Alcohol Minimalist: Change Your Drinking Habits!

Hey, it's Molly from alcohol minimalist. What do you do in this October? I would love to have you join me in my more sober October challenge. What do I mean by more sober October, it simply means that we're going to add in more alcohol free days than you currently been doing, whether that's one or two or 31. It's up to you, you get to set your own goal and that's why it's more sober October. You can check it out and learn more at get got sunnyside.co/molly It's totally free. I've got prizes, I'm going to be going live every week to announce the prize winners. And it's just going to be an awesome event. So I would love to have you join me. You can learn more at get.sunnyside.co/molly and you can get registered today. Welcome to the alcohol minimalist podcast. I'm your host Molly watts. If you want to change your drinking habits and create a peaceful relationship with alcohol, you're in the right place. This podcast explores the strategies I use to overcome a lifetime of family alcohol abuse, more than 30 years of anxiety and worry about my own drinking, and what felt like an unbreakable daily drinking habit. Becoming an alcohol minimalist means removing excess alcohol from your life. So it doesn't remove you from life. It means being able to take alcohol or leave it without feeling deprived. It means to live peacefully, being able to enjoy a glass of wine without feeling guilty and without needing to finish the bottle. With Science on our side will shatter your past patterns and eliminate your excuses. Changing your relationship with alcohol is possible. I'm here to help you do it. Let's start now. Well, hello and welcome or welcome back to the alcohol minimalist podcast with me your host, Molly Watts coming to you from a picture perfect Oregon. Really it's been absolutely beautiful around here. But it's still Oregon. And I'm still here. And if you listen to last week's podcast, you would have heard me talking about the fact that I was on my way to Vegas. There was a slight diversion on my way to Vegas. The day that I was supposed to be leaving, I ended up in the ER and was there in the ER for 36 hours and then I was in the hospital for another 36 hours. And 72 hours later I missed my miss my Vegas trip and came home to home here in Oregon. Minus one gallbladder and minus my Vegas vacation. So there's that happening this week. If my voice sounds a little off, it's because I'm still recovering from general anesthesia and I have a limited my well or my lung capacity is a little bit affected by it evidently. Thank God I recorded a podcast last week, right the day of actually the day that I ended up going to the ER and I was in pain when I was doing the podcast but I could still talk pretty well. I am happy that I have that to share with you today. Before we get to that I have a I have a prize winner an alcohol minimalist swag Prize winner, and that is P R Tyner, P R Tyner, PR Tyner if that if you're listening, please email me Molly at Molly watts.com. And I will send you out your alcohol, minimalist swag. If you would like to be registered into the drawing for some alcohol, minimalist swag, all you got to do is leave a review of the podcast or the book, anywhere that you listen to it anywhere that you might be reading it. And really with the reviews of the podcast. Those are kind of a way that you can pay it forward help somebody who's trying to work on the relationship with alcohol, and is looking for tools to do that. Having more reviews helps us be found by other people when they're searching for for podcast content. I am still a little like, don't get the where the disconnect is because I get comments all the time from folks. I ask people questions when they're joining our alcohol minimalist Facebook group. And if you haven't joined there is oh, there's always a link in the show notes. Please come join us. But I always ask people questions and I've asked them if they've heard the podcast. And pretty much all the time I get comments like this one. Every hour of every single day I am listening and your podcasts have been very helpful. It is now been five weeks since I started and I can proudly say that I have not gotten drunk or woken up with a hangover and I get comments like that, like, your podcasts have been very helpful, right? I and I appreciate them, I always appreciate them. I'm very grateful this work is extremely gratifying to me, I'm so blessed to be able to do it and to help people create this peaceful relationship with alcohol. But I would love to keep helping people and to do that. Helping people find the podcast easier is one way of doing that. If you have time, and you can go over and leave a review, it does, I would prefer that it'd be a nice one. But if it's not, you get your way. If you leave a review, it helps people find us. And so I would just really appreciate it if you can take the time and then you'll be eligible for some alcohol, minimalist swag to write good things. Okay, on to this week's show. I am talking to Nicole Huff Nicole has started a passion project business herself regarding alcohol and I am really just so excited for what they are doing and what's not regarding alcohol. It's regarding alcohol free living. And she is the founder and editor of after magazine. And that's a F like the AF is highlighted in the logo for it's after magazine. It's launching in December. And after is the magazine for nondrinkers for the sober curious, and anyone evaluating their relationship with alcohol. Nicole has probably the best non alcoholic bar setup I have ever seen. And she shares a lot of non alcoholic drink mixing tips and ideas on her content. But this idea of this magazine item just loving it and you can subscribe now get ahead of it for their December launch for either a print version or a digital version. It's extremely affordable. And I think just a great a great idea. And I'm super excited to see where this goes. I enjoyed talking with Nicole. Thank God I like I said thank God I had it and was able to talk to her because I wouldn't have a podcast ready for this week if I had not. Thank you, Nicole huff and here is my conversation with her folks. Have a great week. And I will see you next time. PS I am feeling much better. Thank you for all of your kind, helpful wishes and healing thoughts. Definitely on the road to 100%. Well, and I should be by the next time you hear from me. Have a great week. Hey, good morning, Nicole, thank you so much for being here. I am so excited to have this conversation with you and to share with my audience all about after magazine. So thank you. Morning, Molly. Thank you. Thank you so much for having me on your podcast. And I'm really excited to talk to you about it. Yeah, absolutely. You know, we're gonna go back to the beginning, I want to hear about this because it's a pretty, it's a pretty big endeavor that you've decided to embark on here. But tell me kind of where this journey for you started. And you know why you're passionate about bringing after magazine to to the world. So sure, I would love to tell you. It's probably a long story. So good. That's good. Stories. Good. So in terms of the magazine, we're at the very beginning of our entrepreneurial journey. We're working on our first issue right now, which will come out December 1. We're putting together articles and you know, soliciting ads and all the things that go into photography and magazine. And so we've been working on this about since March. That's been a pretty short time. But this came out of my own sober journey, which started about three years ago. And that was sort of when I first became sober, curious and was thinking about giving up alcohol and pre pandemic. So it was August of 2019. And I, I guess, let's say during the pandemic, then I had I had stopped drinking for a while then sort of started again because it seemed like the thing to do during the pandemic. But I also had this dream, which was to do cooking videos. It's something I had always wanted to do as a side business. So I started doing that during the summer of 2020 and ended up doing 37 weekly live streams of cooking. Uh huh. And during that time, so this this endeavor that I had always dreamed of, and I had wanted to do it before and I thought, I hate how I look on a video and I hate how I look. Sound. I kind of said I'm just gonna do it. And the reason I'm telling you this part is it led down the road to everything else they're up into So I had called a friend and I said, just tell me to do it, I'm gonna post it to Facebook. This is so scary to me. And he was like, Just do it. So I posted it. And then the next day started. And this was during the summer when I started consuming alcohol again. And it was such a huge endeavor was so much bigger than I ever thought it would be. That the two things couldn't go hand in hand anymore. I was doing these Tuesday, live streams, and then I was drinking martinis at night as I had done before, I had so much free time, and it all kind of came to a head because the drinking martinis setting up for these live streams and doing where you take one you do one dish and cook it and then you swap it out. I mean, it was a huge amount of work. Just wasn't working for me. And I realized that this is not working for me at all. So then my sober journey started to coincide with these videos. And as I learned more about the alcohol free industry, and got on Instagram about it, that I decided I still wanted to make mocktail videos as well. And so I started doing that, and just started meeting so many people, there's so many great people on Instagram in this space, who are really passionate about it. And I thought, how can I take this? And first of all, turn it into a job, you know, monetize this? How can I make reach a bigger audience and do something a little bit different? Because there are a lot of people doing mocktail videos and cooking is really my strength. And then how can I make be part of this cultural shift that's happening, and create something that gets into people's awareness and helps move this movement along. And I had a very long brainstorming session about it. And the magazine was born out of that, those three criteria and the reason so I have this exercise I do from it for business development, which is you start with something like I want to find something that reaches those three criteria, and you write 100 things that you could think of that would meet those criteria. And you think you get to 20. And you think, well, that's a lot of things and you get to 50. And you think, Oh, I can't go on with this. And you get to 100 and your creativity starts after a certain point that I think the magazine was around like seven? Oh, wow. You know, it was, you know, just so many ideas of things that could happen. So that was where we started. And I put it out there and we created Instagram page and a website and started moving all the videos there. And it's really it's been very exciting since then, that people have come out of the woodwork that want to share their stories that want to share the innovative things that they're doing in the space. Advertisers, you know, just it's, it's been, I think people are excited about it. And that has made me really happy. I feel like, you know, with all of your past skills as an entrepreneur, all of your past skills from different lives that have come together, and then people are excited about it and talking about it, it feels really good. It feels like you've hit on the right thing. So that's where we are right now. Yeah, just as a side note, I mean, one of the things that I always look at things, in my own journeys to in terms of things that you want to do and, you know, in in the business realm, right? It's not it's not just about it's not about Yes, of course, you want to try to monetize it, right, because you want to spend your time doing this, but the love what you're talking about, and you have to passionate what you're about what you're talking about. And you know, for this type of endeavor, I'm sure you want to feel like you're helping people, right? You're helping support that community. Mm hmm. That's, that is exactly true. And it's true. You don't, you don't want to talk about the money, but you have to there has to be the money there. First of all, to have a business, you know, so monetizing is a big part of it. But yeah, helping people is the bigger part of it. That's what brings the joy and the motivation and the passion and the will to create something like this. Yeah, true. The magazine is called after so tell me about the name. So the name after it has two meanings. First of all, the A F and after stands for alcohol free. Right? So and so we have that kind of a different color on our logo. Yeah. And then the word after itself is meant to evoke the beauty that happens after you give up alcohol. So on our website, we have a paragraph that says, if you know that you've arrived on the other side of a decision if you're considering it giving up alcohol or drinking less alcohol. You're on the other side of that decision. And the beauty begins after which I believe to be true. Yeah, absolutely. I talk all the time about, you know, and I think you and I talked about this, before we ever jumped on this call about, I use the phrase having a peaceful relationship with alcohol. And peaceful is, you know, is what happened for me after I addressed my own drinking habits. And while I'm not exclusively alcohol free, I am a very obviously, this is the alcohol minimalist podcast. So we definitely incorporate many alcohol free days alcohol free times into our lives. So it's an important part. It is, and I do agree, it is so much more peaceful. To not be thinking about alcohol to not have anxiety from alcohol. You know, the, my whole life changed when I really committed to giving up alcohol. Yeah, tell me what you would have looked like to the outside world. Were you somebody that people thought, oh, yeah, call Nicole. She's the cheese the party girl? Or were you just somebody who drink daily? Or, you know, what, what did that habit look like for you? It's a little bit of everything for me. Probably not surprising, given the last story, which is Yeah. I did love to party and hang out with my friends. And that was true from high school on, you know, and in sobriety, I've kind of been exploring why, why that was. But that was part of it. And then I was also as a mom, and a, you know, I guess as a mom and woman, there's a trend and a culture around drinking in the evenings drinking wine. And I was doing that without even thinking about it really. So those are kind of two separate things. One is much more festive, and one can be a problem. But you know, I was just kind of a tricky one. And I, and then, over time, you know, I am divorced. So during sort of that period of figuring all that out, we were drinking a lot of martinis, kind of trying to cope with all of this. And it became, you know, I think an unhealthy coping mechanism. Yeah, it's something that I was over indulging in. And just as I get older, just physically, was reacting to it so much differently, where I would have one drink and start to feel like, I don't even remember, I'm not gonna remember this conversation. It was affecting my mind, it was affecting, just physically anxiety and feeling so tired all the time. Yeah, we're something that I guess for many people, this is true, it started out as fun. And then it started out as a way to connect with my ex or, you know, just cope with things and became totally, not totally out of control, but totally to me, where I felt like it was affecting my day to day in a really negative way. Yeah, what you what you said about having just one drink and it affecting you differently. You know, that's why we can't get too hung up on like, what the limits are for I talk about low risk limits, but I also tell people that it's very possible that the most peaceful relationship for you might be alcohol free, because you may find that you even having that one drink is just not having a good, you know, reaction. It's very dynamic. All of our interactions with alcohol are very dynamic. They're based on our age and our weight and our how much we've eaten and how hot it is, and how much sleep we've had and all of that. So you have to pay attention. If you're going to include alcohol in your life. You have to be mindful about it, you need to pay attention to it. And there's categorically no question that the safest amount of alcohol for anyone is zero and I talk about that all the time too. But if you are going to include it in your life, you need to be very mindful of it because it could be something that on any given day you're it's not going to you're not going to have the same reaction to it you did before and you may want to you need you want to use you know, be paying attention and adjust your adjust your decisions for it. And I think what you also have said about it's very common obviously people are turning to to alcohol as a coping mechanism as also as the agent of fun we have a ton of stories about all this stuff that you know what alcohol does and doesn't do for us it's worth exploring those stories regardless Yeah, regardless and use what you said you know now as a living a sober and alcohol free life you're kind of going back into the past and asking yourself, okay, why was I doing all you know, why was I Why did I think I needed to do that, right? I think those stories that we tell ourselves or that are, I guess that our society tells us are really they're insidious. And they're, they're just so pervasive. And we all believe them, we believe that we're more fun with alcohol. That is just something we all do, you know, there's a very, we just kind of all accepted. And that's how it is. And I think people are examining that now a little bit more, which is part of we could talk about, like trends and things. But that's an interesting thing that I see happening. And it is true. So I've been totally sober for over a year and a half, and I takes me a long time to process things. So even the sugar cravings didn't come for me for six months afterwards. And it's kind of like what's happening now. It's been a slow, but gentle process of kind of delving into things and I even look back at when I was 14, why did I just jump so enthusiastically into drinking, you know, with my friends, and it's a process of self discovery continues every day. Yeah. Yeah. Hey, everyone, just a quick break in the show to talk with you about Sunnyside. Now you've heard me talk about Sunnyside on the show before. I've had Nick and Ian the founders here as my guests. I am just so impressed with them. They are deeply mission driven. They are building a service to help millions of people create a healthier relationship with alcohol with no pressure to quit or feel guilty. So you know they are very aligned with everything I talk about here at alcohol minimalist. I wanted to share with you some thoughts and comments made by people in my group and my clients who use Sunnyside. I checked it out and was pleasantly surprised. I have used a few tracking apps and despise to them. But the support the daily check ins and the plan. Yes, the plan. I signed up for three months yesterday and actually looked forward to the check in today. I have no doubt this tool is a step forward for me. I just want to thank you to everyone who recommended Sunnyside in this group and all of your advice throughout, I'm having the best start to a week of moderating Since I fell off the wagon in January, you work the plan, and it works. Thank you everyone. Now you don't have to take my word for it. You don't have to take their word for it. I want you to check it out for yourself. Go to www.sunnyside.co/minimalist to get started on a free trial today. I mean, I say I have a peaceful relationship with alcohol. But I'm always paying attention and mindful of what that looks like for me. And what's very interesting, what I think is very interesting. I would wonder if you have the same thing. I was just sharing with my audience. Last week on the podcast, I am headed out of town and going to Vegas, and I have this. Yeah, well, yes, it is. And I was it's these old habited thoughts started popping up. Because you know, there were plenty of times that I used to go to Vegas that like my whole idea of the trip was focused on all the free drinks, quote unquote, right? You know, like, oh, but it's free. And like, How can I force I have to have as many? How can I possibly not drink because it's free. And so that has zero appeal to me. Now I'm not like thinking about it at all. But that thought came up like oh, yeah, that's right. We're going to fix and then I was like, Huh, oh, wait a minute. No, we don't that's not a thought that we that I use anymore. That's not useful for me. I don't I don't choose that. And people will say that. They'll say, Well, what are you going to do them? I know. What are you gonna do? And then people say that I sometimes still think when am I gonna gamble? Like no, I don't know. But it's really but yeah, you were so conditioned that. You know, I still have to think about that. I went to Chicago recently for a reunion. And I mean, the whole day was centered around drinking. It was a lot of fun. I went to all the events that they but there were not a lot of options. And yeah, everywhere we went the bartenders would look at me like I had two heads and I was like, you know, the day was centered around drinking but you could still go along and just have a good time. Yeah, I mean, I I am of that same mindset I now have no issue going to a bar and having soda water and lemon and I don't have or, or a non alcoholic beer or whatever I don't, it just doesn't bother me at all. And I can still enjoy the experience and the culture is that we have to defend. Like, we have to defend our decision to not drink, as opposed to, you know, as to make the decision that's actually healthier for you, you have to like, feel like you have to defend yourself. I also find really ironic, like, when, basically, you know, things went to a point where you couldn't smoke anymore inside anywhere, you know, where what, no smoking on airplanes, nothing, right? And like, nobody thought boo about it. Like, I mean, smokers I'm sure did, but most were like, hurray, awesome. Good idea. Nobody should be smoking around me. Right. Right. And like, if you remember in New York, when that happened, and it wasn't for a while, but it didn't drag on for years, maybe a year that people were talking about it, and then it became the norm. Right. And I think that I think now like, if but I think it's like the opposite. Like if you tried to, if you tried to smoke in front of somebody now they'd be like, what right? What are you doing? Right, but we're in the 80s. Everybody was smoking at school? Yeah. At work. It didn't matter we in the building. It's not that long ago. No. And it's like completely the opposite with alcohol. Like, you're not drinking. What What's wrong with you? Are you pregnant? Like, like, Yeah, question. I'm sure you. Right. It's like, Is there something you should tell me like? No, I'm a little bit old for that. Yeah. Or the the I and I was talking about this last week to just like, the having to feeling like you want to have a drink, because you don't want people to think that you're not drinking because you have a problem with alcohol. Like, let's think about the right kick around that. They do assume that you have a problem. Right? It doesn't stop me, obviously. But yeah, this day in Chicago. I mean, I think people are very curious on one hand, and maybe they feel a little bit awkward to because it just becomes the topic of conversation for the day and everyone, right? Well. Yeah, exactly. Which is great. I think some of them are doing it. Because they feel that maybe they should cut back or they feel like you're judging them in some way. And I'm like, I'm not judging you in any way. About you, it's not about you. I feel this is I liken this to I've designed kitchens and bathrooms for 20 years. That was my career. And that's my second career. Actually, this is my third career. But people, not clients, just people, if I go into their house, they say, Oh, I'm sure you're judging the kitchen. So embarrassed. I'm so embarrassed. I'm not I'm not judging you in any way. This has nothing to do with your kitchens. Great. Like what? And people act the same way? Or they'll say, Oh, I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry. I'm drinking in front of you. Yeah, like, I'm fine. I, and I'm happy to be able to say that, that I'm so confident. I mean, this might not be true for a lot of people are especially maybe new to sobriety. I'm so grateful to be where I am and to feel so good. And I there's no way I could have put this the magazine together or started this project or if I was drinking. Now I I don't have a problem with anybody else's actions, or it's only about what's right for me. Yeah, I hear you. I, you know, I could not i We, like I said, you and I talked offline about this, but we both have other jobs that we're still, you know, full time jobs, trying to finish up. Yeah. And I, you know, and I, and I work with people and I have a podcast, and I do this too, you know, and yeah, I mean, hello, I could not do it. I could not do it at all, if I was over drinking in any way, you know, and I like I said, I have a very minimalistic for me that just it's where I am. It's where it works. But I would tell people all the time. I know. I know, on a daily basis. There's no, there's no part of me that would be able to do what I do. If I wasn't Magento alcohol free. So absolutely. I mean, my productivity level has gone through the roof. And yeah, I'm better or worse. You know, I feel like I never rest and yeah, putting my all towards the magazine and trying and building something. And then still having sort of an old life that I'm buttoning up and yeah, I'm grateful that I can do all of that and stay under control. But it's also like Wow, I'm so productive. I never Yeah, right to find balance. I guess that's what I'm trying to say. Yes, absolutely. And that's another thing to learn in sobriety is finding balance and taking care of yourself. As people describe alcohol, self care When it really is not know, obviously, right? So it does give you I guess the same as smoking used to be it gives you an opportunity for a break to just sit. You know, if you're drinking, you're not really doing other things and yeah, right. Right. And so then I think we have a thing about resting in our culture in general. Yeah. If you don't have a drink in your hand, or you're not outside in the smoking circle, what are you doing? If you're just sitting there? Right, you have to get comfortable allowing yourself to rest for sure. Being able to do that in a in a positive and mindful and, you know, without without a drink or a cigarette in your hand. That's exactly right. And I've taken I've started a meditation practice. So I do try to say and it helps. It's an it's, it's a really welcome break. But this is also I meditate and that's been all my ideas come to me. Yeah. When I when I open like money. No, no, the fat cow. It's the goal of cows. It's more of a quiet brainstorm. Okay, so tell me so the magazine. The magazine is coming out in December. So it's a physical magazine, physical magazine or digital copy digital, we have both. So we will have Okay. Wow, magazine. Yep. So we have a print subscription that includes a digital copy. And we have a digital subscription. And then we have our website with a newsletter and Direct Publishing quarterly. Is that what your plan is right now? Are you okay? Yes, quarterly. So March is the next one for spring and this is our winter issue. Yeah, we're very excited about that. Yeah. So fantastic. So you can tell we're gonna put it up on the website, folks. I mean, I'm gonna put it up in the link it in my show notes. I'm also going to share this in my group, and we'll probably put something over link it over on my website so that you guys can thank you. Yeah, find Nicole and find after magazine. Because whether or not you are, so tell me what's going to be the content. Tell me I mean, sugar, because it's for people that are, again, for somebody that's an alcohol minimalist like me, there are great opportunities in this magazine in terms of content for learning, you know, all about options that are non alcoholic, right? Yes. Yeah. So our tagline is the magazine for non drinkers, the sober, curious and anyone exploring their relationship with alcohol? Yeah, so we're, yeah. So if you're someone who's just thinking about it, we're hoping to inspire and show what's available and what's going on in the industry. And if you're someone who doesn't drink, then we're adding to that discussion. So it's a lifestyle magazine. And we're including everything, of course, mocktail recipes, and food, but travel, there's a lot of alcohol free travel, oh, coming up a lot of people who are hosting things like that, and as well as profiles on cities that, you know, where can you find some alcohol free free options? Or what's the culture in different places, as well as perspectives, our contributors are writing their own perspectives about sobriety and their own journeys. And we're highlighting people in the industry who are doing innovative things right now, which there are a lot of Yeah, in the non alcoholic manufacturers and drink. Yeah, that's right. Really cool. A lot of producers of non alcoholic drinks, as well as people creating pop up bars or bottle shops. Yeah, catering companies. There's just so much innovation going on really interesting things. Well, this is going to be very exciting. And I am just so enthusiastic about this project, I cannot wait to get to get to get a copy to to see it in in the, you know, I'd like physical copies. So I can't wait for that. I do too. I'm glad to hear you say that. People say print is dead. I'm like, wow. Well, yeah, I did. Yeah, I think there are a lot of people who still like to hold on. And that was actually one of the reasons one of the reasons for having a print copy is that it's a tangible thing. I think if we're part of a cultural shift, it helps to have an actual physical product that people can see your friends can see it, it's, it's, it exists, it's something our worlds, you know, there's a lot of online content, but if you're not looking for it, then you're not finding it, you know that this is something that will actually be out there, whether it's on a large scale, or you know, whoever our subscribers are, that's great, but I think having a footprint in print is important. I love it. I love it. Well, the website folks is literally WWW dot after magazine.com. So after magazine.com And like I said I will link that in the show notes. Get over there you can. Is there a place for people to sign up already? Nicole? Yes. Describe, okay, perfect. There's a subscription page. It's clearly in the menu at the top. Okay. And we have those two options, digital or digital and print. Both of them include. I shouldn't, I don't know, these are upcoming things. So we're looking into doing some courses on our websites and merge things like that. So any subscription includes a discount for any of those in the future. Fantastic. Great. Well, I this is awesome. I have loved talking with you. I can't wait to share this information with, like I said, with my listeners, and with the people that, you know, I talk to you all the time, I hope that people will go over and sign up to get on your subscription list. And I wish you all the very best I can't wait. You'll touch base with me and let me know when it's when it's live. And absolutely, yes, thank you so much. Wonderful. Well, folks, that is where you can go after magazine.com all sorts of great content coming up and really support this because just like the tagline says whether you are alcohol free, sober, curious, or just exploring your relationship with alcohol. This magazine is gonna give you lots of great ideas. Thank you. Thanks. Nice talking to you. You too. Have a great day. Thank you for listening to the alcohol minimalist podcast. This podcast is dedicated to helping you change your drinking habits and to create a peaceful relationship with alcohol. Use something you learned in today's episode and apply it to your life this week. Transformation is possible. You have the power to change your relationship with alcohol now, for more information, please visit me at www dot Molly watts.com