SUMMARY KEYWORDS

drinking, drinking, summer, alcohol, sober, july, feel, dry, sobriety, body, day, weeks, happy, amazing, people, kate, started, stop, healthy, navigate, podcast, Dry January, Sober October, Dry July, Summer, alcohol-free, sober summer, embrace new coping strategies, committed, self-care, positive change, enjoy the journey, map out, vision, better coping mechanisms, shift your perspective, bucket list, sober treats, Sobriety Starter Kit Course

SPEAKERS: Casey McGuire Davidson

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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.

Hey there, I don’t know where you are in the world. But even here in Seattle, summer has kicked into full gear.

 

So, today, I want to talk about

 

The Secrets You Need To Know About How To Enjoy A Sober Summer And How To Rock Dry July

 

So, Dry July is this awesome thing where people challenge themselves to ditch alcohol for the entire month of July. It’s similar to Dry January and Sober October in that it’s become a global phenomenon. It’s in the news. And it’s something that you can decide to participate in. Without a whole lot of explanation, you can simply tell people that you’ve decided to do Dry July this year. You want to see how good and energized you can feel this summer. You want to be fully present with your kids or sleep amazingly well. Or just make sure you take advantage of everything there is to do in the summer without drinking so you are not drinking for the month of July.

 

Now, you can also say that about the entire summer. Summer is an amazing time to be alcohol-free. And I want you to have that. I know it might be hard to envision right now, you probably have a ton of drinking rituals and drinking memories tied to the summer season. I know that I did. It might be beer at ballgames or camping, drinks out on a boat or hanging around barbecues with friends. Maybe it’s outdoor concerts, or you love dive bars or road trips, or European vacations with the wind flowing. But this summer, I want you to do something new and something exciting. I want you to take this moment when you’re listening to this podcast, to draw a line in the sand to decide right now that this summer, you’re going to do it alcohol-free. You are going to grow and evolve into a happier and healthier and more relaxed and more confident version of yourself. You are going to get to experience a summer of adventure and joy and peace and relaxation with zero hangovers. But I know that in order to do that, you need some inspiration, and a plan. So that’s what this episode is all about. Let’s get started.

 

So Dry July is a fantastic time to take a break from booze, and I’ll tell you why. Number one, you’re going to feel fabulous. Cutting out alcohol for a month can have some really great effects on your body. You will notice things like better sleep and more energy, clear skin and you might even lose some pounds. Plus, it gives your liver a chance to recover from all of that alcohol related damage and stress. You’ll get a clearer mind and a happier heart. Alcohol messes with your brain chemistry. It affects your mood, your decision making and your mental clarity. By skipping out on alcohol, you give your mind a chance to reset and to regain focus. So, when you’re drinking, it actually impacts your mind and your body in that, your body regulates down on your natural level of dopamine, the happy hormone, and serotonin, which regulates your mood. Drinking also spikes the cortisol in your body. And cortisol is your stress hormone. So, it takes about 30 days to reset you to your baseline, healthy, happy, functioning levels of dopamine and serotonin. And it takes a little over a week to have your body dropped the extra cortisol that has been produced from consuming alcohol. So, go for Dry July. You will feel better. You will get to your baseline level of contentment and happiness, but you’ll just get there.

 

So, my strong recommendation is to do Dry July, and to keep on going through August to enjoy your sober summer. Because once you get through July, you are going to be amazed how much happier and more content and less stressed you are. Just navigating your same daily life, you will also embrace new coping strategies.

 

Look, drinking is a crutch for stress and promotions. But relying on it, it doesn’t help you grow. Taking a break from booze lets you explore healthier ways of dealing with life’s challenges. Think about exercise and meditation, quality time with your family and friends and the people you love or even therapy. You can find during the sober summer, what works best for you.

Number four. Money. Look, drinking is expensive. By going into Dry July, you are going to save a good chunk of change. When I stopped drinking for 30 days, I saved $550 in the first month. When I did 60 days. If you do Dry July and August, you will not only feel better have a happier mind and a happier heart, you will have new coping strategies. But if you were me, you would have also saved over $1,100 not drinking. So, you can use that money to treat yourself, to treat yourself well. To save money, to buy a new bike, to go to yoga classes, to donate to causes you care about, anything you want.

 

Number five, one of the coolest things about dry July is the sense of community. You will be joining a bunch of other awesome people who are also taking a break from booze. It’s like having a squad that gets you. You can cheer each other on. You can share experiences. You can support each other and discover fun activities that don’t revolve around alcohol.

 

And number six, you get to reflect, and you get to reset. Going dry gives you a chance to reflect on your relationship with alcohol. It’s an opportunity to evaluate how it’s impacting your life, your relationships, and your goals. So, I want you to take this chance. This Dry July, this sober summer to make mindful decisions about your future and how you want to approach drinking. Remember, Dry July is all about personal choice.

 

Now, if you are worried about stopping drinking because of the amount of alcohol you consume, definitely reach out to your doctor or healthcare professional or addiction specialist. It can be dangerous to stop drinking cold turkey, if you are physically addicted to it. And so, I want you to be really careful about that. But if you are drinking in a way where you are having headaches and hangovers and talking shit to yourself in the morning and know that life could be better than it is now. I want you to try to take a break from drinking. I want you to give yourself the opportunity to experience a sober summer, because it is pretty amazing.

 

Dry July can be a fun and refreshing experience. So, I want you to jump in. Join the movement. Take a break from booze and make dry July an incredible alcohol free month for yourself. And remember, that a 30-day break from alcohol can help you in so many other ways. So, beauty sleep. Instead of waking up at 3am, you will finally get the full night of sleep that you’ve been craving. You will wake up refreshed. No headache, no bloodshot eyes, energy ready to tackle the day. With a 30-day break from alcohol, your skin will look so much better. You will notice a healthier complexion. Less redness, fewer breakouts. So, people are going to notice how good you look, how healthy you look, and ask you what’s going on.

 

Drinking can also drain your energy level. But when you get rid of alcohol for 30 days, or 60 days or the entire summer, you will experience a boost of energy, you’ll be ready to seize the day and also ready to rest peacefully whenever you want. Getting rid of alcohol also allows your body to process what it does consume. So much better, you won’t be consuming all those loaded alcohol calories, you will be able to actually fuel your body, you’ll be able to indulgent desserts. Because you’re not consuming all that sugar and alcohol, you are going to feel better. Your emotions are going to be happier. You’ll be able to be present with your friends. You won’t strain your relationships, you will remember the conversations that you have, and create amazing memories. Most of all, you’re going to feel proud doing a Dry July or an entire sober summer. It is a major accomplishment. It will show yourself that you’re committed to self-care and positive change. I want you to enjoy this journey. But I know it’s hard to get started. You probably tried to take breaks before, maybe even last week or last month. So, I’m going to walk you through a few of the things that I do with my private coaching clients, and with members of my Sobriety Starter Kit Course, to inspire you to actually take action and to do something different than just saying,

 

Yes, I’m going to do Dry July, and then getting to Day 5 and saying “screw it” because you’ve been invited out to happy hour. So, get out a piece of paper or if not, if you’re listening to this driving or running or on a walk. After you listen to this episode, I want you to go back and check out the show notes of this episode.

 

On my website, it’s going to be hellosomedaycoaching.com/168. It’s Episode 168. Because I’m going to map out a few things that I really want you to actually do. To get out a piece of paper and a pen to help you do this sober summer thing.

 

All right, first thing we’re going to do is, we’re going to map out your reason and your vision. So, number one, I want you to actually write down all the reasons you want to get out of the drinking cycle that you’ve been in for too long. So, on Day 4, or on Day 5, or on your first weekend, if you feel like having just a class, or just drink tonight and stop again tomorrow, or that it’s a special occasion, I want you to read this list that you’re writing down right now.

 

Here are a couple of things that I’ve heard from hundreds of clients and myself over the years. So, you might want to stop drinking because you’re tired, you’re unmotivated. You don’t want to do the things that you love to do. You might be wanting to take a break because when you’re drinking, you just want to take a nap the day after you drink. Or maybe you feel anxious and guilty. You sit there and say, why did I do this to myself again? You might be feeling bloated, physically. Maybe your hands are puffy, your rings are tight on your fingers.

 

You wake up every night at 3am worrying, you wake up and say, Here we go again. I’m awake. Why did I have that third glass of wine? I’m going to feel terrible tomorrow. Your mind starts racing until you find something to really ruminate on and stress out about. Maybe your kids make a joke of mom drinking her wine again. Or maybe the drinking cycle is boring and repetitive and every day you think, I need to stop. And then, on the way home, you’re thinking, What’s one more glass and you drink again in the evening.

 

Maybe you miss out on good stuff when you drink. Or your husband says, you always go to bed so early because you drank too much.

 

Look, you have a beautiful, amazing life and you want to enjoy it all. You probably don’t even realize how beautiful and amazing your life could be. Because you’re stuck in the fog of wanting to drink and drinking and recovering and wanting to stop drinking. When you drink, you know that you’re hurting your body. Your Brain and your soul, you know, it’s not working for you, you know, you can’t just take it or leave it, or you wouldn’t have been thinking about it this long, you don’t actually even want just a glass of wine. And I’m going to promise you that it’s actually easier to take a whole month off, than to try to moderate. Than to try to just drink one or just drink on the weekend, or just not drink tonight. And I want to show you how.

 

So please, step one, get your paper and pencil out, write down all the crap, all the shitty stuff, all the stuff you say to yourself in the morning, all the reasons you want to stop drinking. And then here’s the good stuff. I want you to make a second list of what you want. Instead, let’s stay grounded in the moment.

 

So, I specifically want you to picture this summer, the month of July. And then the month of August. Where do you want to be by the end of August?

Where do you want to be by Labor Day if you’re in the United States, or by the time that kids go back to school, if you’re somewhere else in the world, or just by the end of the month of August? What do you want to do and accomplish and be and feel during that time?

 

Here’s what I’m wondering. I bet you will be less anxious, you will look better, and you will feel better. You will be healthy, you’ll be calmer. You’ll have better coping mechanisms; you won’t navigate life. So emotionally, you won’t have that high racy hungover feelings. But it’s so much more than that. By the end of the summer, you will be a person who chooses not to drink because you have other stuff to do in your life. You’re that person who does all those things that you wanted to do. The person who maybe wakes up early and reads a book or journals, maybe you work out or cook healthy meals. Maybe you sit there at night, having long conversations with friends or cuddling your kids and whispering to them and having the best time. Maybe you go bike riding instead of drinking on the couch or on the back deck. Maybe you make new friends, maybe you go to farmer’s markets or just are outdoors. Maybe you want to meditate and be more spiritual. Maybe you like being outdoors, curiosity and excitement. You know what your life is like when you’re drinking. And if you’re listening to this podcast, you probably suspect that it’s dragging you down. You don’t know how awesome your summer could be without drinking. Shift your perspective.

 

You are doing Dry July and a sober summer because you are excited about it. You are a grown ass woman. You are not a 16 year old who is grounded. This is not a punishment. You have not lost your car keys. This is an opportunity. This is a gift you’re giving yourself. So, you’ve got your reasons why you want to do this, you’ve got your vision of who you could be at the end of July, what you want to do by the end of August, what you’re hoping you could feel and be by the end of sober summer.

 

And then I want you to get specific. So, we’re going to start brainstorming. And again, if you go to hellosomedaycoaching.com/168, you’ll see some images of worksheets that I’ve done with my clients that you can use to map this out. So, you don’t have to remember this all.

 

I have 9 questions for you. And going through these will really inspire you for Dry July.

 

So, 1. What are three words that capture what you want to feel this summer?

2. What are your loves, and your dislikes of the season?
3. What settings and activities are triggering.
4. What is it hard to get through without drinking?
5. What have you always said you were going to do but never got around to?
6. What can be simplified or removed from your schedule or your to do list this summer?
7. Where can you get help, so you have more downtime to explore and have fun?
8. What are three words that capture what you want to feel this summer? And
9. Who do you want to spend time with?

 

I know I ran through those really, really fast. So again, hellosomedaycoaching.com/168, you can get a list of all these questions.

But to start, I’m going to give you an example of one of my clients. Kate, and how she used this worksheet, this brainstorming to really get a solid vision of how to navigate this summer alcohol-free, and how to have a really incredible summer without alcohol. So, she allowed me very, very kindly, to share this with you. So here it is. Kate’s example.

 

What are three words that capture how you want to feel this summer? Kate has a big job and little kids. She said she wants to fit this summer. She said she wants the summer to feel slow. She wants to feel relaxed, joy, and peace.

 

Here are what Kate loves and what she dislikes about the season. She loves going to the pool, outdoor shows, picnics, the Botanical Gardens, Farmer’s market, being Lakeside or a nature, reading outside, evenings on the patio. Here’s what she dislikes, events where there’s massive drinking, baseball games, barbecues, outdoor festivals, getting overheated. Any show where she has to stand in the sun for a long time or feeling overscheduled. Now I know yours are going to be different, right. And that’s why this is important for you to do how you want to feel this summer, it might be peaceful and relaxed, it might be energized and ambitious. It might be something else completely. You might not live in a city or a place with outdoor concerts, you might live near nature, or you might live somewhere more urban. You might live in a rural area. That’s why you’re going to do this for yourself.

 

So going back to Kate, what settings and activities are triggering. What’s hard to get through without drinking. This is really important to do because so many of us have annual events or events with friends or just habits that take us to the exact same things with the exact same people that involve a lot of trunking. And being aware of that helps you navigate that. So, for Kate, it’s breweries, barbecues, and rooftops those are the events that are triggering and hard to get through without drinking. But she did say, I do like small barbecues, with not many people are going to a rooftop, just with her husband. Great, right? That’s good to know. I asked Kate what can be simplified or removed from her schedule or to do lists this summer. She said, one 2-week camp and 1 extracurricular for the summer, soccer for her daughter. She was pretty amazing. She already had her date nights planned and babysitter booked, if you have a couple of babysitters on standby. That’s amazing.

 

I know for me in early sobriety, I found date nights with my husband kind of stressful because they were things that we always used to do drinking and honestly, I wasn’t used to going on date nights with him without drinking. So, when you plan your date nights, that’s really helpful in advance. So, for example, in my first sober summer, I plan babysitters during the day, sort of early afternoon to early evening date nights. And my husband and I did things like, go to the waterfront with books and music, and a picnic and read and talk and watch other people now he would bring some beers, I would bring alcohol free beverages and we would have a great time. I have other clients who are in LA who go hiking with their partner, and really enjoy that. There is so much to do. You could go to a museum but plan your date nights in a way that supports alcohol-free life and use this brainstorming to do that. So, I asked Kate, where can you get more help, so you have more downtime to explore and have fun. She said that they got a lawn mowing service for this summer, which alleviated a lot of tension with her husband and getting it done. She scheduled the vacation and the kids for the summer, so she didn’t have to do any more planning. So, I know that’s a lot of different questions. But what it will do is hopefully, help you spur in your mind all the incredible things that you can do this summer, that don’t involve alcohol. What you don’t want to do is sit at home, get invited to a drinking event, feel sorry for yourself, and say, oh my god, I can’t do anything fun, this sucks. I’m isolated, I’m deprived, I can’t do what I’m usually do or else I’m going to sit there and do nothing.

 

You want to brainstorm for the summer, a bucket list of all the amazing things that you can do without alcohol. And I like to actually put it up on my fridge. I’m a big design girl. So, I take pictures. And I put up all the images and the list of things we’re going to do on our fridge. I get my bucket list, my daughter’s bucket list, I asked my husband and my son, trust me, we don’t do all of it. There’s no way. But it helps us see and realize how to take advantage of the season. So, I’m going to just put some ideas out there for your Dry July, you’re sober summer, great things you can do that don’t involve alcohol. Or maybe you’ve done these things while drinking. I want you to experience it alcohol-free. I want you to feel how, for example, swimming in a lake or going kayaking can feel without drinking and getting sleepy. Just feeling that lake water on your body. Being healthy and sober and laying in the sun. It’s amazing. And you probably just haven’t tried it without alcohol in way too long. So, some ideas to get you started. You could sit by a fire and roast s’mores. You could go camping or catch fireflies. You could start a morning journal practice or buy a watercolor painting set. You could buy a book of walking tours in your city and check five of them off this summer. You could take lessons, guitar or swimming or singing lessons. You could go on a road trip, you could take a painting class or a cooking class, you could join a hiking group or a running group. Again, all of these things, you’re expanding your social circle. From the people you know who just drink, joining a hiking group, or a running group or painting group. People may drink but it’s not the purpose of the activity. They have other interests. They’re interesting people. You could paint outdoor furniture or visit antique shops in a new town. You could plant a vegetable garden or flower garden you could get a new basket for your bike and go on a picnic.

 

My first sober summer, I got my bike tuned up, and I printed out maps of where there are two bike around my town. I brought my bike to work. And during lunchtime, I biked through this park, it was pretty awesome. Other things you can do this summer that don’t involve alcohol. You could start a photo of a day group and capture the daily beauty in your life. You could join a gym or a spa or take time to nurture your body. Get a massage, try Reiki. You could try cupping. You could try acupuncture. You could have a goal to read three novels in your backyard or at a park. You could take a swing dance class. You could walk at an off-leash dog park. Even if you don’t have a dog, you could pick a new brunch spot each weekend with friends and I highly recommend brunch over dinner or happy hour, try out new restaurants, eat brunch and go for a walk go for a coffee. You could rent an electric bike. You could get a tarot card reading. You could go to a live music show and not have to get up 17 times to go to the bathroom and trip over people coming back to your seat. You could sign up for a 5k or a 10k or try outdoor yoga. Doesn’t that sound amazing? There is so much awesome things that you can do that don’t involve alcohol. I want you to take one Dry July, one sober summer to do it.

 

Can you imagine yourself in September, having done even a fraction of these amazing things to be able to say?

 

Yeah, this summer I started the morning journal practice. I read three novels in a park. I went on a road trip I joined a hiking group. I got a tarot card reading and I planted a flower garden. That’s pretty amazing. So specific tips to make it happen. I’m just going to go over a few quickly. And then I’m going to encourage you to get more support and get more of a roadmap and more of a system. If you’ve been struggling to do this on your own for a while, but just to get started, set your goal. Dry July is amazing. And I’d love you to set your goal for the rest of the summer.

 

So, think Dry July, and Dry August and reevaluate in September. Here’s why Dry July is great. I know it’s hard to get more than 4 days or 5 days or a week or 2 weeks. And Dry July is a fantastic way to tell people you’re not drinking with a clear end date. So, they don’t ask a ton of questions. I’m going to tell you in your mind, why I think it’s important for you to set a longer goal, you can tell people Dry July, and then get to the end of July and say, I feel so great. I’m going to keep going through the end of the summer.

 

30 days are great. And they can be tricky. Here’s why. The first 2 weeks of going alcohol for your heart, they just are you’re going to crave alcohol, you’re not in the habit of even what to do at dinner or on a Friday night or on a weekend not drinking. So, you’re going to want to drink, you’re going to feel deprived. Again, this is just your first couple of weeks, you’re going to be tired, you want to baby yourself. But if you know, you’re just doing Dry July, and if any of you have done a 30-Day Challenge or a Dry January, you will recognize this.

 

The first 2 weeks can be hard. And in the second 2 weeks, you’re honestly just counting down to your reward of being able to drink again. Right? So, the first 2 weeks, you’re like, God, this kind of sucks. But I’m doing it. I’m proving to myself, there’s no problem to see here. And the second 2 weeks, you’re like, oh my god only eight more days, five more days, three more days until I can drink. It’s like taking a short commuters flight. So, you’re going from DC to New York, right? You get on the plane and you’re basically just waiting for the flight to be over. You don’t buy a snack. You might not even recline your seat. You don’t download a book or a movie. You don’t do anything. Right, you get on the flight, you’re waiting for it to be over. That’s what it is. That is a 30-Day break from alcohol.

 

Now, don’t get me wrong, you are going to sleep better. You’ll have more energy. Your skin will look better every week. I highly recommend taking a selfie of yourself every week because you will see the bloating and the redness and the puffiness in your face go down. And you will see your eyes looking brighter. There are a ton of benefits to a 30-Day alcohol break. And it’s not long enough because if you were to say, do a full sober summer. Do Dry July in August and reevaluate when you’re 60 days alcohol-free. It would be like taking a longer flight not a commuter one. iIt would be like flying from Seattle to Hawaii or Seattle to Europe, right? When you know you’re taking on that longer flight, you want to plan for it. It’s too long that you can just sit there and like not recline your seat and wait for it to be over. So, for example, when we flew to Africa this summer, we bought the neck pillow we brought you know plain socks. Okay, I know this sounds weird, but it was really long. We downloaded movies on our phones and on our tablets. We had a 13-hour layover in Germany. So, we booked like the day Lufthansa law lounge so we weren’t sitting in those uncomfortable seats in a giant International Airport for 13 hours. We got books, we got snacks. We did it for every single person in our family.

 

The reason I’m telling you that is because that is what a sober summer looks like, right? You’re planning for it. So, you’re like, okay, the Lufthansa lounge. I have 13 hours in Germany. Work with me on this ridiculous metaphor, and I’m not drinking. So, what am I going to do? I’m going to plan a slightly different vacation. I’m going to plan a lunch instead of a boozy dinner. I’m not going to go on to the winery, but I’m going to go on this incredible yoga overnight. I’m going to join a running club for the summer. I’m going to join a cooking class, something else. You know you’re going to plan for it, so you actually enjoy it.

 

You’re going to plan for like, how your husband is going to enjoy the long flight, how your kids are. You’re shifting things. You’re planning in advance but you’re not doing it to wait for it to be over. You’re doing it to make it enjoyable.

 

Okay, so first one, set your goal. Dry July is awesome. I want to encourage you to do July and August, the full sober summer, and decide to keep going after that, because I promise you, you’re going to feel so proud of yourself. And so good. Number two, tell people what you’re doing. Tell them you’re doing an Alcohol-Free Summer Challenge. You can tell them. You’re doing a health challenge. You can tell them you want to be fully present for the amazing summer. You can tell them you want to have more energy and have great sleep and exercise more consistently and have less anxiety. So, when I stopped drinking, I told my morning workout group, I told all my work colleagues, I told my girlfriend, I told my husband, I even told my kids, they were like, 2 and 8. They had no idea, but I told them, right. I told everyone I was doing a 100-Day Alcohol-Free Challenge. You do not need to tell anyone else. Anything more than that. They don’t need to know full stop. You can easily tell them. I’m doing an alcohol free summer challenge. And it’s going to be hard for me because I love to drink. But it’s important to me. So, I’d love your support. But you don’t have to go into like, I’m worried about my alcohol consumption. I don’t know if I have a problem. Forget all that shit. Nobody needs to know that shit, unless they’re your person.

 

But number one, set your goal number two, tell people what you’re doing. Number three, set yourself up for success. And what that means is if you do like me your jam is red wine or white wine or maybe for someone that’s martinis. Get your drink of choice out of your house. Right? Just do it. And I mean, I did this with my husband without telling you anything more than I was doing 100-Day Alcohol-Free Challenge. I said, I’m doing 100 Alcohol-Free Challenge. You know, I love, want my wine. You know, this is going to be hard for me. But it’s important to me. I want to feel better and look better and take care of myself. So please, can we have no wine in the house? Right? Even if I’m grumpy. Don’t bring me home about wine. Even if I asked you to, I need your support. So, set yourself up for a success. Get your drink of choice out of the house. Stock up on alcohol-free drinks. There are so many incredible amazing alcohol-free drinks out there.

 

If you join the Sobriety Starter Kit Course, I have the most comprehensive guide. The Ultimate Guide to non-alcoholic beverages in every single category. With recommendations and links. It was created by Zero Proof Nation. Do other things. Shift your choices and this can be part of your summer bucket list. Brainstorming list. Up for brunches over dinners trade boozy nights for gorgeous morning, up for hikes over happy hours for reading novels over happy hours. Anticipate triggers and challenges, plans, self-care plans, sober treats. And I also want to invite you to get real support and real plans. I offer a ton of help and ideas and tips on this podcast and in my free guides and in the articles I write. And it’s a little bit here and a little bit there. We cover so many topics in my Sobriety Starter Kit which is my signature Sober Coaching Course that I have created to take you from Day 1 or Day 5 or Day 30. Today, 100 and beyond. I take you step-by-step, in a really manageable ways, on how to get started. How to get through your first 2 weeks. How to talk to people. How to implement habit change. How to navigate triggers, how to implement boundaries, and how to say no, how to overcome cravings to drink, how to sidestep people who pressure you to drink, how to navigate post-acute withdrawal syndrome literally, every single thing that comes up or you would need to know I hold your hands step by step by step through it. I do it in a really easy and digestible way.

 

When a minute teaching videos, lessons on an app that you can tap into when you’re doing laundry or going for a walk. When you’re sitting in bed at night. Using your essential oils before a meditation whatever you want to do. You can watch the Sobriety Starter Kit lessons on your porch in the morning. You can also use it in a course podcast. So instead of listening to the Hello Someday podcast that I love that you’re listening to, you’ll put on the private course podcast. And it will literally take you and give you just the next right lesson, just when you need it. So, it will help you through this.

I’m sharing this because I want to encourage you to set yourself up for success. Not for another exercise in willpower that is finite and goes away. Getting in that habit of quitting on yourself. That’s hard. And I want you to do this once and do it right because I really want you to have a truly incredible, sober summer I think it will change your life. I think it will make your year. And I think it will help you get off this Groundhog Day cycle of starting and then sabotaging and starting again. I’ve been there. I was there for years. I know how exhausting it is.

 

So, you can go to this episode show notes. You can get all the questions I asked you, to do your reason, your vision, the words you want to capture in terms of how you feel this summer. What you love and dislike about the season. What things are triggering, what to simplify, and ideas of bucket list of things you can do instead. And you can also sign up for my Sober Coaching Course at Sobriety Starter Kit Course. Sign up now. I would absolutely love to Coach you on our Dry July Life Coaching event. And either way, I hope you have an incredible Dry July and an amazing sober summer. I am rooting for you.