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 this episode of 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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I'm a best selling author, expert speaker, and life coach.
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I'm here to support you with your alcohol free or drink less adventures.
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Give me a follow over on Instagram at drink less, live better, and head to the website drink less, live better.com, where
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you will be able to sign up to the 5 day drink less experiment, find blog posts, and you can choose to join the email club
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where I share resources, wisdom, insights, and glimmers of hope and joy. I hope you enjoy this episode. Let's get straight to it. Connexions.
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It's a vital ingredient in the recipe for emotional well-being.
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You might think that you've got your connections sorted, but we could all use a bit of a shake up now and then, particularly in midlife.
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So let's look at why branching out matters and how can we do it without feeling like we're back at school.
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I like to see it as shaking up our mental snow globe.
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Do you remember those snow globes you used to love as a child?
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You give them a really good shake and suddenly everything looks different. 1 of my boys used to collect those snow globes.
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He had them from museums, galleries, and zoos all along his windowsill.
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And one day, there was a massive gust of wind and an incident with his blind wiping the whole lot of them off the floor and smashing on his bedroom carpet.
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That was not a joyful day in our household.
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Anyway, making new connections is like giving your mental snow globe a vigorous shake.
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It's really easy to get stuck in our own little bubbles surrounded by the same faces, same ideas, and same old routines.
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But when we connect with new people and explore new places, we're exposed to fresh perspectives that can challenge our assumptions and perhaps broaden our horizons.
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When was the last time you had a conversation that made you go, ah, I never thought of it that way?
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Well, if you can't remember, perhaps it's time to strike up a conversation with that quirky neighbour or perhaps join a local group that stretches your comfort zone.
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Maybe visit a creative class you've never been to before but fancied.
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The point is to expose yourself to different viewpoints and experiences.
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Last year, I did a pottery class every week for a year, and I loved the people that I met on that course. It was brilliant.
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And, of course, it's not just about the people.
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New places can shake up your perspective too.
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Even if you can't jet off to exciting holidays, you can explore a new neighborhood or park in your own town.
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These places will always offer fresh insights.
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You might discover your new favorite coffee shop or perhaps a hidden gem of a bookshop.
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The key is to approach these new experiences with an open mind and a sense of curiosity.
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You might just find that your mental snow globe looks a whole lot more interesting after a good shake.
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When I was at university, my friend and I used to pick a really random sum of money, like £3.87.
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And bear in mind, this was the late nineties.
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And we would go to our local train station and say to the guy at the sales desk, where can we get a return to for this amount of money?
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And we visited some amazing towns and villages all around the county that we were at for university and saw new places that we never would have seen.
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Did we not play the random train ticket game? Perhaps that's one for you. Emotional expansion. Let's talk about emotions. You know I love that.
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We often think of our emotional capacity as fixed.
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I'm just not a very emotional person, or I really wear my heart on my sleeve.
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But our emotional range is actually more like a muscle.
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The more we exercise it, the more it grows, and making new connections is like going to the gym for your feelings.
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Perhaps we get to see and feel more of a range.
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Each new person we meet and each new place we experience offers a unique emotional fingerprint, that butterflies in the stomach
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feeling when you're about to meet someone new.
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The sense of awe when you witness a breathtaking view for the first time.
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These are your feelings being experienced fully.
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In the show notes, I'm gonna put a copy of the feelings wheel.
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This is a tool I love to use with my one to one clients when we're talking about what emotions they're experiencing in any particular time.
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By exposing ourselves to new connections, we're giving ourselves the opportunity to feel a wider range of emotions. It's not always comfortable.
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In fact, it can be scary at times.
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Next time you're feeling a bit wobbly about meeting new people or visiting a new place, remind yourself that you're not being scared.
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You're actually being incredibly brave and giving your emotional muscles a really good stretch. And here's a cheeky little secret.
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The more you flex those emotional muscles, the better equipped you'll be to handle life's ups and downs.
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It's a bit like emotional cross training.
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You never know when that resilience you built up from trying something new will come in handy in other areas of your life. Self discovery, last but not least.
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Let's talk about the most important relationship of all, the one you have with yourself.
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Making new connections isn't just about understanding other people better.
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It's also a fantastic way to discover new pieces of your own personality.
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New connections act like mirrors, reflecting back aspects of yourself you might not have seen before.
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So how do we go about making these new connections?
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Well, the good news is you don't need to transform into a massive extrovert, a social butterfly overnight, or book around
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the world travel ticket, unless you want to, in which case, go for it. Start small.
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Say yes to that invitation you'd usually decline.
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Strike up a conversation with somebody new at work, or plan a day trip to a nearby town you've never visited.
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It's not about the quantity of connections, but the quality.
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One meaningful new connection will be just as valuable as many, many connections.
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Making new connections with people and places shakes up our perspectives, stretches our emotional muscles, and helps us to discover new sides of ourselves.
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What could possibly be better than that?
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Check out today's show notes and find out about the ways we could work together.
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There's sober coaching and life coaching, and PS, I believe in you.
