How to Let Go of Alcohol and Still Have Fun

I begin today’s show with a chat about feeling your fear—and using that process to help you really push past it and go enjoy yourself. Fear can be a powerful immobilizer, or teacher depending on how you approach it. I hope this helps you if you’re feelin’ the fear today. My guest this week is the remarkable Annie Grace who’s work in sobriety is very popular. She’s got a wonderful podcast –This Naked Mind—and has been a major voice in the sober curious movement. Annie taught me all about the following: The remarkable chemical process that happens in the body when we drink The connection between alcoholism, anxiety, depression etc How to navigate awkward social moments without a drink in hand The truth about drinking at home What temptation bundling is, and why it’s so powerful for this process What ‘speed bumps’ are when it comes to drinking Kombucha Urge surfing and how to use that technology to push past your cravings What a powerhouse of information! Hope you enjoy our chat… and that it makes you stop and wonder a bit about alcohol in your own life, if it’s an issue. Here’s to you as ever! RESOURCES Stop, Drop and Feel-- A Recipe for Moving Through Fear This Naked Mind  This Naked Mind: Control Alcohol, Find Freedom, Discover Happiness & Change Your Life  The Alcohol Experiment: Expanded Edition: A 30-Day, Alcohol-Free Challenge To Interrupt Your Habits and Help You Take Control The Alcohol Experiment: A 30-day, Alcohol-Free Challenge to Interrupt Your Habits and Help You Take Control The Urge Surfing Study Recording  Suzanne’s Favorite Kombucha Brew Doctor Kombucha Clear Mind Annie Grace’s favorite non-alcoholic drinks/resources HopTea Julia Bainbridge's book, Good Drinks MORE ABOUT ANNIE GRACE Annie Grace is host of This Naked Mind podcast, and the author of This Naked Mind: Control Alcohol, Find Freedom, Discover Happiness & Change Your Life and The Alcohol Experiment: A 30-day, Alcohol-Free Challenge to Interrupt Your Habits and Help You Take Control. She grew up outside Aspen, Colorado, in a one-room log cabin without running water or electricity. Having discovered a passion for marketing, Annie Grace earned a Masters of Science (Marketing) and dove into corporate life. As the youngest vice president in a multinational company at the age of 26, her drinking career began in earnest. At 35, in a global C-level marketing role, she was responsible for marketing in 28 countries; she was drinking almost two bottles of wine a night. Knowing she needed a change but unwilling to submit to a life of deprivation and stigma, Annie Grace embarked on a journey to painlessly gain control of alcohol -- for her that process resulted in no longer wanting to drink. Never happier, she left her executive role to write and share This Naked Mind with the world. In her free time, she loves to ski, travel (26 countries and counting), and enjoy her beautiful family. Annie Grace lives with her husband and three children in the Colorado mountains.