t drink. You’ll be that day closer to feeling the ease of it, of and understanding that your life is better off. You know, you’re better off. You feel better. You’re better, Mother, you’re better. You know person, the better you feel.

 

Casey McGuire Davidson  1:01:54

Yeah, I think that’s a fantastic place to leave this. The book is out. It’s called Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff Every Day 365 Simple Ways To Live A Life You Love.

 

Like I said, one of the reasons I really love it is because there literally is a page that you could read every day for a year and sort of focus on that intention for the day. It’s, you know, one page each, so it’s not overwhelming at all, and I know that it’s coming out just in time for the holidays.

 

So, it would be a great gift for yourself or for someone else, to just kind of set that positive intention every day, but also to let go of a lot of stuff that we carry around that is stressing us out.

 

Kristine Carlson  1:02:47

Yeah? And I mean, I just, if it’s all right, I’ll mention too. I am co-leading a Dry Retreat. Yeah, in Costa Rica in March with the wonderful Alexa Fisher from wish beads. I don’t know if you know about wishbeads.com but she’s a really amazing energy, just energized, beautiful person. And we’re co-leading a retreat for women in March in Costa Rica, and you can learn about that at kristinecarlson.com, but it will be a Dry Retreat.

 

Casey McGuire Davidson  1:03:23

I love that it’s a Dry Retreat, because that, I mean, is really amazing to get that time away and to not be surrounded by alcohol and just to be really present and to have other people who are doing the same thing. So, I’m very glad that you mentioned that.

 

Kristine Carlson  1:03:39

Yeah, thank you. I don’t. A lot of my retreats are not dry because they’re in Italy, and there’s wine and all sorts of stuff that we do in Italy, but there’s always people on my retreats that don’t drink, and so, you know, there’s just a high level of respect for anyone who takes that path, and Certainly, I take that path more and more. The more of my life, I kind of think you know, if I’m in a social situation, I might have a glass of wine, but I definitely don’t drink day to day, because I just sleep better. I feel better. I’m, you know, wake up feeling refreshed versus tired and grumpy, and, you know all of the things.

 

So, thank you so much, Casey for having me on. This has been a really wonderful conversation. And you know, you’re the first of many podcasts that I’ll be doing for this new book that’s out. And I just really appreciate you so much in the work you do. And I’m so glad that you found this joy in your sobriety and that you are helping other women do the same.

 

Casey McGuire Davidson  1:04:45

Thank you so much. Okay, I know you also have an offer for our listeners. Of course, you can buy the book anywhere books are sold. You can get it at Amazon. You can get it all the places. But if you go to and you need to tell us. The website you can use the code. THANKYOU40. and get 40% off all of the don’t sweat products for one time use. And that’s really, I mean, 40% is huge, and before the holidays is awesome. So, can you tell us what URL that is?

 

Kristine Carlson  1:05:18

Yeah, so you can either go to dontsweat.com and use that coupon code when you go, you know, go to the store and pick out your items and then, or you can go to don’t sweat every day and pick it up there.

 

Casey McGuire Davidson  1:05:37

Awesome. Thank you so much.

 

Kristine Carlson  1:05:39

Thank you.

Thank you for listening to this episode of The Hello Someday podcast.

If you’re interested in learning more about me, the work I do, and access free resources and guides to help you build a life you love without alcohol. Please visit hellosomedaycoaching.com. And I would be so grateful if you would take a few minutes to rate and review this podcast so that more women can find it. And join the conversation about drinking less and living more. 

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