Saying you drink red wine for the health benefits is like saying you eat ice cream for the calcium.

I'm not knocking ice cream at all because who doesn't love sitting on the couch with a good movie and diving into a pint of Ben & Jerry's Half Baked. Just me?

But do you see how ridiculous that sounds? Eating ice cream for the calcium. Like, come on. I'm eating ice cream because it tastes good and gives me a dopamine hit.

The same thing goes for the justification for drinking red wine for the health benefits, particularly for the antioxidants. Um, don't fool yourself, love. You could get that same amount of antioxidants in blueberries, dark chocolate, pecans, strawberries, artichokes, raspberries, kale, goji berries, red cabbage, beans, beets, and so on. You get the idea.

You are not drinking red wine for the health benefits. You are drinking it for the buzz. For the sense of relief, those first few sips give you. You are drinking it for the dopamine hit it provides, not for the...

It all starts in our minds.

The way that we talk to ourselves.
The way that we show up.
The way that we commit.

If you're already coming in with the mindset of I can't do this, then the chances of you not following through on your commitment are greater.

How about you flip it to that you can do this? That it might be new and uncomfortable, but that means you are stepping out of your comfort zone and allowing yourself to get out of this toxic drinking cycle. You're not allowing alcohol to keep you safe any longer.

You CAN do this, but it's way harder to do on our own, which is why I believe so much in my programs. You don't have to do it alone, and you'll have a group of MOTHERS cheering you on, helping you through the rough moments, and celebrating your "firsts".

So what do you say? Are you going to keep doing it on your own and falling back into the same old pattern, or are you going to switch it up and learn the tools, receive accountability, and connect with other mothers that you...

Alcohol was my security blanket.

Did you have a favorite stuffed animal or blanket that you carried around with you as a child? Or do your kids have one that they need at all times to feel safe or to fall asleep?

That's what I felt like alcohol was to me. It was my security blanket. It kept me "safe". Without it, I wasn't able to handle my emotions or sometimes even fall asleep.

The level at which I "needed" alcohol changed through the years because that's what happens with the progression of addiction. It gets worse and worse until you need it to survive.

I needed it to handle social situations.
I needed it to feel sexy.
I needed it to feel confident.
I needed it to make me feel happy.
I needed it to make me feel nothing at all.
I needed it for comfort.

At the end of my addiction, I carried alcohol around with me wherever I went. I filled up water bottles with vodka. I filled up my Yeti with wine. In the last couple of months of my drinking, I even had a bottle of wine on my nightstand...

Why do most of us get trapped in this cycle? Because we don't want to feel.

We don't want to feel sadness, anxiety, grief, and all the so-called "bad" emotions. But that's all part of being human, right?

At a young age, I learned that crying was considered a sign of weakness. Big girls don't cry. Big girls handle their problems with a smile on their face. Sigh. It's unfortunate, but that's the way parenting was done back in the day.

All that resisting, avoiding, and suppressing isn't doing any of us favors in the long run. I was never taught how to handle these tough emotions, so later in life, I turned to alcohol to make them go away. What I didn't know was they weren't going away; they were festering and eating me alive.

I think many of us were raised the same way, which was to stuff our emotions inside. Thankfully through the years, a different approach to "just stay strong" or "you're fine" has been replaced by talking through feelings and actually feeling them. But a lot of us...

What are you doing to celebrate your wins along this journey?

Remember, no win is too small.

You made it through your first social situation without alcohol? Celebrate!

You made it through an overwhelming day and didn't turn to alcohol? Celebrate!

You're 30 days sober? Celebrate!

We tend to be so hard on ourselves and forget that we deserve to celebrate ourselves no matter the size of the win.

Removing alcohol isn't for the faint of heart. This is hard work that you're doing not to drink, so don't talk yourself into thinking it's not a big deal. It's a huge deal. If it were easy, then so many wouldn't be struggling right now.

Are you celebrating with a massage? A new espresso maker? A piece of jewelry? A fancy coffee? A mani/pedi? I want to know how you celebrate your wins! Comment below to give other mamas ideas on how to give themselves love for all their hard work.

Looking for a listening ear and a mentor on your alcohol-free journey? Click here or message me (@sobermomcoach)...

This is your reminder to rest, not quit. 

This has been a common theme popping up lately with my 1:1 clients as well as challenge participants. Some feel extra exhausted, and some feel guilty for taking that much-needed rest.

We're used to going non-stop, and for many of us, we used alcohol to give us that little extra pep in our step when the rest of the day seems daunting.

Too tired to make dinner? Have a glass of wine to help.

Too tired to get through the nighttime routine? Have a glass of wine to make it more bearable.

Do you see where I'm going here?

Your brain has associated when you get tired that you need alcohol to get through the day. Is that true, though? Absolutely not. So you need to disrupt that pattern. How about putting on some music and shaking what your mama gave ya? How about going for a quick walk in the fresh air? How about having a cup of coffee? I know the caffeine may be sensitive to some individuals, but if it's coffee or alcohol at 3 pm, which would be...

Your kids are lucky to have a mom who is working on herself because she knows she can do better when it comes to her relationship with alcohol.

Do you know how brave you are to be breaking generational patterns?

Do you know how brave you are to be going against the grain?

Do you know how brave you are to be digging into the underlying reasons of why you drink in the first place?

Do you know how brave you are to be breaking a habit you've relied on for years and some even decades?

Mama, you are SO brave. It takes a lot of courage, strength, and putting aside your ego to look at your mistakes and choose to work on them instead of continuing to stay in a pattern that is harming not only yourself but your kids.

This isn't an easy thing to do at all, which is why a lot of people choose not to do it. I know on this journey, we can be harder on ourselves than need be, so give yourself credit for all the times you slipped up but are learning the lessons.

Give yourself credit for even having...

I talk to so many moms who are so health-conscious. They watch what they put into their bodies, but they give a free pass when it comes to alcohol.

They eat organic and nutritious foods all day long, workout, and then drink wine at night.

All the hard work you're doing by eating nutritious foods and working out is negated by the fact that you have a glass or bottle of wine every night. Because who just stops at one 5oz glass of wine? I never did.

So you're not only drinking a poison but also a calorie-laden substance. This is also why it's not a coincidence that many of us will gain weight when we drink because we first are consuming all these unnecessary calories, and then we let our guard down and may eat foods that aren't necessarily the best for us either.

I was having a 1:1 conversation with a client the other day, and we were talking about swaps to her nightly wine habit. She said she has a fridge stocked with seltzers, Martinelli's, and a few other nonalcoholic options. As we...

Happy face. Messy hair. Drink in hand. It looks like I'm having a good time, right? I probably was, but I never stopped at 1 or 2 drinks like a "normal" person. Once I started, I wasn't stopping until I passed out, someone cut me off, or I was in handcuffs. Yes, back in the day, I was arrested for disorderly conduct, and guess what? That wasn't enough to stop my drinking. But I digress.

Most of the time, when we see pictures of people drinking, we see the good. We see the pretty, but there is nothing pretty or good about drinking so much that you wake up with a raging hangover and can't stop throwing up.

There is nothing pretty or good about blacking out and not remembering how you got home or why there's a stranger in your bed.

There is nothing pretty or good dealing with the worst anxiety you've ever had that you need to start drinking to get rid of it.

There is nothing pretty or good with being so irritable and tired around your kids because you'd rather stay up late and down a...

At the beginning of this sobriety journey, you may feel like everything sucks and wondering why you're putting yourself through this torture of having to feel it all with no relief. And I understand I've been there too.

But no matter how much it sucks, there's always a silver lining. Even if it's just a tiny sliver of good, that's what you hold on to. Like...

Enjoying a cup of coffee before the kids wake up instead of waiting until the last minute to get up because you're tired and hungover.
Playing a board game with your kids and actually being present instead of worrying about when you can have your glass of wine.
Being able to be there for your kids in the middle of the night when they're sick.
Knowing that you're giving your body the love it deserves by not ingesting a poison.
Not adding more anxiety to your everyday life.
Washing your face before bed.

There are SO many silver linings of sobriety. All you have to do at the beginning is be willing to see just one. That's it. One...