Alcohol Minimalist: Change Your Drinking Habits!

Welcome to the alcohol minimalist podcast. I am 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 used 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. Hey, welcome to a special recording of the alcohol minimalist podcast. I have very recently changed the name here from breaking the bottle legacy. So you're in the right spot if that's what you thought you were listening to, but I am now the alcohol minimalist podcast. This is a quick special bonus episode. It's right in between the holidays. And it's all about my proof positive program happening in January with Monica Ryan angle. And I wanted to have Monica come on real quick just to share our excitement about it. I hope you're having a wonderful holiday season. And until January enjoy this special discussion with Monica renagel. Hey, Monica, thank you so much for jumping on this with me this morning. And we're just going to have a really quick conversation about this really fun, exciting program. At least I'm excited. Are you excited? I am very excited about this. We're talking of course about our little January extravaganza they know. And we're right smack dab in the middle of Christmas and New Year's. And so this is the perfect time people are really I think this is called like purgatory week or something like that. Like, oh, you know, you've come out of the holidays. You're feeling kind of new, you still got New Year's on the horizon. But you know, January's coming. Right. Yes, I think our thoughts tend to turn to like, what can I do in the new year? And, you know, of course, it's completely arbitrary. We don't have to wait for January one to start anything. But it does give us a convenient little marker to to consider like, what would we like to do differently in the coming year. So why not ride that train? And that's why I scheduled this program when I did for January because I think that people do want to take some sort of action, some sort of step into healthier habits. Call them resolutions, if you want. Yeah, I know resolutions almost becomes a naughty word, doesn't it? I mean, because people are so used to like they think, oh, resolution equals, breaking it like that. That's just the automatic. Yeah, and I did want to offer something at this time of year to respond to that demand, but something that maybe we would give people a chance to get further than the seven or 14 days that people usually keep their New Year's resolutions, and really work on something that can extend well past January, you know well into the year that can make a real lasting difference in how people think about their habits and the choices that they make. So it's a good timing to do this. And I am so delighted that you are teaming up with NASCAR. So this is a little different. For me, I have been doing this program at New Year's and other times of the year as the 30 day nutrition upgrades since 2015. So I've done it with a couple of 1000 people at this point. And I always look forward to it. It's always really fun. I get a lot out of it. I enjoy sharing it with other people. But this year, we added sort of a new twist. As you've been sharing in your community, I reached out to some of my favorite peers, other people that coach online communities around all different kinds of aspects of self improvement. Yeah. And healthier living and invited you all to team up to create a larger community to do this with. And and you took me up on that. And I'm so excited to be working with you in that proof positive program with your alcohol. minimalists. Yeah, so So folks, if you aren't exactly on board with what I'm talking about here, so I've talked about it a few times on the podcast, go back and listen to earlier episodes in December. But what I decided to do was take Monica up. So if you go and register for Monica's 30 Day nutrition upgrade, and all the links will be in the show notes, show notes, but you're going to go to nutrition over easy.com backslash upgrade, and you're going to register there for this 30 De nutrition upgrade program. In combination you do that. And for me for my proof positive people continue on and you're going to also register for dry you Arey. And so you've got to register for the alcohol free month through moderation management. It's a completely nonprofit les led support group. And this program is completely free. When I forgot to say, when you go to Monica's program, put in Molly 20, Mo, l l, y to zero for a 20% discount, so you're gonna pay $39, for two total programs. And with it, I'm going to be doing it with you guys. everything together, I'm calling it my proof, positive, small group. And we're going to have weekly meetings on the side. And I'm going to be sending out some motivational messages to my small group. And I think it's just going to be so powerful to start off January, in the right direction, in terms of meeting yourself where you're at making some diet upgrades. And then obviously, for me, I think it's a really important part of being an alcohol minimalist, is trying to take that 30 Day alcohol free break, during the month of January, I did it for the first time in 2020, I took a full 31 days off alcohol, it was the first time in like 20 years that I had gone that long with taking a full break. And I was really unsure if I could do it. I was really unsure if I could do it. But it proved to be such a powerful experience for me both in terms of my thought work, the physical stuff, and I just I can't wait to do it again and share that with people. Monica, I know you signed up for dry you weary too. You were kind of I did, I will go ahead and do it. I was inspired by you, Molly. And I remember listening to your podcast about your first experience with that 30 day break back in 2020. And I love that you signed up for it even though you were really unsure whether you could do it. That is just so empowering. You know, so for anybody who feels like, oh, I don't want to make a commitment. I can't keep I think that's really helpful to hear like, Yeah, you did that you weren't sure how it would go. But you committed to the process. Right? Yeah. And I think that that extends really well into the work that we do in the 30 day nutrition upgrade as well, which does include a piece around alcohol, right? But but my program does not ask people to take that 30 day break, that's something optional, that your group is going to be doing that I'm going to be doing with you. And that I bet some other people might jump on that bandwagon to, once they hear what we're up to. And it just kind of gives you a little bit of a step up into the nutrition upgrade because that piece is taken care of. But in terms of you know, being willing to do something and not being entirely sure whether you can do it, whether you can succeed, I think it depends on how you define success. And one of the things that we do and the 30 day nutrition upgrade is. So the gimmick there as you get a little grade for every day based on the choices that you make. So we don't log all of our food or count calories or keep a dialogue. But we do answer 10 questions at the end of every day. And I give you a little smartphone app that you can do this on to make it easy, cool. And at the end of the day, you just get a grade a letter grade A B C just like school, and then we keep track of our grade point average over that 30 days. And the goal is not to finish the 30 days with an A plus, we consider it like if you make it to the end of that 30 days with a grade point average in the B range. That is a total win. And you know what, there may have been a couple of D days in there, right? You may have had a couple of A plus days, it's not about stringing together 30 days of perfection, although improved positive, the challenge will be to string together 30 days of abstinence, you know, but in that larger context, it's really about well I think it's about three pieces one is just becoming more aware of the choices and I think this meshes so beautifully with the dry you airy, being more accountable, just kind of keeping track what is happening, and then assessing that, you know, how is that working, what could be working better, and those three pieces can really move us forward in a way like I said, that extends well beyond the end of the 30 days so we don't just get to that finish line cross it and then go back to whatever we were doing before we carry that awareness and that accountability and those good habits into the rest of the year. Yeah, and this is you know, I think I just I read somewhere you know, a a good diet never has a finish line right? So in that exact date. So this is really all about starting off with some positive habit work and some reflection and I want to say to you know, while the goal is definitely during dry weary to try to take that 30 day break, not everyone's going to make it not everyone's gonna succeed in that respect of you know, completing the month alcohol free. But as you mentioned, success comes from how we use even those times times when we step off plan when we make those stumbles is being able to reflect with compassion and curiosity and really do the thought work to understand why that happened when we had a plan for 30 days in place, what happened in that moment that took us off plan. And when we can look at that, and really learn from that, it's a total win. Absolutely. And, you know, of course, what happens in that moment, when we step off of our path, it can be a really big thing, a big feeling a big challenge. But it can also be something really small, like, just took my eye off the ball for a minute or wasn't prepared for that, or just, you know, was not focused. So it's not always a big deal. Sometimes it's a small deal, but like you said, it's just being able to look at it, and then keep going. And, and that I think is the power of doing this in this small group environment is that we can kind of share with one another, what's happening, what we're thinking, reflect, collectively, and there's just so much power in that. So I really want to thank you and the alcohol mentalist community, for joining us in this, I think we're gonna have a lot to learn from each other. I appreciate you reaching out and including me and our tribe over here. And so folks, this is your invitation. If you would like to start off January in a proof, positive way, I would love to have you join me in doing both programs doing the 30 day nutrition upgrade with Monica Ryan angle, and also doing dry January through dry weary.org. Go ahead and register with Monica at Monica's website link in the show notes use the discount code, Molly 20, you'll get the 20% off the whole program, a full 30 Day program for $39. Come on, come on. This is like I mean, I people have said that to me, Well, I've got this plan and I may be going here and is it worth it to me I'm like is it is $39 really for for two full programs and, and small group coaching is that you're gonna get something out of it. If you did it for a day. I mean, honestly, so well. And also, that's that's such a good point, because it is still time of year when people may be traveling. And I also just want to emphasize that this program does not strap you to the couch, this goes everywhere with you. It's very portable, it's very flexible. And it's the perfect time to practice awareness and assessment and accountability when your actual life is happening. No one's sequestered yourself into a cave. And that's very much part of the mindset that we that we bring to this. Yeah. So as long as you can get to data folks, you can join us from wherever you are in the world. And you know, and I know that you'll get something out of it. So, Monica, thank you. I hope you had a wonderful holiday Have a very happy beginning of the new year. And I will see you on January 2 for the true kickoff of the 30 day nutrition upgrade, right? Yes, I can't wait. We're going to be kicking that off with a live broadcast at 4pm. Eastern time. So that'll be 1pm your time, Molly. And I know we have folks from around the world. So if there's anybody who can actually join us live, we're going to record the whole thing. Send you send out the link right afterwards. And so you can watch it at your convenience afterwards. And then yeah, we're going to play together this January. So I will see you on the second Molly. And and hopefully lots of your crew and yeah, and throughout the month. All right. Thanks so much. Have a great day everybody. 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