The Hello Someday Podcast For Sober Curious Women

My guest today Lotta Dann, recovery advocate, blogger and author of three books: the best-selling memoir Mrs. D is Going Without, her second book Mrs. D Is Going Within, and the just released The Wine O’Clock Myth.  Lotta’s personal memoir of drinking, quitting drinking and living alcohol-free in a drink-filled world is witty, funny, and uplifting. Many memoirs are raw and gritty, but Mrs. D Is Go...

What is Gray Area Drinking?    It describes the space where most drinkers live: a place between being able to ‘take or leave’ alcohol and hitting some kind of a ‘rock bottom’ where you are experiencing external consequences associated with being on the alcohol use disorder spectrum or identified as signs of alcoholism.    In a world where everything seems to be black and white, where either you ha...

Ann Dowsett Johnston, the best-selling author of Drink: The Intimate Relationship Between Women and Alcohol, has described the positioning of wine in popular culture as “The modern woman's steroid, enabling her to do everything she needs to do or tries to do”.   And there’s one problem with that description of alcohol. It’s not true and it doesn't work. Instead of helping the modern woman do every...

Are you worried that life without drinking will be boring?  Or are you currently in early sobriety and feeling bored? Are you scared that you’ll never really have fun or let loose again without alcohol?  Or wondering if you’ll lose all your friends and favorite activities if you don’t drink? Here’s a secret: Almost all women who love to drink worry about being bored (or boring) without alcohol. In...

Who doesn’t carry around some emotional baggage around money? Most people have a complicated relationship with money that can show up in different ways. This may look like: A constant weight on your shoulders or guilt about carrying debt Buying things to get a short term hit of happiness  Fear of maintaining financial stability in an uncertain job market Staying in a job that isn’t making you happ...

The Truth Behind Those Online Drinking “Highlights”. Getting Real With Emily Lynn Paulson. How “real” are all those images you see online?  The perfect Instagram families? The fancy business trips? The carefree Mom’s Night Out?    Today my guest is an author, a speaker and my friend, Emily Lynn Paulson. In our conversation Emily and I dig into the truth behind the “Online Drinking Highlights” you...

When you stop drinking, doing inner work around knowing, liking and trusting yourself again can be healing and empowering.    For years you may have been meeting external expectations and caring for others over listening to your inner voice and intuition.    By the time you’ve stopped drinking you may be so removed from your authentic self that you no longer know who you truly are or what you want...

There's a whole genre of books that you might not ever hear about if you're not a woman who has a complicated relationship with alcohol. It's called “Quit lit"- books about drinking, quitting drinking, getting sober and life without alcohol.  There are novels and memoirs, essays, fiction, and how to guides. They are deep and soulful, entertaining and honest, eye opening, hysterically funny, raw an...

If you’re a woman who’s trying to quit drinking it’s normal to look around and suddenly realize that booze is all around you.  There’s Rosé All Day, Hot Yoga and Happy Hour, beer at the finish line of the 10K and “Mommy Juice” at playdates with the kids. You look up from your wine glass to see that everyone around you is drinking, all the time.  We live in a culture that tells women that drinking...

Have you ever sabotaged yourself and you can’t figure out why?   You want to get promoted, improve your health and your relationships, achieve a big goal, and somehow you get in your own way and wreck your best-laid plans.    Self-sabotage was definitely a part of my story when I was drinking.    I would be getting ready for a big opportunity at work - a business trip or presentation - and I’d dri...

Have you ever wondered what exactly is Yoga For Recovery or Trauma Informed Yoga?  How does it differ from Bikram, Ashtanga, Power Yoga or Kundalini? Can yoga help you heal your mind, body and spirit as you walk away from drinking? How can releasing a traumatic experience from your body through yoga help you heal before illness, chronic fatigue, dis-ease, autoimmune disorders may manifest.    And...

Do you have a loud inner critic voice?  You know the one that starts when you wake up and tells you that you're not good enough, thin enough, productive enough, patient enough, strong enough, smart enough or whatever? I used to believe that these daily repetitive negative thoughts were helping me. I thought I could berate myself into 'being better' or shame myself enough that I would stop drinking...

We all have our own personal brand of nonsense - self sabotage, blame, people pleasing, control issues. A lot of women deal with almost all of these but especially scarcity versus abundance and making decisions out of your fears.   We all have things we're doing that are standing in the way of our health, happiness and success. Learn to get out of your own way, to identify the nonsense in your lif...

Do you use drinking to shut off your mind? Do you use drinking as a coping mechanism to push away your feelings? Many women, just like you, who drink have underlying anxiety issues they might be coping with, and they use drinking to make those feelings go away.   Anxiety is the number one side effect from drinking. If you drink often, you may have anxiety more deeply and more pronounced than you w...

Do you feel trapped in a job or career that doesn’t make you happy? Is work a trigger that makes you want to drink? If the answer is yes, this podcast episode was created for you.  For years when I was climbing the corporate ladder I felt like I needed (and deserved) wine at the end of a long day to unwind. And I know I’m not alone.  So many women have spent a decade or two working hard, paying th...

What is Tapping or The Emotional Freedom Technique? How does tapping work to manage stress and anxiety?  Can you use tapping to relieve negative emotions that can lead you to drink or tap to reduce drinking cravings? Did you know you can tap with your children to help calm them and release overwhelming emotions? If any of these questions spark your interest, today’s episode is for you.  My guest i...

Once you’ve decided that it’s time to take a break from drinking you need to set yourself up for success.  That means you need a really good sober toolkit.   In this episode, I’ll share 10 things you absolutely need in your sober toolkit: Your iPhone. And that includes your earbuds and your charger. Audiobooks, podcasts and messages of sober support. Food and beverages that will help you get throu...

Many women know Jean McCarthy as an award-winning blogger, the host of the Bubble Hour Podcast, and through her work in recovery advocacy. But in today’s episode we get to know a more personal and intimate side of Jean through her poetry. Jean describes putting out this book of poetry as if she is saying “Here’s what the inside of my head looks like. Here’s the voice no one else hears.” In this ep...

Have you heard of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator [MBTI]?  Are you an ISFJ or an ENTP? An ESFJ? ISFP? As you’re quitting drinking and navigating the world in sobriety, understanding your Myers-Briggs Personality Type can give you insight into your strengths, preferences and why some people, places and situations trigger you to want to numb out and escape - and others don't. Understanding your pers...

In this episode I got to interview two incredible authors and really cool women, Amanda Eyre Ward and Jardine Libaire about their new novel, The Sober Lush: A Hedonist's Guide to Living a Decadent, Adventurous, Soulful Life - Alcohol Free.    The book is all about the joy to be found in life after you step away from wine as your constant companion.    Jardine and Amanda have called this book “an o...

QUITTING DRINKING DOESN’T HAVE TO BE LONELY. Finding friends can be hard. Finding friends who are on the same sobriety journey as you can be really hard.    But we’re here to help!   In this episode my sober bestie, Ingrid Miller, and I will talk about why finding support from people who have been where you are now and who are going through what you’re going through, in this “quitting drinking thi...

Are you a people pleaser? Do you put others' needs, wants, and values ahead of yours?   Do you need help with setting boundaries in your relationships and around your sobriety?   Today’s guest is Hailey Magee! Hailey is a certified codependency recovery coach who has worked with over 100 clients across the United States, Canada, Ireland, South Africa, and more break free from the shackles of codep...

In this episode, I’m introducing myself and telling you a little bit about who I am. Before I quit drinking, and after. I’m sharing that I no longer drink anymore, that I used to drink a lot, and how I went through the process of questioning my drinking and deciding it didn’t work in my life anymore. This is an important part of my life, but it doesn’t define who I am. I saw quitting drinking as m...

Do you wish you had a roadmap that will guide you through your first week without alcohol?   The first, second, and even the third week without alcohol are the hardest and most important as you try and take an extended break from drinking. Knowing what to expect and setting yourself up for success can be the difference between feeling good or feeling miserable. And the difference between continuin...

How many times have you tried to quit drinking? Does the thought of quitting drinking give you anxiety? Can you picture your life without alcohol in a positive and empowering way?    The thought of going without alcohol may feel like a punishment.  You may worry that life without alcohol will be a time of deprivation and isolation. You might be thinking that not drinking isn’t something that you a...