Sober Powered: The Neuroscience of Being Sober

If you’re going back and forth between drinking and not drinking, then you are not alone. It’s a journey from the time someone considers not drinking to the time they actually stop drinking for good. Even though this back and forth process is pretty typical, it’s really frustrating when you feel like you just want to be sober but you keep drinking. In this episode I’m describing 5 reasons why you may be having trouble staying sober. If you identify with any of these reasons, then it’s important to be honest with yourself so you can work through it.What to listen to next:E91: do you really want to be sober or do you want to drink without the consequencesResources I offer: Community: Living a Sober Powered Life https://www.soberpowered.com/membership 30 Day Quit Drinking Course with daily audios to help you work on your mindset about letting drinking go https://quitdrinkingcourse.supercast.com/ Monthly office hours: ask me anything you’d like live. My audio will be recorded for anyone who can’t join live. I will not be recording the meeting participants. https://officehours.supercast.com/ Weekly emails on Thursdays where I explain the latest episode in more detail, share images to help you understand the concepts, share announcements, interviews, writing, discount codes and more. https://view.flodesk.com/pages/6107260617e156c4839768b5 A free 3 day quit drinking challenge https://view.flodesk.com/pages/62f2cb3de5ea6b3d8aea4ab2 You are not alone eBook with data from almost 700 sober people https://www.soberpowered.com/you-are-not-alone-ebook  Thank you for supporting this show by supporting my sponsors. Learn more:https://www.soberpowered.com/sponsorsIf you enjoyed this episode please consider buying me a coffee to support my work https://www.buymeacoffee.com/soberpoweredSources are posted on my websiteDisclaimer: all of the information described in this podcast is my interpretation of the research combined with my opinion. This is not medical advice. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

One of the most empowering things I’ve learned in my research is that not everyone experiences alcohol in the same way. When I got sober, I started talking to my husband more about his experience and I started interacting with people in the sober community who shared my experience with alcohol. Over time, I realized how different my husband and I were. In this episode I want to talk about 5 ways we think differently than take it or leave it drinkers. I’m going to use the word normal occasionally in this episode and as a reminder I don’t think we’re abnormal or bad. I think it’s helpful to understand and appreciate how the take it or leave it drinker actually approaches alcohol because it allows us to see how different our experience is.What to listen to next:E79: why do we romanticize alcohol?E99: why we can never drink againE91: do you want to be sober or do you want to drink without the consequences?E127: why you obsess about your drinkingResources I offer: Community: Living a Sober Powered Life https://www.soberpowered.com/membership 30 Day Quit Drinking Course with daily audios to help you work on your mindset about letting drinking go https://quitdrinkingcourse.supercast.com/ Monthly office hours: ask me anything you’d like live. My audio will be recorded for anyone who can’t join live. I will not be recording the meeting participants. https://officehours.supercast.com/ Weekly emails on Thursdays where I explain the latest episode in more detail, share images to help you understand the concepts, share announcements, interviews, writing, discount codes and more. https://view.flodesk.com/pages/6107260617e156c4839768b5 A free 3 day quit drinking challenge https://view.flodesk.com/pages/62f2cb3de5ea6b3d8aea4ab2 You are not alone eBook with data from almost 700 sober people https://www.soberpowered.com/you-are-not-alone-ebook  Thank you for supporting this show by supporting my sponsors. Learn more:https://www.soberpowered.com/sponsorsIf you enjoyed this episode please consider buying me a coffee to support my work https://www.buymeacoffee.com/soberpoweredSources are posted on my websiteDisclaimer: all of the information described in this podcast is my interpretation of the research combined with my opinion. This is not medical advice. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

So many people have reached out to me online and said “I wish I had your level of self-control” or “I wish I was disciplined like you are”. It’s not about self-control or discipline and by saying that you are making your drinking into a morality thing. In this episode we’re going to talk about why we are so quick to call ourselves losers and make it a self-control issue. If you’re stuck on this idea that you need more discipline, then I hope this episode gives you some perspective so you can stop beating yourself up for a lack of self-control. That’s very unproductive and believing you just need to control yourself is not an effective way to find freedom from alcohol. In this episode, we're talking about loss of control over drinking and self-stigmatization.What to listen to next:E69: alcohol shrinks the brain, but what does that mean?E15: stigmaE111: drinking alone drastically increases the risk of becoming addictedE125: why you can't stop drinking once you startResources I offer: Community: Living a Sober Powered Life https://www.soberpowered.com/membership 30 Day Quit Drinking Course with daily audios to help you work on your mindset about letting drinking go https://quitdrinkingcourse.supercast.com/ Monthly office hours: ask me anything you’d like live. My audio will be recorded for anyone who can’t join live. I will not be recording the meeting participants. https://officehours.supercast.com/ Weekly emails on Thursdays where I explain the latest episode in more detail, share images to help you understand the concepts, share announcements, interviews, writing, discount codes and more. https://view.flodesk.com/pages/6107260617e156c4839768b5 A free 3 day quit drinking challenge https://view.flodesk.com/pages/62f2cb3de5ea6b3d8aea4ab2 You are not alone eBook with data from almost 700 sober people https://www.soberpowered.com/you-are-not-alone-ebook  Thank you for supporting this show by supporting my sponsors. Learn more:https://www.soberpowered.com/sponsorsIf you enjoyed this episode please consider buying me a coffee to support my work https://www.buymeacoffee.com/soberpoweredSources are posted on my websiteDisclaimer: all of the information described in this podcast is my interpretation of the research combined with my opinion. This is not medical advice. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It's hard to quit drinking when you feel like your drinking isn't that bad and you haven't had any consequences from it. We justify so many things and tell ourselves that "we're not that bad" and we should just learn to control it or drink less. That's why I had my friend Casey, host of the Hello Someday Podcast, on today. We talk about consequences and how our baseline for what's normal and acceptable gets distorted while we're drinking. This is a serious one and a funny one, so I hope you have some laughs with us.Casey McGuire Davidson helps successful women drink less + live more. She’s a leader in the modern sober curious movement of women who are gray area drinkers going alcohol-free. An ex-red wine girl turned Life and Sobriety Coach, Casey is passionate about helping busy women change their relationship with alcohol. She specializes in working with busy women with full calendars and overflowing to-do lists, who are doing all the things and then coming home and drinking to forget about all the things. Casey hosts the Hello Someday Podcast, rated in the top 1% of global podcasts, which teaches women the tried and true secrets of breaking out of the drinking cycle and creating a life they truly love. She’s the creator of The Free 30-Day Guide To Quitting Drinking and The Sobriety Starter Kit. Casey’s helped thousands of women turn the decision to stop drinking from their worst-case scenario to the best decision of their lives.Websitehttps://hellosomedaycoaching.com/Free 30 Day Sober Guidehttps://hellosomedaycoaching.com/30-day-sober-guide/The Sobriety Starter Kit Coursehttps://www.thesobrietystarterkit.com/Podcasthttps://hellosomedaycoaching.com/podcast/Resources I offer: Community: Living a Sober Powered Life https://www.soberpowered.com/membership 30 Day Quit Drinking Course with daily audios to help you work on your mindset about letting drinking go https://quitdrinkingcourse.supercast.com/ Monthly office hours: ask me anything you’d like live. My audio will be recorded for anyone who can’t join live. I will not be recording the meeting participants. https://officehours.supercast.com/ Weekly emails on Thursdays where I explain the latest episode in more detail, share images to help you understand the concepts, share announcements, interviews, writing, discount codes and more. https://view.flodesk.com/pages/6107260617e156c4839768b5 A free 3 day quit drinking challenge https://view.flodesk.com/pages/62f2cb3de5ea6b3d8aea4ab2 You are not alone eBook with data from almost 700 sober people https://www.soberpowered.com/you-are-not-alone-ebook  Thank you for supporting this show by supporting my sponsors. Learn more:https://www.soberpowered.com/sponsorsIf you enjoyed this episode please consider buying me a coffee to support my work https://www.buymeacoffee.com/soberpoweredSources are posted on my websiteDisclaimer: all of the information described in this podcast is my interpretation of the research combined with my opinion. This is not medical advice. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I recently surveyed my audience to create a free eBook and one of the questions was what’s your biggest struggle in sobriety. I was shocked to see that almost every response said boredom. I know that’s a major trigger, but I expected more of a balance between boredom and negative emotions. In this episode you’ll learn about why some people are more likely to feel bored, how this relates to drinking, and what you can do to manage boredom in sobriety. You’ll learn about why some people are more likely to respond to boredom in positive ways while others turn to alcohol to cope.What to listen to next:E103: why we want to enhance everything with alcoholE115: why you aren't ready to quit drinking and how to get readyE114: why we believe alcohol helps and how to break these beliefsResources I offer: Community: Living a Sober Powered Life https://www.soberpowered.com/membership 30 Day Quit Drinking Course with daily audios to help you work on your mindset about letting drinking go https://quitdrinkingcourse.supercast.com/ Monthly office hours: ask me anything you’d like live. My audio will be recorded for anyone who can’t join live. I will not be recording the meeting participants. https://officehours.supercast.com/ Weekly emails on Thursdays where I explain the latest episode in more detail, share images to help you understand the concepts, share announcements, interviews, writing, discount codes and more. https://view.flodesk.com/pages/6107260617e156c4839768b5 A free 3 day quit drinking challenge https://view.flodesk.com/pages/62f2cb3de5ea6b3d8aea4ab2 You are not alone eBook with data from almost 700 sober people https://www.soberpowered.com/you-are-not-alone-ebook  Thank you for supporting this show by supporting my sponsors. Learn more:https://www.soberpowered.com/sponsorsIf you enjoyed this episode please consider buying me a coffee to support my work https://www.buymeacoffee.com/soberpoweredSources are posted on my websiteDisclaimer: all of the information described in this podcast is my interpretation of the research combined with my opinion. This is not medical advice. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this special episode I’m joined by Eric Zimmer from The One You Feed Podcast, Dave Wilson aka Sober Dave from One for the Road Podcast, and Casey Davidson from the Hello Someday Podcast. We wanted to get together to show you 4 different approaches to quitting drinking, not just in how we ended up getting sober, but you will also learn what held each of us back from quitting, the challenges we had in the beginning, and the beliefs we had about getting support.Casey McGuire Davidson helps successful women drink less + live more. An ex-red wine girl turned Life and Sobriety Coach, Casey is passionate about helping busy women change their relationship with alcohol. She specializes in working with busy women with full calendars and overflowing to-do lists, who are doing all the things and then coming home and drinking to forget about all the things. Casey hosts the Hello Someday Podcast, rated in the top 1% of global podcasts, which teaches women the tried and true secrets of breaking out of the drinking cycle and creating a life they truly love. Casey’s helped thousands of women turn the decision to stop drinking from their worst-case scenario to the best decision of their lives.Connect with Casey:Free 30 Day Sober Guidehttps://hellosomedaycoaching.com/30-day-sober-guide/The Sobriety Starter Kit Coursehttps://www.thesobrietystarterkit.com/Podcasthttps://hellosomedaycoaching.com/podcast/Eric Zimmer is a behavior coach, author, and the host of The One You Feed Podcast. At the age of 24, Eric was homeless, addicted to heroin and facing long jail sentences. In the years since, he not only found a way to overcome these obstacles to create a life worth living, he now helps others to do the same. Eric works as a behavior coach and has done so for the past 20 years. He has coached hundreds of people from around the world on how to make significant life changes and create habits that serve them well in achieving the goals they’ve set for themselves. In addition to his work as a behavior coach, he currently hosts the award-winning podcast, The One You Feed, based on an old parable about two wolves at battle within us. With over 500 episodes and over 30 million downloads, the show features conversations with experts across many fields of study about how to create a life that has more meaning.Connect with Eric:https://www.oneyoufeed.net/David Wilson – aka @Soberdave – has been making it his mission to support the sober community since his own ‘rediscovery’ began in 2019.Never one to do things by halves, Dave launched his One for the Road podcast in 2020, in which a diverse selection of inspirational guests have shared their own dysfunctional relationship with alcohol leading to sobriety. Dave has a huge community on Instagram, motivating and supporting those affected by alcohol dependence. Dave is also an accredited sobriety coach and now brings his grounded expertise in alcohol recovery to book form.Connect with Dave:Websitehttps://davidwilsoncoaching.com/IGhttps://www.instagram.com/soberdave/Bookhttps://a.co/d/avrKqzSResources I offer: Membership: Living a Sober Powered Life where you gain access to a 31 day quit drinking course with daily audios, weekly meetings, and a private community to get support. Use the code PODCAST to get 20% off your first month. https://www.soberpowered.com/membership Weekly emails on Thursdays where I explain the latest episode in more detail, share images to help you understand the concepts, share announcements, interviews, writing, discount codes and more. https://view.flodesk.com/pages/6107260617e156c4839768b5 A free 3 day quit drinking challenge https://view.flodesk.com/pages/62f2cb3de5ea6b3d8aea4ab2  Thank you for supporting this show by supporting my sponsors. Learn more:https://www.soberpowered.com/sponsors If you enjoyed this episode please consider buying me a coffee to support my work https://www.buymeacoffee.com/soberpowered Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I’ve stopped drinking 3 times, and each time I thought I could just stop and that was that. I thought stopping was the hard part and that drinking was my only problem. It wasn’t until I was months into my current sober streak that I realized I had to do a lot of work. We build our lives around alcohol, so if you just remove the alcohol, then you’re going to feel the void and be triggered all the time. In this episode I’m going to cover 10 tips to stop drinking and stay sober. These are for anyone, whether you had a drink last night or you have years of sobriety and want a refresher.What to listen to next:E77: are non-alcoholic drinks ok to drink?E124: how long does it take to fully recover?E125: why you can't stop drinking once you startE32: a conversation with my husbandE114: why we believe alcohol helps and how to break those beliefsE110: 5 reasons people relapse and what to do about itQuick Start to Sobriety Guidehttps://www.soberpowered.com/quick-start-to-sobrietyResources I offer: Community: Living a Sober Powered Life https://www.soberpowered.com/membership 30 Day Quit Drinking Course with daily audios to help you work on your mindset about letting drinking go https://quitdrinkingcourse.supercast.com/ Monthly office hours: ask me anything you’d like live. My audio will be recorded for anyone who can’t join live. I will not be recording the meeting participants. https://officehours.supercast.com/ Weekly emails on Thursdays where I explain the latest episode in more detail, share images to help you understand the concepts, share announcements, interviews, writing, discount codes and more. https://view.flodesk.com/pages/6107260617e156c4839768b5 A free 3 day quit drinking challenge https://view.flodesk.com/pages/62f2cb3de5ea6b3d8aea4ab2 You are not alone eBook with data from almost 700 sober people https://www.soberpowered.com/you-are-not-alone-ebook  Thank you for supporting this show by supporting my sponsors. Learn more:https://www.soberpowered.com/sponsorsIf you enjoyed this episode please consider buying me a coffee to support my work https://www.buymeacoffee.com/soberpoweredSources are posted on my websiteDisclaimer: all of the information described in this podcast is my interpretation of the research combined with my opinion. This is not medical advice. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What can you replace alcohol with when you stop drinking? Many of us search for an alternative, and in this episode I’m going to discuss common transfer addictions that might show up when you stop drinking, like food, sugar, or cannabis. You’ll learn why transfer addiction happens, how to identify if you’ve developed another problem or if it’s not a big deal, and what to do to prevent transfer addiction from happening.TW: discussions of weight and disordered eatingWhat to listen to next:E112: Drinking More Coffee in Sobriety? Here’s WhyResources I offer: Community: Living a Sober Powered Life https://www.soberpowered.com/membership 30 Day Quit Drinking Course with daily audios to help you work on your mindset about letting drinking go https://quitdrinkingcourse.supercast.com/ Monthly office hours: ask me anything you’d like live. My audio will be recorded for anyone who can’t join live. I will not be recording the meeting participants. https://officehours.supercast.com/ Weekly emails on Thursdays where I explain the latest episode in more detail, share images to help you understand the concepts, share announcements, interviews, writing, discount codes and more. https://view.flodesk.com/pages/6107260617e156c4839768b5 A free 3 day quit drinking challenge https://view.flodesk.com/pages/62f2cb3de5ea6b3d8aea4ab2 You are not alone eBook with data from almost 700 sober people https://www.soberpowered.com/you-are-not-alone-ebook  Thank you for supporting this show by supporting my sponsors. Learn more:https://www.soberpowered.com/sponsorsIf you enjoyed this episode please consider buying me a coffee to support my work https://www.buymeacoffee.com/soberpoweredSources are posted on my websiteDisclaimer: all of the information described in this podcast is my interpretation of the research combined with my opinion. This is not medical advice. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Perspective can help you maintain your calm and not let other people have control over the way you feel. For people in recovery, being able to stay calm and manage our emotions is critical. In this episode I want to walk you through an example of a time where I was easily offended and flipped out over nothing, versus a time when something worse happened but I was able to have perspective and stay calm. You’ll learn how you can work on adjusting your perspective and become more resilient and adaptable so things don’t pile up and become overwhelming.What to listen to next:E94: Your Ability to Handle Unexpected Stress MattersE49: 5 Consequences of Not Having BoundariesResources I offer: Community: Living a Sober Powered Life https://www.soberpowered.com/membership 30 Day Quit Drinking Course with daily audios to help you work on your mindset about letting drinking go https://quitdrinkingcourse.supercast.com/ Monthly office hours: ask me anything you’d like live. My audio will be recorded for anyone who can’t join live. I will not be recording the meeting participants. https://officehours.supercast.com/ Weekly emails on Thursdays where I explain the latest episode in more detail, share images to help you understand the concepts, share announcements, interviews, writing, discount codes and more. https://view.flodesk.com/pages/6107260617e156c4839768b5 A free 3 day quit drinking challenge https://view.flodesk.com/pages/62f2cb3de5ea6b3d8aea4ab2 You are not alone eBook with data from almost 700 sober people https://www.soberpowered.com/you-are-not-alone-ebook  Thank you for supporting this show by supporting my sponsors. Learn more:https://www.soberpowered.com/sponsorsIf you enjoyed this episode please consider buying me a coffee to support my work https://www.buymeacoffee.com/soberpoweredSources are posted on my websiteDisclaimer: all of the information described in this podcast is my interpretation of the research combined with my opinion. This is not medical advice. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Cravings make it hard to stay sober. You may feel frustrated that you have so many cravings and be wishing you just had more self-control. In this episode we’re going to talk about why cravings can be so powerful and how you can learn to manage them. You’ll learn more about how alcohol dominates our thoughts, why we crave alcohol, and what you can do to reduce the amount of cravings you have and their severity.What to listen to next:E119: Why We Can’t Cope With Anything E114: Why We Believe Alcohol Helps and How to Break These Beliefs E111: Drinking Alone Drastically Increases Your Risk of Getting Addicted E94: Drinking to Cope or Numb Out Doesn’t Help, Here’s How to Really Cope E81: Why We Drink: Social Drinkers vs Problem Drinkers E98: Emotion Intensity and How to Start Self-RegulatingResources I offer: Community: Living a Sober Powered Life https://www.soberpowered.com/membership 30 Day Quit Drinking Course with daily audios to help you work on your mindset about letting drinking go https://quitdrinkingcourse.supercast.com/ Monthly office hours: ask me anything you’d like live. My audio will be recorded for anyone who can’t join live. I will not be recording the meeting participants. https://officehours.supercast.com/ Weekly emails on Thursdays where I explain the latest episode in more detail, share images to help you understand the concepts, share announcements, interviews, writing, discount codes and more. https://view.flodesk.com/pages/6107260617e156c4839768b5 A free 3 day quit drinking challenge https://view.flodesk.com/pages/62f2cb3de5ea6b3d8aea4ab2 You are not alone eBook with data from almost 700 sober people https://www.soberpowered.com/you-are-not-alone-ebook  Thank you for supporting this show by supporting my sponsors. Learn more:https://www.soberpowered.com/sponsorsIf you enjoyed this episode please consider buying me a coffee to support my work https://www.buymeacoffee.com/soberpoweredSources are posted on my websiteDisclaimer: all of the information described in this podcast is my interpretation of the research combined with my opinion. This is not medical advice. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices