I like to ask all of my guests, “what’s in your sobriety toolbox?,” but I really wish there was a better word than “toolbox”. “Toolboxes” are used on things that are broken. I am not broken and neither are you.
Nevertheless, these are the tools that I rely on not just to cope, but to flourish in sobriety. These tools have lifted me up and given me nourishment, rest and focus.
I hope you can find something here to add to your own sobriety toolbox!
Book recommendations: (affiliated links)
This Naked Mind by Annie Grace
We Are the Luckiest by Laura McKowen
https://www.lauramckowen.com/books/we-are-the-luckiest
Quit Like a Woman by Holly Whitaker
The Unexpected Joy Of Being Sober by Catherine Gray
Sunshine Warm Sober by Catherine Gray
A Sober Girls Guide Podcast
https://www.asobergirlsguide.com/podcast
Blackout : Remembering The Things I Drank To Forget by Sarah Hepola
What’s in your sobriety toolbox? Let me know at @thesobermomlife on Instagram or in the Sober Mom Life Facebook Group!
Transcript:
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(00:39)
Hi, welcome to the sober mom life podcast. I’m your host, Suzanne of my kind of sweet and the sober mom life on Instagram. If you are a mama who has questioned your relationship with alcohol at times, if you’re wondering if maybe it’s making motherhood harder, this is for you. I will be having candid, honest, funny conversations with other moms who have also thought, Hmm, maybe motherhood is better without alcohol. Is it possible? We’ll chat. And we’ll talk about all things sobriety and how we’ve found freedom in sobriety. I don’t consider myself an alcoholic. You don’t have to either, and maybe life is brighter without alcohol. I hope you will join us on this journey. And I’m so excited to get started.
(01:36)
Hi everyone. It is me. It’s Suzanne. I’m all by myself today. I wanna do these solo episodes from time to time. I have been loving the interviews. I hope you guys have too. It’s so fun to connect with other sober moms and just hear their stories. Like I, I swear I could talk about this stuff for hours and I do <laugh> so watch out, um, today I’m gonna talk about my sobriety toolbox you guys. I think toolbox, I don’t know. I want another word for it, but my brain is tired right now. So I can’t think of another word. I understand why it’s called sobriety toolbox. I, I get it. Like, it’s kind of what you have in your arsenal to help you get through sobriety and kind of make things a little bit easier. I, I still think, I don’t know toolbox. Well, it sounds kind of dorky.
(02:30)
I picture like a carpenter with like a tool belt. Not that carpenters are dorky. Um, but like, I don’t really wanna wear a tool belt. I don’t wear a tool belt <laugh> and I also don’t have a toolbox. I do have some tools now I’m going on a tangent. Um, you use tools when something’s broken. Right? And I, I don’t know. That’s why I’m kind of struggling with this toolbox idea because my sobriety’s not broken. These are just things that help me live my fullest life. And really, I, I think helped me flourish in, in sobriety. I was gonna say in society, <laugh>, that’s a different story. How to flourish in society. That is not this podcast. I don’t know how to flourish in society. I do know how to flourish in sobriety. So for now we’re just gonna call it the sobriety toolbox. I don’t know, T B D maybe we can come up with a, with a cuter name.
(03:25)
Um, I’ve shared on my kind of suite before I’ve shared my sobriety toolbox. And that was, I think probably about a year into my sobriety. It has changed a little bit. Now I’m more than two and a half years sober. It’s kind of evolved. I’ve taken some PLIs out. I’ve put some, you know, wrenches in. I’m trying to think of all the tools you guys. I did build a house when I was in sixth grade. I helped my mom and my brother build our house. So I have used like actual tools, but my primary job in building our house was to organize the tool room. So I feel like, although I didn’t like use the tools, I really organized every single tool. So I really touched a lot of tools. <laugh> I did touch a lot of tools when I was dating too Heyo. Okay.
(04:12)
Anyway, so yeah, you know, I take some tools out. I put some tools in, as you go, it’s a living and breathing toolbox, which sounds creepier than I meant it to sound. Also, I do ask every guest, or I try to, if I remember what’s in their sobriety toolbox, like what is their first go-to thing to kind of help them flourish in sobriety? And I love all the answers. I, you know, I’ve gotten everything from like tea was Jo D Chos. I love that idea of something really tangible that she’s like, yes, T is my go to thing. And then I’ve also gotten more, um, kind of generalized answers. I, I don’t know. I, I like how individual everybody’s toolbox is. So with that being said, let’s start with my sobriety toolbox T B D new name forthcoming. Okay. So again, these are things that when I I’m either feeling listless or down or depressed or anxious, or I’m kind of past the point where I want a drink that doesn’t have the appeal to me anymore drinks.
(05:19)
They’re not the shiny things that I think they used to be. And so like, the jig is up. I, I don’t wanna drink, but still sometimes you kind of find yourself either stagnant or just kind of stuck at least I do. And I think a lot of times when people feel like that, we turn to alcohol, not even knowing that we’re turning to alcohol, but just as kind of a way to escape and not feel, or to, to just escape, feeling bored or listless or depressed or anxious or any of these things. And so these are the things that I turn to when I’m feeling like that, because I no longer turn to a glass of wine at night because I know that that doesn’t work. And I like to turn to things that actually work. All right. So my first thing when I’m like, Ugh, my life sucks.
(06:09)
Everything is shit. I hate everyone. What am I even doing? I’m wasting my life changing diapers. Like I just can go into a spiral and my husband knows it. And he’s like, okay, you need a nap. And I’m like, oh my God, I think I do need a nap. And so sleep is probably my number one. Go-to in my toolbox. It’s I think anything without sleep, everything is so much harder. It’s just so much bigger. Problems are bigger. Feelings are, are more unmanageable. It feels like my kids and mine, everything is just so hard. And especially since becoming a mom, I have prioritized sleep literally over everything else. Um, that’s for me and for my children, I can see it. If my children don’t get sleep, they turn into absolute monsters. And so do I, you guys, I’m a monster. <laugh> when I’m tired, I’m an absolute monster.
(07:09)
So sleep is my go-to and I don’t just mean like, you know, a good eight hours at night because I do need, I need like a solid eight. You guys, without that, I’m just, I don’t know. I, and I’m not too proud to say it. Like, I need a full night’s sleep, but also I’m a big fan of a nap. I’m a big believer in naps. I’m not that mom. Who’s like, oh, I’m just so busy. I don’t have time to nap. I’m like, no, no, no, no. I’m so busy. I need a nap and I will take a nap. I will prioritize naps over, working out over literally everything. If I need a nap, if my body and my brain are telling me I’m tired, then I need a nap. And I will take a nap almost every day. I don’t know how that’s gonna work when gray stops taking a nap, which she’s very close to.
(07:58)
But generally like these days, if he fights his nap, I put him on an iPad right next to me and I snooze it up. I will nap for like an hour and then wake up and feel like, oh wait, I like my life. I forgot. Oh, things are good. Okay. We’re good. Carry on. Like, sometimes all it takes is a nap that also plays into it. At the end of the day, you know, the end of the day, you like you get through the witching hour, you get through the times when your kids are crazy. And then I got all the kids in bed and I really wanna watch my shows or something, but I’m just so damn tired. I listen to my body now and I’m like, oh right, you’re tired. You need to sleep. Like I’m not staying up. Not listening to my body, having a glass of wine, that’s gonna then interrupt my sleep.
(08:43)
Like, I’m like, no, I need sleep. And so I take it and everything is better. First of all, everything’s better after an nap, but also everything’s so much better in the morning. So sleep is for sure. My number one, that brings me to my second. What is it? My second tool, I don’t know are my mornings and my morning routine. I think that mornings in sobriety become so special. If you listen to my, my 4th of July episode, I gave tips on your first sober 4th of July. And that really relates to like any celebration, vacation, just tips on how to get through it while you’re sober. I said to focus on the morning, the next morning, like when you’re at a party or when you are confronted with drinking in the evening, especially in that early sobriety, I focused on the morning and how I wanted the morning to feel what I wanted my morning to look like what I would do in the morning, how I would get up before my children, if I don’t get up before my kids, my whole day is off.
(09:52)
I mean, it’s just like, I’m just starting on the wrong foot already. I need that quiet time before my kids are awake while the house is still quiet before the sun is up, like, I need that time to myself. That’s probably throughout the day, the only time that I’m gonna get just on my own and with no one else to worry about. So mornings for me are crucial early mornings. And the only way I can have that early morning is if I go to sleep at a reasonable time, you guys reasonable is like eight o’clock. No, I wish no. I, I, I do try to be in bed by like nine, if I make it to 10. Whew, that is the late night. And how on earth did I used to go out at 10 o’clock? I can’t even, and that was early so mornings and you know, my morning routine, I think as moms, especially moms of like, I, my kids are almost eight, five and almost three.
(10:48)
Oh my God. A morning routine. That’s tough. <laugh> any sort of routine I think is tough, but you know, my morning routine involves taking the dog out coffee, doing my art of slowing down time or stopping time. It’s a book, I’ll link it in the show notes, cuz it’s a really good one. It’s like a 100 day journey just to think kind of be more, I don’t know, be more conscious of time and how you’re spending your time. And there’s nothing that I want more right now than to slow down time because you guys, I just turned 42 and it’s just flying and I, it freaks me out. So yeah, I, I think that whatever your morning routine looks like, you know, if it’s short, if it’s long and you’re lucky and you get to kind of draw it out, I think whatever it is, I think the mornings in sobriety are just something special.
(11:42)
There’s just something that is special that it’s not, you know, I, I look back on my drinking time, like, especially in my twenties and like the, the mornings meant something completely different. And uh, now I just savor, I just savor my mornings, moving along, exercise, exercise, exercise, exercise, other than sleep. This is probably the most important one. And one that my husband also knows that, you know, if I’m just agitated or pissed off or just pissy or my temper short, I need to work out like that energy. I can feel it in my body. It’s gotta get out. I have to sweat it out. I, I just love like going on the treadmill. We have a Peloton treadmill downstairs and uh, there’s just nothing like it. Like putting my headphones on, losing myself in a workout is probably one of my favorite things to do running outside, listening to good music.
(12:44)
When I was grieving my dad in the early days, right after I lost him, I would run and cry. And just, there’s just such a release in working out and in exercising. My God just don’t overlook, exercising to exercise. I think it gets a bad rap, like spending time in the gym and do, but I, I just love it. It’s one of my favorite things to do. I also like to do shred four 15, which is a workout they have now nationwide. You guys, it’s a dark room. It’s music. That’s just blaring. It reminds me of being in the club. I think that’s why I like it. I used to love a nightclub. You guys, I, I worked at one in college. I, I just loved, I don’t know. There’s just something about music that you can feel in your body and in your bones that just rattles your bones.
(13:32)
It’s so loud. I love it so much. Um, it’s so motivating. I do that three times a week and I have, since my second, since right after my second was born again, every like everything could be just going to shit and then I have a good workout and endorphins are real and I just feel so much better, so much better. And I forget all of my problems while I’m in there. Like it’s so good. Yoga has always been very important to me. I started doing yoga religiously. I think when I was engaged and then, um, have continued that on and off, you know, I’ll go through periods where I do it every single day. And then I kind of take a break and then I get back into it. But it’s always there for me. Yoga’s you can do it anywhere. I mean, you don’t even need a mat.
(14:20)
You can make up your own flow. I think the good thing about yoga, it seems to be that a lot of people in sobriety turn to yoga. And I think I understand why it became more important for me in motherhood and in sobriety, because there’s something about yoga is very uncomfortable. If you’re, you know, you’re in your practice, you’re kind of always learning how to push yourself. Just to that point of being it’s not painful, but it’s uncomfortable. It’s uncomfortable to hold these poses. You’re shaking. You’re like, oh God, I don’t know how more I can hold this. I don’t know how much I can do this, but you learn to like sit and just be still in that discomfort. And that’s so powerful. And I think when you do it more and more, it teaches your body and your mind that you are okay being uncomfortable.
(15:15)
Like discomfort’s not gonna kill you. It’s not, and you can do it. And you can, you can also withstand it for longer than you think you can. And so that really helped me in sobriety because those early months of sobriety are uncomfortable. I mean, it’s uncomfortable to, first of all, not even know what the hell’s going on. Like, is this a thing, are you never gonna drink? Can you say that? Are you an alcoholic? Does it matter? What is an alcoholic? What does this look like? What is the future? Like? Are you ever gonna have fun again? Is adding anyone gonna invite you to a party? What about your husband? He still drinks. There are all these like really uncomfortable things that you have to, you don’t have to answer, but you feel like you do. And you’re confronted with all of these questions that you wouldn’t have.
(16:06)
If you kept drinking, you would have different questions and you’d be confronted with a lot of different things, but it can be really uncomfortable. It can also be scary and uncomfortable to look back at what alcohol has, what role it’s played in your life. And it probably informed a lot of the decisions that you made and like, you wouldn’t have made those decisions, had alcohol not been invited. And so, and that brings up a lot of discomfort and questioning and all of these things. And so, I mean, even there just the discomfort of dealing with your children and their meltdowns at five o’clock without having a glass of wine, like that shit is uncomfortable. It’s not fun. You want to escape, like you want something else. And I think yoga taught me that it’s okay. Like it’s okay to be uncomfortable and comfort probably shouldn’t be the goal.
(17:06)
You know, there’s something about being comfortable and escaping that. I get it. Like I, I get the desire, but I also think that it keeps us stuck. I think that, especially in my life, when I’m feeling comfortable, I, I do start to get listless and I’m like, Ugh, you know, it’s feels kind of boring and not in marriage and in, and motherhood, because I think being comfortable there means stability. But I, I don’t know. There’s just something to be said about really just leaning into, I that’s such a corny phrase, but just allowing the discomfort in and just sitting in it, like, just stay, just stay. You don’t have to move. You don’t have to break the pose. You don’t have to pour yourself a glass of wine. Like you don’t have to, you can be uncomfortable and you’re not gonna break. Like it’s gonna be okay.
(18:02)
And I think the more you do that, especially in yoga, the more I stayed in that discomfort, then the next time I did that pose, it wasn’t as uncomfortable. Like I was like, okay, like, I’ve got this, I, I did this. I held it for, you know, 30 seconds now today, maybe I can hold it for 45 seconds or a minute. And it’s the same thing. It’s the same thing in early sobriety with all of these feelings and just the shit and the muck that comes up, it’s not gonna break you and you can stay there and you can feel uncomfortable. Yeah. So speaking of all of the feelings that come up therapy is next up in my toolbox. I, I think that you guys so much comes up in sobriety. You know, I consider myself pretty hip. You guys have hip. I don’t know if you know that I consider myself hip to like self work and being self actualized and all, all of these things that you like.
(18:57)
I’ve done a lot of work and therapy on myself. My mom’s a therapist. We talk all of, like, if I’m not talking about my feelings, I will be in like two minutes. Like just give it a second because I’m very comfortable talking about my feelings. I love talking about my feelings. I wanna hear about yours. Like my husband’s like, okay, can we stop talking about our feelings now? It’s just where I live. Like I really enjoy, I, I don’t want small talk. I wanna talk about the deep shit. And I’ve been like that for a long time. So, but still sobriety brought up a lot of stuff for me that I, I wasn’t prepared for. And also the grief that came with my father’s passing. And I shared about that a few episodes back. So if you’re grieving and you’re in sobriety, be sure that check that out because I really did like sort of a deep dive on grieving during sobriety.
(19:51)
I think that it’s important. Therapy’s important anyway, but especially in sobriety, when you, it feels sometimes like you don’t have that release. And so getting all of those feelings out, getting them on paper, write ’em down journal, and then talk with somebody. I do, you know, I bash AA on here a lot <laugh> but I do see the importance of talking of actually just saying words and getting all of that stuff out, all of those feelings out, just speak them, like, speak them out, get them out of your body. That I think is so freeing. That’s what I do here a lot. Obviously I go on and on and on, but it’s very helpful. And therapy is I, I think therapy is just it’s necessary. Mental health is health. And I, I think that, you know, you would not hesitate to go to the doctor if you broke your arm.
(20:46)
And so our brains are just as important, more important. Our brains are more important than our arms. Okay. You heard it here first. You know, if you haven’t started therapy, I, I highly recommend it. I know that some insurances might not cover it. There are the online therapies, I think any sort of thing where you can just get it out, just get it out, better help. I know there’s a, there’s a lot of them out there also, you know, don’t overlook the importance of a good friend who can listen and not judge. I think that that’s huge. If for some reason therapy isn’t in the cards for you right now. I think that’s huge. All right. So moving down the list of my sobriety toolbox. So I added this. This was not in the original post that I shared on my kind of suite, but I’ve come to realize that having a safe space.
(21:40)
And so literally like a safe, not a safe room. That sounds like a place you go when there’s like a bomb or something. Mine is my closet and it’s, it’s a walking closet. So it’s, it’s a little bit bigger. I don’t think that matters. I think that it could be a small closet, like any sort of place where you can shut the door and that could be your kind of safe spot to feel your feelings. I, I, I think sobriety can feel very vulnerable and you know, like all of your feelings can be right there on the surface and you’re momming it. And you don’t wanna break down in front of your kids, even though sometimes you have to. And that’s okay too. I think that it’s so important for you to have a spot to go. Even if it’s just the bathroom. Anything, the laundry room don’t do laundry though, while you’re in there.
(22:31)
Just, this is for crying. Okay. Just to feel everything that’s coming up and for you to just fucking break down for 10 minutes by yourself. I think it’s so important. That’s what my closet has was for me. And still is, that’s where I am now. It really holds this special place for me because I can shut the door. My husband knows. He knows that this is my spot. He knows that this is my space. That if the door is shut and I’m in here, like my kids cannot. If my husband’s home, my kids can’t come in here. Like he knows that I need this time. It’s kind of a signal to him. Okay. She’s feeling it. <laugh>, she’s gonna feel all of her feelings in there. And then when I come out, I’m better prepared to take on whatever I have to take on because I have to, you know, you can’t pause motherhood, right?
(23:21)
But sometimes you, you just need that. Like, you need that 10 minutes to, to go somewhere and feel everything. And so if it’s the pantry, if it’s the bathroom, if it’s the laundry room, if it’s the garage, if it’s the, your closet, wherever it is, I, I would, you know, tell your husband, tell your significant other, your partner, your kids. If they’re old enough to understand like, Hey, I’m going to my spot right now. I need this time. I’ll see you in 10 minutes. I think even not in sobriety, even just moms. I think we need that so much. So moving on podcast and audio books, and I’m not just saying this, cuz I have a podcast, my go to other than sleep and exercise in early sobriety. I listened to so many audio books and podcasts about sobriety. I listened to everything. I could get my hands on.
(24:16)
Literally I remember searching on Amazon, like probably a year into my sobriety. And I’m like, are you kidding me? Have I listened to all of the quit lit books by women? Like I, I listened to them all. I had exhausted Amazon of all of the books, which is also why I wanna write one. Cuz there needs to be more like there needs to be more books about sobriety and motherhood. And I would listen to them and I still do all the time. And when I say all the time, I mean all the time. And this was um, especially in those early months, granted we were in a pandemic then <laugh> we were home all the time, but I constantly had one AirPod in, when I was cleaning the kitchen. When I was making dinner, when I was doing laundry, when I was playing with my children yes.
(25:07)
Down on the floor, which I don’t like to do, he goes, I don’t wanna play with my kids. <laugh> can, can we just make that a thing that we don’t have to play with our kids? They can play. Like, that’s why I had more than one. Like go play, just go play. That’s why we got a dog. Just go play. I don’t wanna play Barbies. Like I don’t want to do that. But in the pandemic I did. And uh, I would be playing Barbies Ew and listening to a podcast about sobriety or listening to one of my audio books about sobriety. So it became, I, I needed it. I, I really do think it informed so much of, kind of my view on sobriety, what I wanted and what I didn’t want in sobriety. What I wanted it to look like, what I wanted to put out into the world now with the sober mom life podcast, a lot of it was formed by the, the things that I learned and I heard in those early months.
(26:04)
So especially if you’re not going to AA, which you don’t have to, don’t let anyone tell you that you have to because you don’t. I think that those podcasts and audio books were huge. I am gonna link them all. Okay. Not all of them. You guys, cuz that would be bananas. Maybe I’ll link like the, the top, I don’t know, seven, eight, link them in the show notes. I have talked about a lot of them at length. I would say the first audio book that changed everything for me was this naked mind. That was kind of the, it was by Annie grace. It was kind of the science behind alcohol, what it does to our bodies and our minds and why we’ve been tricked. And it, it really it’s repetitive, which is really good. So it kind of UN brain washes us to, you know, not believe alcohol and what it’s like, it’s tricked us all along.
(26:59)
And so I don’t know it that took the wool away from my eyes as far as alcohol and especially, yeah, just how we’ve been tricked by the big alcohol. Then I think the best audio book for my soul in sobriety was we are the luckiest by Laura McCowen that did really go into sobriety and motherhood. That’s her story. I loved that book so much also quit. Like a woman was really good. I think that really opened my eyes to AA and that helped me be like, oh, okay. I don’t have to go to AA. I think that’s finally what made me be like, oh right, fuck AA. Like we don’t need that. And there are so many, um, I think Catherine Gray, she had the unexpected joy of being sober and um, I think it’s called sunshine, warm, sober. I’ll link these all so highly, highly recommend, not playing with your children and instead listening to sobriety podcasts and quit lit and all of the things that you can get your little ears on, including the sober mom life podcast, wherever you listen to podcasts.
(28:10)
For sure. Okay. And so speaking of not going to AA, I would say connection is probably what I was missing in early sobriety because we are in a pandemic and I didn’t know what the hell was going on. I didn’t know. I didn’t know what I needed. I didn’t know anything. And so connection was the thing that I really wanted. I didn’t have it right away. I found it through Instagram and all of these, like, you know, sober accounts and sober mom accounts. I, I think it’s a great way for moms to connect. I love Instagram to connect anyway with other moms. I’ve always loved it. I am on at the sober mom life on Instagram and at my kind of suite. That’s more for style and motherhood, but you know, I always say Instagram gets a bad rap, but dude, it is great for connection for moms when we are staying at home with our kids.
(29:02)
Like I think it’s essential, especially over the pandemic. So connection is huge in my sobriety toolbox, which is why I also just recently started the sober mom life group on Facebook. So if you wanna be a part of that, I will leave a link in the show notes. I’ve been loving it so much. We have like maybe 320 members now. And it’s just moms who are either sober or sober, curious, just connecting. Like I, I don’t even do much of the posting. I’m just there to like cheer you guys on. I love it. I love reading the stories. You know, moms are coming there for support and for ideas of like, what’s your favorite mocktail? Or like, Hey, my husband still drinks. Is anyone else dealing with this? Or I’m going on my first sober vacation, I’m really nervous, any tips. And then, you know, we get to see then at the end of the week, she posts a picture of a beautiful sunset and that she was sober the whole vacation and she absolutely loved it.
(30:04)
It warms my heart so much and it inspires me so much to see these moms connecting over sobriety, helping each other. Like I just love it so much. It’s definitely what I needed in my early sobriety. And so the fact that now it’s happening and it’s helping other moms and you guys are connecting. I just cannot tell you what that means to me. So, you know, it’s completely free. It’s just on Facebook, come and join us. Silver mom, life, Facebook group. I do, I will say I’ve gotten a few requests from people who don’t have profile pictures. I won’t accept you if you don’t have a profile picture because I don’t know. I just, I’m really protective of these moms and the group. Also, no men are allowed, you know, we’re pretty strict on those rules. I just want it to be a really safe place.
(30:51)
Yeah. No judgment at all. Like no mean no mean comments allowed, nothing like that. So if you have requested to join and I have not approved you and you it’s probably because you don’t have a profile picture. So just put one up. You might wanna fly under the radar on Facebook, which I get it, but I don’t know. I don’t know. Send me a DM if you have like a certain reason why you don’t have one. Yes. Come over there, come and join us. I love it so much. It’s literally every day. It’s the first thing I look at on my phone when I pick up my phone, which I’m trying not to do until after my art of stopping time daily reading. But after that it’s I go to the sober mom life group on Facebook. It’s my favorite. Okay guys. We’re we’re at the last, my last tool in my sobriety toolbox is chocolate chocolate.
(31:44)
<laugh> I did you think it was gonna be something groundbreaking? Like, okay, here we go here. We’ve worked up to this moment. This is the most important. Wait for it. Chocolate. I don’t know guys. I think that you need to treat like we need to treat ourselves. I’m all about 80 20. Of course, for sobriety. I’m about like, no I’m 100% sober, but in most things in life I’m 80%, 20%. Like I don’t ever wanna be like vegan. I don’t ever wanna be like sugar free. I don’t. I just don’t. I’m like, what’s the point. So I have embraced that chocolate. There’s it’s it makes me happy. At the end of the day, I look forward to it. I, I like the little dove, not the dove chocolate things, the little ice cream dove mini bites. Those are good. I like, I mean, you guys, I will even just, if I just have chocolate chips, I’ll have a handful of chocolate chips at the end of the day.
(32:37)
Like give me something, just give me chocolate, give me chocolate or give me death is wow. It’s just got dark. We need to treat ourselves. So whether that’s chocolate or whatever it is, whatever that looks like for you, gummy candy. Um, maybe it’s not candy. Maybe it’s like, you’re gonna, you’re gonna buy a new pair of, you know, workout shorts at the end of the month or something like something to treat yourself, I think is so important. Also I know that sugar cravings go like through the roof in early sobriety. Don’t worry about it. Go for it, do it. You have permission. You don’t need my permission, but just do it. Eat the candy, eat the sugar, eat the chocolate. Don’t worry about it. Like you’re not drinking ethanol. That’s good enough. Just go for it and then worry about, let’s worry about your sugar tooth sugar tooth.
(33:30)
That’s not a thing, your sweet tooth later, but just go for the sugar right now. Okay. Guys, I thought that this was gonna be like a quick episode. Like I’m like, I’ll just talk for like 15 minutes. I should have known. That’s just never how it goes. So I hope that this helps. I hope that, yeah, I don’t know. I hope this gives you some ideas of things that you can do. You know, most of these things I do on a daily basis except therapy, whew. Daily therapy would be like a drag. Am I right? I don’t know. These are just things that, you know, you can write. I have mine written down so that I can look and I’m like, huh? I am being a raging bitch. What do I need to do? And then I look right. I need to take a nap.
(34:14)
Um, you can write ’em down, have a list, have your running list. And then when you think of another thing, like you’re like, oh, a walk outside. I always feel better. Then a walk outside is on your sobriety toolbox list, shopping, you know, I don’t know. Maybe that’s maybe that’s a step too far, but anything that makes you feel better and helps you flourish in sobriety I think is worthwhile. So I hope this helps come and join us on the sober mom life, Facebook group. Also, if you have been loving this podcast, can you scroll down where you see those little stars and then just tap five stars cuz that’ll help, uh, make sure that we’re discovered by more moms and that’ll keep this little thing going, cuz I love it so much. I love talking to other moms. You would think that I love talking by myself for this long because I’ve did it for almost 40 minutes, but now I’m glad I can do these solo episodes too. I just love most of all connecting with other sober and sober, curious moms. So thank you so much as always and stay tuned because we have a lot of cool guests coming up, including you guys. I think I got my husband to, to agree to a sit down hard hitting interview. So stay tuned for that. Okay. Thank you guys. I’m gonna go eat some chocolate. Bye.
(35:41)
Thank you so much for listening to this episode of the sober mom life. If you loved it, please rate and review it wherever you listen. Five stars is amazing. Also follow me on Instagram at the sober mom life. Okay. I’ll see you next week. I’m gonna go reheat my coffee. Bye.
