I "have" to drink because I'm going out to dinner with my friends.
I "have" to drink because I can't turn down a drink from my mother-in-law.
I "have" to drink because insert any excuse you've given yourself.

Mamas, you don't have to do anything you don't want to do, and that includes drinking. You don't HAVE to drink; you WANT to drink, and I'm not saying that means you're a bad person at all, but I am saying that you need to be real with yourself.

Stop with the excuses. Stop lying to yourself. You can simply say, No thanks. I'm not drinking. Boom. That's it. And if they still push (which 99% of the time), they won't then repeat, No, I'm good. If you're serious about not drinking, then you'll stick to your commitment.

What it comes down to is fear. Fear of judgment. Fear of rejection. You're scared to say no or tell people you're taking a break because of what they may think of you. And that's totally normal to feel that way. But newsflash, if your "friend" is judging you for not...

What it comes down to is we only have one life. Are you going to spend it constantly running, escaping, and numbing out? Or are you going to appreciate that negative experiences are just part of life because we can't appreciate the good without the bad. We don't know what joy is until we've experienced pain. We don't know happiness until we've experienced sadness.

Don't spend your time here thinking about drinking, drinking, or regretting you drank just because you don't want to deal with life. Your one life is precious, and so is the time with your kids.

Imagine how much time and mental energy you are wasting. Imagine what you could be doing with that time. Imagine the moments you're missing out on because you're more concerned about escaping rather than dealing with it head-on and then moving on.

Don't waste any more time on a substance that doesn't add value to your life. You deserve so much more than the regret, mom guilt, and anxiety that's waiting for you at the bottom of the...

So Diet Coke and I broke up. I was getting my massage last month, and surprisingly the massage therapist was sober too. Crazy how the world brings people into our lives that we need to learn from. When we're open and confident about our decision not to drink, then we'll attract those same types of people into our lives. But that's a topic for a different day. 

Back to my story. I've always loved Diet Coke. I didn't' think it was that big of a deal because it has zero calories, and it's not going to kill me. Well, she told me some stories, and they're all stories I've heard before, so I knew it was time. Diet Coke and I are taking a break for good.  

Why am I telling you this? I know that breaking any bad habit can be hard initially, but since I've been sober for over four years now, I forgot what it's like to take away your crutch. My mind doesn't go to alcohol anymore. I've broken that connection and have made a new neural pathway in my brain. But that Diet Coke...

The 20 question "Am I An Alcoholic?" survey is a waste of time. If you're questioning your drinking to where you want to take a survey, then it's already enough of a problem to stop.

How many of you have googled, "am I an alcoholic" after another drinking disaster? I hear it all the time. And what I want you to know is that if you're questioning your relationship to alcohol to where you have to take a survey, then that's the only validation you need to know that alcohol is negatively impacting your life. Also, you don't have to label yourself as an alcoholic to stop drinking.

People who don't have a drinking problem aren't googling if they have a drinking problem, right?

If you're going to take a survey, then obviously, there have been MANY incidents where you feel that alcohol has negatively impacted your life or you have had consequences as a result of drinking too much. As a culture, we see binge drinking or the mishaps of our drinking as funny sometimes, but it's not funny at...

This alcohol-free journey can be a lonely road, but I promise you no matter how alone you think you are, there is someone out there who knows exactly what you're going through.

The whole reason why I created Sober Mom Tribe (@sobermomtribe) in the first place was to show you that you aren't alone and that there is nothing wrong with you.

When we're in the midst of our drinking and not being able to "control" or stop it, we feel so alone. We think that no one understands. We feel like a bad mom. We feel like a bad person. We just don't know why we keep putting ourselves through the same torture. We already know the outcome, yet we keep doing it.

But I want you to know. It's not you. It's the alcohol. You've been sucked into thinking that alcohol is fun and gives you relief from your problems and makes you relax, but it doesn't. It doesn't at all. And before you realize this, you've become entrapped into a vicious drinking cycle that is hard to get out of. And it's tough to get out of...

The notion of having to be the perfect mom causes us to feel overwhelmed, unworthy, and in constant comparison, which in turn increases the chances we'll drink.

All those emotions that we don't want to feel. All the guilt of not spending enough time with our kids. All the guilt of not being the Pinterest worthy mom. All the guilt of feeling like we just don't have our sh*t together perpetuates the cycle of drinking.

We want all that chatter to go away, so what do we do? We turn to our trusty bottle of wine to take those thoughts away. But they're not gone because you wake up feeling even more guilt for drinking too much the night before.

What a vicious cycle to be in, right?

I hear it all the time, which is why I'm sharing it with you today. There is no such thing as a perfect mom. Perfect is objective, so what I think may be perfect, you may not think is perfect, and the next mom might have another definition of perfect. That's why it's important not to get caught up in the...

Be proud of yourself for looking at your drinking and recognizing that it isn't serving you anymore. Many people lack this self-awareness, but not you, and that's a step in the right direction.

Do you realize that most of the people in this world don't even get to the level of self-awareness that you're at right now?

Yes, I'm assuming because you follow this account, but if you didn't think alcohol was a problem in your life, you wouldn't be on this page, so that's a step in the right direction. Many will just go through life following the crowd and not diving deeper into their habits and why they are the way they are. Why they don't like to feel emotion. Why they react rather than respond.

I talked with a 1:1 client yesterday, and we're starting to explore where her beliefs come from and what she can do to begin changing those belief systems. It's not easy to recognize your thought patterns and switch them, but the first step is to become aware of those thoughts, so that's a win....

What would your life look like a year from now if you continued on the same path with your drinking?

I spoke with a 1:1 client yesterday and asked her this question. This was her "aha" moment. That moment when you realize that if you continue drinking the way you are now that your life won't be better in a year from now. It won't even be the same. It'll be worse.

Can you imagine how many more nights you'd be waking up with anxiety? Can you imagine how many more moments you'd miss with your kids?
Can you imagine how many opportunities you'd miss out on because you're too hungover?
Can you imagine still living in this cycle that is draining you physically, mentally, and spiritually?
Can you imagine how much more regret you'd have for not starting sooner?

I want you to imagine what you'd feel like a year from now. And really think about it. Is that the place where you want to be? I know for a fact you don't, or you wouldn't be on this page right now. So pat yourself on the back for even...

Yesterday on a group call, we talked about shame. Shame is one of those emotions, especially for us mamas that is hard to part ways with. We feel it deep in our bones, or at least I did.

Yes, we may have done some sh*tty things in the past. We may have missed moments with our kids. We may have said something or done things we regret. But if we keep holding onto that shame and the past, we're not going to be able to move forward.

Accept that the things you did under the influence were not your best moments, but that is NOT who you are as a person. That was the alcohol hijacking your brain.

Acceptance really is the key to a lot in life. Once we accept something, there's no going back and forth; it just is what it is, and you can move on from it. We can't change the past, so why are we going to make ourselves even more miserable by dwelling on it. Sometimes we like to have our own pity party, and trust me, I did a lot of that back in the day, but it got me nowhere.

What it did make me...

Alcohol isn't a necessary part of life.
We've just been duped into thinking it is.

I'm a little fired up this morning. A person close to a woman in the recent challenge group mentioned that she lost her privilege to drink. Um, what? How about it's a privilege NOT TO drink. These ridiculous beliefs that we've been conditioned to believe that alcohol is the way adults get through life, and if you don't drink, you have a problem. And that if you don't consume alcohol, that also means you're deprived of having fun is ridiculous.

Excuse my language, but f*ck those beliefs! Who even started these beliefs? I'll tell you who our parents, our friends, our coworkers, the media, and society as a whole. Alcohol isn't necessary to get through life. In fact, if you NEED alcohol to get through life, that's your first red flag that something may be a little off.

Who wants to drink a substance that can literally kill you if you drink too much? Did you know that alcohol kills more people per year...