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 in 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 livebetter.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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You can also look in the show notes today for details of my retreat that I'm running in February 2023. Today, we're talking about August overwhelm.
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There's a lot potentially in our diaries this month, And one thing that serves me really, really well is to only say yes to
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things in August if it feels like a hell yes. Yes. I really want to do that. Yes. I want to come with you. Yes. I want to be there.
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If those are my feelings, then I'm gonna go and I'm gonna do it.
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If my feelings are a little bit lukewarm or perhaps meh about an invitation, I am so much more likely to turn them down really kindly and politely now.
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I am valuing much more time by myself and choosing really carefully what I want to do in the summer. What are you already committed to?
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What did you say yes to that now perhaps you're not feeling a 100% on?
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Can you potentially get out of it?
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Or if you can't, can you go to it for a shorter time as possible?
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Enjoy it while you're there, but then look forward to leaving.
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Did you say yes to invitations when you were drinking?
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And, actually, you're not that person anymore.
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So perhaps you said yes to an invitation like a day at the races, and at the time it was booked, you were all looking forward
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to this amazing day out, having some fizz on the way to the races, enjoying everything that the day offered, but it was going
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to be a boozy affair, and you're no longer that drinking person.
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Is it easier to duck out entirely, or is it okay to go to that day at the races and enjoy it and enjoy it without a drink?
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Can you get comfortable with turning up as you are? Can you say, yes.
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I am this person enjoying this day out, and, actually, I'm just not drinking.
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The drinking part is a tiny, tiny bit of who I was, and now that's no longer a part of who I am, and it won't be in the future.
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Have you got an invitation to a wedding? Weddings are long long days often. There's that whole
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bride and groom enjoying the whole service, then outside, hopefully, to throw that beautiful confetti, chat, smile, enjoy some fabulous photos.
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And then often there's a bit of random standing around before you move towards the next bit of the day.
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How you navigate the bit after can be so incredibly useful.
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Maybe you're really looking forward to chatting to the friends that you're going with or the family that are going to to be there.
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Perhaps you get to the ceremony and you arrive, and there's a drinks tray on the way in with all of the glasses of fizz piled on it. This happened to me, in May.
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I went to a wedding, walked into the reception, with my husband.
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He picked up a glass of fizz, and I there were 2 or 3 waiters there holding the trays in my stall. I'm not actually drinking.
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Is there, an alcohol free option on the tray?
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And, they said, oh oh, there was some elderflower. Hang on a sec.
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I think all the kids have drunk it.
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Why don't you go to the bar and ask if there's anything there?
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So, obviously, I walked through empty handed. And you know what?
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I I don't mind about that kind of thing, but, actually, some people get some real security from having a a drink in their hand.
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And there have been loads of drivers who were at that wedding.
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There'll have potentially been people who were pregnant or on medication or, like me, just chose not to be drinking.
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And then the onus is on us to go and walk to the bar, which is fine. Like I say, I don't mind.
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Got to the bar, and, yeah, all of the elderflower had been given to the kids, and that was lovely. I hope they enjoyed it.
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But the option for for me was water because there happened not to be serving Coke at this or any fizzy drinks at at this particular venue.
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Getting through little tiny hurdles like that, for some people, feel like a big deal and for some people feel like a small
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deal, but they are just part of navigating a whole bigger day.
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Are you comfortable standing around chatting when you're at a wedding, potentially to some people that you don't know?
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Or perhaps you're really comfortable with a whole bunch of people that you do know. Know.
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If you need to escape for a while, do it.
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Go out to your car in the car park. Maybe listen to a short podcast?
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Wouldn't it be handy if somebody had a, I don't know, 5 or 10 minute podcast that you could just reset and listen to to set
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your resolve on your alcohol free journey?
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Perhaps go for a walk around the garden?
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Perhaps if you're staying at the venue, slip up to your room for a bit of time alone?
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Definitely, in my drinking days, I thought that I was an extrovert, and I would have enjoyed every moment of being around other people at a wedding.
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I'd have enjoyed chatting to new people, making new friends.
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I always left a wedding with several new best friends for life. And now I don't drink.
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I do realize that I'm much more introvert.
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I'm really happy in my own company.
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And in a long day like a wedding, it is a great tactic to just take a few breaks.
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Then, of course, there's all the food, and that is fabulous.
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And then there might be a bit before the evening bit, and then the bit with either the band or the disco.
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So many moving parts of the day.
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Just take little breaks whenever you need to.
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Make sure you tell somebody else that you're okay and that you're happy, that you don't mind at all about not drinking and being around people who are drinking.
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And if you're not okay, make sure you do the right things for you.
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Lots of this advice applies if you're at a festival or at some kind of big party over the summer as well.
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Make sure you let somebody know that you are really happy sitting and watching what's going on if you're not a 100% wanting to be involved in everything.
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I had a really awkward experience a couple of weeks ago.
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I was at, a festival, and one of my friends came up to me, or I should probably say an acquaintance, came up to me and said,
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oh, you're not dancing at the moment, Sarah. What's going on?
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You're normally first on the dance floor, and we can't get you off.
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And then she paused, and she looked at me, and she said, oh god. Yes. I've just remembered. You don't drink anymore.
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And it's as I watched her do the mental sum in her head of Sarah, normally, why wild and completely mad on the dance floor, plus, oh, yes.
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She doesn't drink anymore, equals, of course, she's gonna be sitting down and being boring.
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And as I saw all of that flip through her face, I was just gutted because I've been to this particular festival twice before
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totally sober, and she has seen me wild on the dance floor completely sober, but she hadn't noticed it before.
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And in that moment, I did feel a little bit wobbly, not about my decision to be sober or alcohol free, but about the way that other people view me.
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But later on that evening, I was on the dance floor. Hopefully, that made her feel better.
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But, of course, what she feels or thinks about me is none of my business. Do go home. Do go home when you're ready.
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No one else will notice once they've had several drinks themselves.
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This summer, if you're going on holiday, make sure it's about your health and well-being this year.
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Too often, we come home from our summer holidays and say that we need a break. We need a rest.
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We need a holiday to get over our holiday, wouldn't it be amazing if we came back from our holidays well rested, well hydrated,
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feeling like we'd had a fabulous family time, and we're ready to get on with the next bit of our lives again.
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And what are you doing at home this summer?
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Do plan how you want to spend some of it. It.
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Make sure you get in the diary some of the things that you really want to do.
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Thank you so much for listening in this 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 programme.
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I'm fully booked at the moment, but ready to start with you in September.
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I'd love it if you could follow and download the podcast, and if you feel inclined to leave a review, that would be lovely as well. PS. I believe in you.
