Urrggghhh - the work is never done! Just when I thought "Ha, this is it, I'm sober, everything is awesome." I realised the feelings had to be felt - and honestly - sometimes that's really annoying!
No more escaping, denying or tolerating, just a calm and gentle acceptance (sort of)!
Here is a copy of the feelings wheel I talk about in today's show
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BTW - If you didn't already know, I'm Sarah - Drink Less; Live Better founder, best-selling author, expert speaker, life coach and, as you already know, podcast host!
We don't have to hit rock bottom, we're allowed to want something different and we can CHOOSE to improve our lives from this point onwards.
I work in the magic space where doubt, hope and action meet... oh.... and
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Transcripts
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Hello darling heart and welcome to the Drink Less live better podcast.
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This is the podcast that helps you to see that drinking less doesn't need to be stressful, lonely, or boring.
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I'm your host, Sarah Williamson, and I decided to have a year alcohol free as a little life experiment and haven't looked back.
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With my experience and training, I now help other people with their alcohol free or drink less adventures.
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You can find out more and sign up to my 5 day drink less challenge at drink less live better dot com.
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I'm here to tell you that you can relax, connect, and have fun without alcohol in your life.
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Join me here each week to find out how.
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Today we're going to talk about the subject of processing our feelings.
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One of the first things I'd like you to do is have a look at the feelings wheel.
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You can either Google the feelings wheel and you will find, if you use Google images, that there are thousands of beautifully colored circles that you can use.
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You can find one that suits you and either look at it on the screen or print it off for easy reference.
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I will also put a copy of the feelings wheel in the show notes and you can have a look and download that today if that's helpful for you.
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The feelings wheel is a really useful tool for helping to label your feelings, to help you get closer to the emotion that
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you might be experiencing in a particular moment.
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One of the examples that I give from my early sobriety was that I spent a lot of time feeling angry, and I used the word angry
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because I wasn't really quite sure what it was that I was feeling, and upon closer examination of my feelings I found that
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the feeling I was really experiencing was actually one around frustration.
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So please go to that feelings wheel, have a look at it, see if it's useful.
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If it's useful, use it, and if it's not, you can put it to one side because, you know, there are lots of different tools and
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modalities that I talk about on this podcast that you will find helpful at another time.
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So if you have the feelings wheel in front of you and you have some idea about some of the emotions, the feelings, the thoughts
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that you are having at the moment and the that are coming from those thoughts, feelings that you're having.
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Let's break this down into mind, body and soul today.
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Let's have a look at some of the ideas that might be helpful for your mind.
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So first up to mention is writing it down, writing about your your feelings and emotions either in a journal, in a notebook,
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perhaps just on a scrap of paper.
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Anything that makes that mind hand connection, allowing those feelings out onto a piece of paper, often is a really good starting
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point for sorting out what is going on inside your head. I love to doodle.
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I like scrawling around the side of the things that I'm writing down in any given moment or something creative. How about drawing, painting, sewing, knitting?
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The act of our hands being busy often brings a bit of space and clarity in our mind where we can start to unravel some of the stuff that's going in.
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And of course I'm likely to talk about talking.
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Have therapy, CBT, EMDR, whatever you've tried before that has worked or try something new if you've never tried it before.
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A really good listening friend, somebody who can hear you speak about what is on your mind and not make any judgments. That's mind. Let's talk about body next.
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Have you ever stopped and thought about where in your body you feel particular emotions?
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I know for me that angry is a feeling that I feel in my chest, it's a contracted feeling.
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It's the opposite of an expansive feeling.
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My shoulders round, my head comes down, my body feels stiff and the opposite of soft and easy to move.
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I notice where the feeling in my body is and I notice then that I might be able to make some sort of movement to start to release that feeling. What about crying or laughing?
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Either if you can do those things spontaneously related to the feeling then fabulous, or if you need to watch a really sad
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movie or perhaps a really happy movie then go ahead and do that. And what about your soul?
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What are the things that you can do that feel good for your soul to start to sift through your emotions? Meditate, Listen to music? Breathwork?
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Would any of these feel good to you?
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If they do, then start to use them and carry on using them if they feel fabulous, and just put them down gently to one side if they don't.
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After trying some of these activities, how do you feel? Do you feel emotionally lighter? Mentally clearer?
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Perhaps you feel more relaxed or something else entirely.
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And don't forget that any emotional discomfort you had before might take a little while to process, it might not be a really quick fix.
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I know that I spent many years escaping, denying, trying to push down, trying to tolerate, trying to control the feelings
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and emotions that were uncomfortable for me, and coming to a place of acceptance really took quite a while.
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I hope some of this has been useful for you today. Thank you so much for listening. Come back again next week.
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Check out the show notes on this podcast or any other episode.
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You'll find details about the drink less, live better 2023 retreat.
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You'll see the link to a hidden podcast episode to help you with your 5 PM cravings, and you'll be able to read about my one to one coaching program.
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I'd love it if you could follow and download the podcast, and if you feel inclined, leave a review. That would be lovely.
