Alcohol Minimalist: Change Your Drinking Habits!

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 habits. 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 well, let's go with an intermittent Oregon right now. intermittently, cold, intermittently, raining intermittently snowing, I've actually woken up for the last like four mornings with a dusting of snow. Super unusual for Portland during this time of the year. And I guess maybe no, that hasn't been that intermittently sunny the last the last week, which is sad. And hopefully, hopefully, we've got some on the horizon. Haven't looked ahead. So I am not sure this week what I what I have in store for me, I just know it's been really cold for the last few days. And I'm ready to get a little bit warmer. So how are you? How are you doing? Welcome to the show, I have got a couple of prize winners this week. And as a reminder, if you would like to be entered into a drawing for some alcohol, minimalist swag, and just so you know, that includes a couple of fun stickers, magnets, and a journal, a linen bound heart covered journal. That's a 13 weeks that I actually created back when I was doing live happier longer. So you get that you get the story behind it. And, you know, I'd love to send you one. So all you got to do is leave a review of this podcast wherever you're listening to it or a review of my book wherever you've picked it up. Or you can just simply leave a comment, you can leave a comment on YouTube or a comment on Spotify. All of these get entered into a couple of different options. There is the chosen Prize winner, and this week's chosen prize winner comes from Audible. Yes, you can also leave a review on Audible. And this is Shannon who left a review on Audible. It was a while ago now. But still, you're entered in and I found this one. And Shannon says life changing and supportive. This is such a helpful and hopeful podcast. Molly's approach is rooted in science and behavioral therapy. It is a breath of fresh air for a topic that is too often approached with judgment and shame. She encourages the listener to take back their freedom and strength when it comes to making personal decisions in regards to alcohol consumption. If fire and brimstone either or all or nothing approaches aren't helping your bad drinking habits, Molly's voice of reason and care is a comforting Guiding Light. SHANNON I don't know if you're still listening but if you are thank you so much for your kind words and please email me Molly at Molly watts.com Let me know that you are my chosen prize winner and I will send you out some alcohol minimalist swag. And the other person who was randomly drawn from the spreadsheet is French twist. French Twist left a comment on YouTube. And so if you are French Twist who left a comment on YouTube, you can email me again Molly at Molly watts.com and I will send you out some alcohol minimalist swag. This is a pretty exciting episode, not because it's a milestone number in my podcast I think it's like number 165 however it is landing during a pretty monumental time. Last week as of March 1, I finished up my very successful better than half 70% alcohol free plan for the year. And for those of you who are relatively new to the podcast, I will just tell you what that meant. It was back in March of 2023 that I decided to get specific and quantify my alcohol minimalist lifestyle mostly because I wanted to be able to feel like I was Truly delivering a minimalist approach. And that minimalist was a very valid description of the amount of alcohol that I was including in my life. I knew I was at least 50% alcohol free. And I also knew that I stuck to low risk limits, which are for women's of seven standard drinks or less, but I decided that I wanted to truly be minimalist, and I decided that 70% was how I was going to do it. So I created a plan for that, which you can find a copy of in the files of my private Facebook group. That's the alcohol minimalists change your drinking habits. So come join us over on Facebook. And by the way, the group is just a great free resource. If you are looking for more information, more support, inspiration. And if you'd like the details of my better than half plan, you really should check it out. Come on in successfully completing this year has taught me a couple of things. Basically, yes, so 70% 256 days, or whatever it equates to, I think that's right, alcohol free during 2023 to 2024. And successfully completing this year taught me a couple of things which I'm going to touch on. However, the real purpose of this particular episode is to talk with you about what working with a coach. And specifically working with me looks like, I'm going to get into the nitty gritty of what you might expect and how I help people change their drinking habits. For those of you who are already students of mine who've worked with me in group or one on one coaching, you might want to just skip this episode. Honestly, I think there will be nuggets sprinkled throughout, I think in movies, they call them easter eggs or video games. But in podcast, I think it's nuggets, some wisdom that's valuable or interesting, whatever you want to call it. So I think that's going to be here. But if you feel like you are good on understanding a coaching relationship, when it comes to alcohol, then please skip ahead. Or I am going to recommend that you re listen to episode number 143, which was where I talked about being mostly alcohol free. I recently recently recommended that episode to some of my clients and got really positive feedback on it being very motivating. If you don't want to hear more about what working with an alcohol coach looks like, or at least working with me what that is all about. Go ahead, go back and listen to number 143, which I will link in the show notes. All right, now let's talk about my own experience with coaching and changing my own drinking habits. First, as I mentioned, I'm just finishing up a year of being 70% alcohol free. And that decision in that accomplishment represented a step up for me from where I was at the beginning of 2023. It was something I saw as a way of improving my life and my relationship with alcohol even further, even though I had already achieved what I describe as a peaceful relationship with alcohol. And I think that's important because even though I am a coach, I still have coaches myself, who helped me see where I may have some self limiting beliefs, self limiting beliefs, and they helped me challenge myself to keep looking for ways to become an even better version of myself, which is exactly what happened this last year. So while the coaching I use now is more focused in two different areas of my life, life, just general life coaching and business coaching. I took some of what I was learning and some of that and applied it to help me reach this goal. And all good coaching, at least in my humble opinion, will help you build your mindset. And mindset is everything. Even if it's about alcohol, I promise you mindset is everything. Whether you want to hear that or not. It's absolutely 100% True. And those kinds of coaching business and life coaching, they're obviously more mainstream, right? It's socially acceptable to have a life coach or a business coach, right? It doesn't quite feel the same when we're talking about changing drinking habits, does it? Or maybe a better question is Why doesn't it sound the same? When we think about having a coach for alcohol? It really goes back to all the absolute thinking narrative that surrounds alcohol in the first place. And the very black and white narrative that we have from the recovery industry and specifically a that broken powerless disease narrative from a AAA fuels our collective sense of shame with alcohol. Even when we don't identify as an alcoholic. We are still programmed from years of messaging that changing our drinking is different than other habits that don't serve us. Somewhere in the undercurrent of your thinking, you probably believe that people who are struggling to change their drinking don't need a coach, but maybe they get should get a sponsor. Anyone out there want to acknowledge that their default belief around misusing alcohol is that people who misuse alcohol, or people who worry about their drinking or people who've tried to change but fall back into old patterns. The answer for those people is they should go to AAA they need a sponsor. What if changing your relationship with alcohol didn't have to feel like that didn't feel different than other habits that don't serve you. If we can get over our preconceived ideas of what working with an alcohol coach means about us? What society tries to label us if we decide that we need to, or want to change our relationship with alcohol. I truly believe so many people who are currently misusing alcohol, who are worried about their drinking who are stuck in a pattern of overdrinking who simply don't like how they are using alcohol in their lives. I really believe that if we could get over that preconceived notion of it being shameful to work on this, many people could really benefit from working with a coach on changing their relationship with alcohol. So hopefully this episode will help you decide if working with a coach is something that might be worth exploring. And sidenote, after listening to this, if you'd like to talk with me directly about which option might work best for you and your situation, just email me Molly at Molly watts.com, will set up a free call to answer any questions that you have. So to be clear, I work with people who do not identify as an alcoholic or someone with severe alcohol use disorder. And if that's you, I really want you to look at appropriate resources, I always have them listed in the show notes. The naa always has a great list of recovery resources, I encourage you to get that kind of help that you might need. Alcohol coaching will help you when you are done. I promise you. For most of you that are listening to this show, you probably just simply feel like you're drinking too much. And you don't like how it's making you feel. You might worry about your drinking like I did for like decades. Maybe you've tried to cut back or stop and then you fall back into old patterns. Or if you're somebody like me who was a daily habit drinker, and it felt unbreakable. If any of those sound like you, you have so much to gain from working with a coach and trust me, what you will get goes far beyond cutting back on alcohol, or even giving it up completely. The people I work with get so much more than just changing their drinking habits. I help people become better mind managers, better thinkers. And whether you get coached for weight loss drinking business, fitness, you name it, I guarantee you what you will be doing the most work on is addressing your mindset. For all of you who are working on behavior change or breaking unbreakable habits. What needs to change is your thinking. Whether that is the beliefs you have about alcohol and what alcohol is doing for you, or if it's learning how to change your thinking to change how you're feeling in any situation. It all comes back to your brain and your thoughts. Just a quick break to talk with you more about sunny side. Did you know that Sunny Side uses science to help you reach your goals by focusing on three scientifically proven superpowers that you have. Number one, the power of pre commitment each week you set an intention for the week ahead. That includes a tracking goal, a drink goal and possibly a dry day goal. Number two the power of conscious interference. You'll learn the habit of tracking each day as soon as you finish it which creates a mindful pause before you start the next day. And number three positivity. We know that this is a big step that can be tough at times. Right. And that's why Sunnyside offers coaching through SMS and email to give you support advice and motive nation, you can check out a free 15 day trial at www.sunnyside.co/molly. That's www.sunnyside.co/molly. Let's get down to the nitty gritty and the specifics of how I work with people. My approach is an extension of everything you hear on this podcast, we focus on neuroscience on REAL science, all in an effort to learn and master the behavior map results cycle. The behavior map results cycle explains why or why not you do or do not do anything in your life. And there's a big difference between intellectually understanding what the BMRC the behavior map result cycle is, like hearing it about it here or reading about it in my book, and actually applying it consistently and regularly to your life. And this is what having a coach is really all about. It's about having someone that will help you take what you are learning and apply it to your own life. The first way I work with folks is my self paced mini program, just start, I call it a mini program. Because there isn't a true dialogue between us except via email, you aren't sharing with me your circumstances or your thoughts. It's coaching in the sense that you get a lot of instruction from me, and it does a deeper dive into the tools that you get from just listening to the podcast. Now I do offer a one time coaching session with it to help folks get moving in the right direction. And just start is for you. If you are a self starter who wants to dive a little deeper than what the podcast provides. And you like the idea of using a 30 day framework to really work on habit change from the inside out. Specifically, you get 30 days of email support, which means every two to three days, you get an email from me with instruction, motivation and tasks to complete, you'll be listening to the audio version of my book, breaking the bottle legacy and taking new and different actions. This program is designed to help you create sustainable change with a lot of bootstrapping by you. And what I mean by that is you're gonna get a lot of information and encouragement to take action. But there's no real touch points along the way with me or other people to ask questions to get feedback. You can always email me and I'll reply, but it's not the same as group coaching. And we'll talk about that more in a minute. For just start the 30 day mini program, you can check it out at www dot Molly watts.com/start. The next way that I work with people is in my six month group coaching program. Now this program is also largely self paced, but it is much more in depth and gives you the opportunity for group coaching as well as a private membership site. Via the private membership site, you will get a dedicated q&a Forum, the opportunity for accountability partners in groups, recordings of all the past group sessions, a private podcast for group members only, and voice messaging where you can leave me a private voicemail. You also get lifetime access to step one, which is my seventh module, online course it has video lessons, audio lessons, worksheets, tools, all to help you deepen your own understanding of the things that you've heard about on the podcast. We dive deep into the behavior map results cycle, and we reinforced the tools including things like the doable drink plan, the Off Plan plan, the six month program is called making peace with alcohol. And it's an incredible value, I have to say why mostly because of the group coaching, it includes that and over the course of six months, it's really a fantastic tool. by far and away the people who get the most out of this program take advantage of group coaching. And I don't know of any other program that offers group coaching for this small of an investment. Additionally, you have the opportunity to add on to one on one coaching sessions with me for a lower investment, which is really unheard of. But honestly, I find these sessions to be so helpful for people and I really believe in the value of getting to meet people directly. They see I'm a real person, and we get to talk about some of your specific challenges. So I want to describe a little bit about what exactly group coaching is is because it's not the same as an online course, with a classroom full of students. I'm not up there lecturing with you all just listening. group coaching is designed for members to get coached on challenges that they are facing individually. And through sharing their individual circumstances to be coached on. It helps other people who are in the group who might be struggling with something similar. It's also an opportunity for group members to encourage each other to hear motivation from others who are maybe further along their paths. And it's also an opportunity to stay engaged. It's also really reaffirming to know that you're not alone, which is something that I know everyone who comes into my group feels immediately. Trust me, everyone on our calls, including me, has experienced things like shame around their drinking missteps and mistakes off planned drinking over drinking, and we're there to lift people up with curiosity and compassion. I can't reiterate enough how positive of an experience group coaching is. And even if you can't be there live, the replays are in the resources section of the membership and they provide real value to if you are interested in learning more about making peace with alcohol, my six month online course and group coaching program, go to www dot Molly watts.com/peace. Now lastly, in 2024, I started working with a limited number of people in a one on one program. This is the most high touch and personalized program I have and for that reason this program is specifically for women. This program gives you daily access to me. And because of the intimate nature of our conversations, I felt like my strengths would best serve other women in a one on one coaching relationship. Proof positive is that coaching program, it's a 12 week program delivered over either a three month period or a six month period, we decide together what option is going to work best for you. And these are 15 minute coaching sessions with me, where we dig into the present moments of your life and address what's going on. We look together at your thoughts at your feelings at your actions. I am in consistent contact with my one on one clients. I tell them via Voxer, which is a walkie talkie like app on your phone. And I tell them upfront, you can't boxer me too much. It allows us to have conversations and touchpoints in between our one on one sessions. Now I can't always respond in real time. But I always do just as soon as I can. And it's really just accountability and inspiration at your fingertips. I think most importantly, about one on one coaching is it's the fastest way to get proficient at coaching yourself, which is really the ultimate goal. And it's huge. Becoming a better thinker is really all about being able to self coach your way through the challenging times. And to recognize and appreciate the small steps forward that lead to big wins. Now, when you sign up for one on one coaching, you also get access to all the group coaching opportunities and the step one online course. But at its core, this program is dedicated is a dedicated one on one coaching relationship. I absolutely love working with women one on one and seeing the transformation that can happen. It's so inspiring to me, and I love supporting women in this way. Again, this program is still an extension of everything I teach, it's just much more personalized. And if you want that kind of high touch support, you really cannot go wrong with proof positive. You can learn all about the specifics there at WWW dot Molly watts.com/proof Positive. And if you want a recap of all of these options, you can just go to www dot Molly watts.com/work with me. And as I mentioned, if you'd rather just talk about it with me, shoot me an email and let's set something up. Molly at Molly watts.com. Hey, I hope this episode is helpful. I hope what you hear is this. You can change your relationship with alcohol. It's not just about tracking or planning. There are stories around alcohol that you are holding on to go back and listen to all of those alcohol core belief episodes. We got to address those. Those are things that drive your desire to drink, and we have to work on changing them and working With a coach is just a great way to do that. It is the fastest way to do that. I hope that wherever you are, whatever you're doing, I hope that no matter what I hope you hear hope in the messages that I deliver here on the podcast, I hope you are taking action and making taking small steps leading to those big wins because you are absolutely capable of creating sustainable change in your life. And I hope that you will take the opportunity to learn more about working with an alcohol coach, like me, or anyone else that's doing something like this in this space, if that is something that might help you become the best version of yourself. Alright, that's all I have for you this week, my friends. Until next time, a also check out the Facebook groups, come check us out and find out how you might want to plan for your own better than half 70% alcohol free year this year. I don't know what I'm going to do this year. I know I'm going to be 70%. Again, I don't know if I'm going to uptake that or not. I'm trying to figure out how I'm going to level up my best version of me this year. We'll see. Stay tuned. I will see you next time and until next week, choose peace. Hey, thanks for listening to the alcohol minimalist podcast. Take something you learned from this week's episode and put it into action. Changing your drinking habits and creating a peaceful relationship with alcohol is 100% possible. You can stop worrying Stop feeling guilty about over drinking and become someone who desires alcohol less. I work with people in three ways. You can learn about them over at www dot Molly watts.com/work with me, or better yet, reach out to me directly. It's Molly at Molly watts.com. We'll jump on a call and discuss what's best for you. This podcast is really just the beginning of our conversation. Let's keep it going