So many of us (myself included back in the day) didn't think we had a problem with alcohol. Thoughts of...

"I enjoy a glass of wine here or there, but I can go without it."
"Yes, I may drink a little more on the weekends, but I'm winding down from a stressful week. No big deal."
"Having a whole bottle of wine in one night is totally fine and normal."
"I got too drunk because I "forgot" to eat."

The list could go on and on with the excuses we give ourselves that we don't have a problem, but I think a good gauge is trying to take a break for 30 days. Of course, you're not going to break a habit and reap all the rewards of being alcohol-free in just 30 days, but this is a great starting point to assess your relationship with alcohol.

"Maybe you're thinking this is a piece of cake. Of course, I can go without alcohol for 30 days. I'm not dependent on it." Then the weekend rolls around, and you're pacing around, irritable, and all you want is a glass of wine to unwind. There's your clue...

You don't have to hit rock bottom to change your relationship with alcohol. That's an old belief that people need to lose everything before they finally quit for good and realize that they have a problem.

That notion will have you stuck in this cycle longer than need be and, in the long run, worse off. We all have different journeys and wake-up calls.
My wake-up call was the day I walked into detox, but for 3 years, I let myself get to that point. Going back and forth with a few weeks or a month of sobriety and then back to drinking. And the cycle repeated, and each time it led me down a darker path quicker than it did the previous time.

My wake-up call was detox, and I'd recommend stopping before using that as yours. These are still wake-up calls too.

Not remembering how you got to bed the night before.
Driving under the influence.
Sending text messages that you regret the next day.
Being controlled by your 5 pm on the dot glass of wine.
Having your kids tell you your favorite drink is...

Oh damn. I heard this on a recent podcast episode of Straight Up with @trentshelton, and it stopped me in my tracks.

Sidenote - his podcast has become one of my favs, and I've binged like 10 episodes in the past two days. So if you, like me, like a little kick in the ass with some truth bombs, then he's your guy!

Back to why this quote is so powerful. He's right. You CAN'T heal until you bring forth what you've been suppressing and hiding for so long. If you keep stuffing it down with booze, then you're never going to be able to take a look at what the real issues are. You're never going to get out of this drinking cycle because you're just removing the alcohol. You're not taking a deeper look at why you chose alcohol in the first place.

This is why most people who use willpower or "white-knuckling" as their long-term approach will most likely go back to alcohol because our will eventually runs out. There's only so much our brains can take, and something may set you off - a bad...

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...

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 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...