Get ready to dive into a lively conversation bursting with laughter, mixology magic, and uplifting inspiration alongside the fabulous mocktail queen, Natalie Battaglia! All the way from the Land Down Under, Nat's here to light up your day with her incredible journey of riding the waves of alcohol use and her unwavering determination to break free, all shared with a wonderful blend of warmth, humor, and reliability.
In our time together, Nat and I debunk misconceptions about alcohol use disorder and offer encouragement to those on a similar path. She’ll share more about her personal history with alcohol, and how a very scary moment led to the creation of her Instagram account, The Mindful Mocktail, which is dedicated to her delectable and healthy concoctions.
You're also in for an exclusive peek behind the curtain as Nat shares her wild ride of becoming an author and navigating the publishing world. Plus, she'll let you in on her secrets for crafting refreshingly healthier, all-natural drinks that'll have you feeling absolutely fantastic! What I adored most about chatting with Nat? Her reminder that without alcohol, there's a world of time and energy waiting to be channeled into fulfilling pursuits—and it's all within your reach too. So buckle up and join me for an open, candid, and oh-so-inspiring episode!
Get in touch with Nat!
Website | Instagram | TikTok | Facebook | Youtube
Preorder her upcoming mocktail recipe book!
Register today for The Mocktail Summit! Jan 17-19, 2024
Join me for a fun-filled three days bringing together the mocktail community to share recipes, workshops, tips for alcohol-free drinks, community, and so much more!
Get your tickets now!
Thanks to Giesen 0% Wines for sponsoring this podcast episode.
Thanks to Giesen 0% Wines for being our exclusive non-alcoholic wine sponsor!
Connect with Deb: @Mocktail.Mom
You are loved. Big Time Cheers!
Get ready to dive into a lively conversation bursting with laughter, mixology magic, and uplifting inspiration alongside the fabulous mocktail queen, Natalie Battaglia! All the way from the Land Down Under, Nat's here to light up your day with her incredible journey of riding the waves of alcohol use and her unwavering determination to break free, all shared with a wonderful blend of warmth, humor, and reliability.
In our time together, Nat and I debunk misconceptions about alcohol use disorder and offer encouragement to those on a similar path. She’ll share more about her personal history with alcohol, and how a very scary moment led to the creation of her Instagram account, The Mindful Mocktail, which is dedicated to her delectable and healthy concoctions.
You're also in for an exclusive peek behind the curtain as Nat shares her wild ride of becoming an author and navigating the publishing world. Plus, she'll let you in on her secrets for crafting refreshingly healthier, all-natural drinks that'll have you feeling absolutely fantastic! What I adored most about chatting with Nat? Her reminder that without alcohol, there's a world of time and energy waiting to be channeled into fulfilling pursuits—and it's all within your reach too. So buckle up and join me for an open, candid, and oh-so-inspiring episode!
Get in touch with Nat!
Website | Instagram | TikTok | Facebook | Youtube
Preorder her upcoming mocktail recipe book!
Register today for The Mocktail Summit! Jan 17-19, 2024
Join me for a fun-filled three days bringing together the mocktail community to share recipes, workshops, tips for alcohol-free drinks, community, and so much more!
Get your tickets now!
Thanks to Giesen 0% Wines for sponsoring this podcast episode.
Thanks to Giesen 0% Wines for being our exclusive non-alcoholic wine sponsor!
Connect with Deb: @Mocktail.Mom
You are loved. Big Time Cheers!
Welcome, friends, and welcome to the Thriving Alcohol Free Podcast. I'm your host, deb, otherwise known as Mocktail Mom, a retired wine drinker that finally got sick and tired of spinning on Life's Broken Record called Detox to Retox. Let this podcast be an encouragement to you. If alcohol is maybe a form of self-care for you or you find yourself dragging through the day waiting to pour another glass, I am excited to share with you the fun of discovering new things to drink when you aren't drinking and the joy of waking up each day without a hangover. It is an honor to serve as your sober, fun guide. So sit back and relax or keep doing whatever it is you're doing. This show is produced for you with love from the great state of Kentucky. Thanks so much for being here and big time cheers. I am so excited. Hey guys, welcome back to Thriving Alcohol Free.
Speaker 1:I have with us today the Queen of all Mocktails. I have followed her since minute one. I don't need to say follow her, because you're already following her. The mindful Mocktail Nat is in the house today. How are you? I?
Speaker 2:am so well, I'm so excited to be here. Deb, you have no idea. I don't know how or why we haven't done this before. How have we not spoken before after all these years?
Speaker 1:We've never spoken. I know and, like you are, truly. I love everything you do. Your Mocktails are so beautiful, your energy, you're such an inspiration to people who are window shopping so bright or just looking for alcohol free drinks. You're amazing. So, yes, I don't know how we've never done this. This is like this is so long overdue and we promise we won't make this a four hour podcast. We could. Yeah, your kids would be so happy They'd be like I get to watch TV forever. Mom is still recording with Deb.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so just to fill the listeners in. So it's 7am over here in Australia and it's a weekday and my husband leaves to work very early and I have two boys they're six and eight and they think that this is like the best morning ever because they're allowed to watch TV before school and they're like how long is this podcast going to go for? I think they're hoping that we're settled in for like two or three hours over here.
Speaker 1:Yes, we're going to drink like 10. We're going to drink 10 Mocktails and we're going to be like we're going to have a whole flight of drinks and everything. Yes, we're going to have such a good time. Yeah, oh, my gosh, okay. So what time do they? Do you drive them, or they have a bus that comes and gets them.
Speaker 2:No, no, I drive them, so we usually leave at about sort of you know 8.30ish, something like that.
Speaker 1:Okay, okay, oh my gosh. And what grades are they in.
Speaker 2:So I've got one in Prep, which is I don't know do you call it Prep over there? It's like the first year of school that he's six, so it's his first year of school.
Speaker 1:Oh, okay, so first grade Okay, first grade Okay.
Speaker 2:So we have over here we have like Prep, which is like a preparation year. They call it Prep, grade 1, grade 2. So he'll be in Grade 1 next year. And then I've got Nathan and he is in Grade 2 this year. So they're six and eight and they're they're boisterous boys. They're boys in every sense of the word. I shouldn't generalize, but they really are you have?
Speaker 1:yes, yes, we have. Well, I have girls and yes, they're all girls. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I have a. Well, she's almost 22 and then a 16 year old. So you and I are very different. We're both moms, but very and to different. You know different stages. Yes, very different. Yeah, yeah, okay, so how long have you been in the industry? How long have us?
Speaker 2:So it's around three and a half years, so it was January of 2020 that I first did. I actually did the live alcohol experiment, the one run through Annie Grace, and I can sort of go into the wires behind that but yeah, basically I was just drinking way too much. I was drinking way too much. I actually did a couple of quizzes about, you know, the spectrum of alcohol use disorder and did I, you know, did I fit into that? It's always a funny thing, isn't it? This conversation about alcoholism, alcohol use disorder, how bad I'm doing inverted commas in the air here, but how bad do you have to be in order to be diagnosed with something and is the diagnosis even necessary? And you know it's a funny conversation. But basically I, yeah, I was sort of sitting, I guess, moderately, on that alcohol use disorder and I definitely had it had been going on for a long time, sort of 10 years. When I think about, like the first time I googled, am I an alcoholic? Am?
Speaker 1:I drinking too much.
Speaker 2:Yes, yes, and you know, isn't that interesting? Yeah, so my I'd known for a long time and you know, the thing is that I really came in waves for me. You know, I'd go through stages of my life where things were really difficult and I would drink more and then I'd sort of pull myself back out of it and then I'd drink less and, oh, I was like the queen of alcohol. Free months, try January, sober October. I was like woo, if I can get through these months, I mean, clearly there's no problem here.
Speaker 1:Isn't that? Yes, I was just. I was literally like fill in where your sense is what you're about to say. Yes, clearly there's no problem If I can do it for 30 days. Yep, I had done it. I had done like a health challenge. Oh, I took a whole month off. Yeah, I had a problem.
Speaker 2:Yeah. Yeah, that's right, but I did, yeah, so it all came to a head with me when I had a couple of. I know you like to keep it light and bright, deb, so I don't know if you want me to go into it, oh it's fine.
Speaker 1:No, you know what? No, I think it's important to yes, share whatever. Yes, it's both sides of it. There is the light and bright, but it's also like sometimes to get there is not, is not so bright.
Speaker 2:Well, I had this really weird I know lots of people sort of talk about like rock bottom moments and I had this really weird weird's probably not the right word, but I guess a moment where I just thought I don't want to be this way anymore. And you know, long story short, my husband was meal prepping some things for his lunches one day on the bench it was the weekend my grandma had recently passed away and I was. I had taken a bottle of champagne up into the back room because I was putting together her eulogy and putting together like the slideshow of videos and photos and everything. And it was a bit of a hard time in my life. But my husband knew I was drinking, like you know, and I had said to him I'm going to have a couple of glasses of champagne, I'm going to put together this eulogy and you know I'll be back soon, kind of thing. And probably about an hour later I drunk Wade more than the two glasses and my husband called me up from the kitchen and he said he just had this really weird tone to his voice and he said you know, nat, can you come here for a minute?
Speaker 2:And I walk up into the kitchen and my then four year old is having an anaphylactic reaction on the bench because my husband was preparing all these nuts. We didn't know that he was allergic to nuts, right. So he'd put a walnut in his mouth and he's having this allergic reaction, and something that I still, you know, for a lot of women would seem like nothing, but for me, I was like I don't want to be this person anymore. I just had this fleeting moment at which I still carry a lot of shame around where my brain went. Does this mean I have to stop drinking now? For the afternoon, like I was annoyed, I was a bit, you know, and it was so fleeting, like it didn't even last for a second, but it was definitely there. And then I sprung into action. We called the ambulance. My husband went with him to the hospital. He was absolutely fine, absolutely fine. We know that he has a nut allergy now and that is that. But that was the point.
Speaker 2:That was December 2019. And that moment it would have been so easy for me to just push that away and be like it's okay, nat, you'd had a few drinks, you know your brain wasn't working properly, blah, blah, blah. But I really reflected on that time a lot and really beat myself up about that and just thought how can that be your first thought when you see your son in trouble? And that was the point. I mean there were lots of other things, don't get me wrong but that was like the turning point where I just thought, how, why is alcohol so important in your life, what is happening here? And that was when I enrolled in the Annie Grace program and I did that on in January 2020. And yeah, never went back to alcohol after that.
Speaker 1:Well, amazing.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:I'm emotional because it's like you know it, like you said, like how did it get to this place? Like for me, it used to like be in the back seat, like I didn't care if I had a glass of wine or not. And then it was like all of a sudden, in my 40s and going through hard times in life, like it was riding shotgun. Not only riding shotgun with me, but it was like it was driving the car now of my life.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:How did this? Like, yeah, like, why is that the thought you know? So, yeah, oh, I'm so glad he's okay.
Speaker 2:Oh, he's fine, he's fine. And you know that thought happened to me a lot, deb. You know when I would get frustrated about something during the day. It could be with work, it could be, you know something, with the kids and my first thought my brain would just go to oh, I need a wine. Gotta get a drink.
Speaker 1:You know I need to get some wine.
Speaker 2:Yes, and it's like what? How am I having these thoughts at 9.30 in the morning? This is crazy, Absolutely crazy. So, as I said, not your classic sort of rock bottom that people talk about, but for me it was enough.
Speaker 1:It is Great yeah For me. I feel like I've had my own like personal. We all have our own personal rock bottom moments, you know it doesn't have to be a DUI or something. No, it's just like, yeah, like, why is this what I'm thinking about?
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, wow, so everything changed for you right then Everything changed, and it was a very interesting time too, because we were coming into the pandemic.
Speaker 1:Oh right, this was before, so this was like right before.
Speaker 2:Right before, so this is January 2020. And then it was March 2020.
Speaker 1:Yeah, March 2020.
Speaker 2:Started to sort of ramp up. So, at a time where I found everyone was increasing their drinking, I had made this conscious decision to stop drinking. And it was so hard, deb. It was so hard Because my crutch, like my main source of, you know, dealing with problems, my main source of, like, numbing and escape, was gone. And you know, but I just I knew that if I didn't like, if I hadn't stopped drinking, then I would have just drunk my way through that pandemic and I don't know how I would have, how I would have coped like I was. We were blessed in Melbourne with the longest lockdown in the world and, oh my God, yeah, we had months we had. The parks were closed. We couldn't even walk out our front door. We weren't allowed to go five kilometers from our homes. People were being like thrown into the back of police fans for being six kilometers from their home. I don't know what that is in miles. Sorry for the US listeners, but it was.
Speaker 1:Come for do mouth people.
Speaker 2:I know I do mouth. If you've got to calculate it, figure it out yeah. Yeah, it was a really interesting time and I'm one of those people where if I stop something, then I have to channel all my energy into something else. Cue the Mindful Mocktail.
Speaker 1:So interesting. Your, our stories are so similar. Yes, that was like I'm like, I'm bored. What am I gonna do? I'll make some drinks. I'll put them on Instagram, okay, so cue the Mindful Mocktail. Let's hear the story of all the epicness and how this got started. Yes, I mean everyone's following you. So the Mindful Mocktail if you haven't been to the website, I mean the whole world's been there, right? You have the best mocktails. They're so beautiful, like you are. Is this your background? Are you? Were you making drinks before this? No, I was not making drinks before this, I also was not.
Speaker 1:I was drinking drinks before this yeah, I was drinking wine. I wasn't even drinking cocktail, I was drinking wine? I wasn't even. I mean, did you use your shaker cup before? Had you been making ever, deb? Do you know what? Hardly at all.
Speaker 2:I was a wine drinker as well.
Speaker 2:It's so funny how similar our stories are. But back then, the wine non-alcoholic wine, let's face it, it was pretty terrible. I mean there's some Horrible. There's some amazing wines now which I'm sure we'll get into, but back then, like not good, and obviously we were spending a lot of time at home.
Speaker 2:I had this herb garden that I'd been like tending to for some time and I also had like a couple, like some fruit and things growing and I had this moment when I had yet another craving for that five PM wine that I would usually reach for. You know, I tried the alcohol-free wine. That didn't do it for me and I didn't realize. I actually felt quite uncomfortable drinking alcohol-free wine very early on because it seemed like a very like a segue to the real thing. Too close, too close just for that time.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so I started experimenting with simple syrups at home using the herbs from my garden. I started, I bought a couple of mixology books. I started frantically researching, you know, mixology and I was more interested in like how to make them better for you, because Moktels had this reputation and they still do in many ways of being full of juice, high in sugar, not a great. I mean, some people are like man, I'd rather have the ethanol than all that sugar, which we know is not a good thing. Just so we know sugar is better Better for you than ethanol, everybody. If you listen to their Huberman podcast, he goes into that.
Speaker 1:Yes, but if you can get rid of both, yes, you're doing even better yeah, or cut down, yes. And if you can, that's right.
Speaker 2:If you can lower both, it's better. So I started experimenting, like with flavor pairing. I bought this amazing flavor pairing book and just started experimenting at home. I was like this is really cool, and I started incorporating things like kombucha, you know sort of gut-healthy Moktels, like I was just sort of playing around at home and I started sharing them with friends and family, sending them to, you know, via texts.
Speaker 2:During COVID, everyone sort of had the time to do it. You could raise home, yeah, that's right, and I had great feedback, and I thought you know what? I'm gonna start an Instagram account. I'm gonna start an Instagram account. I'd never picked up a camera, I'd never picked up, I'd never done videography, photography or anything, and I just started sharing them online.
Speaker 2:And it occurred to me very early on, though, that it was just about so much more than the Moktels, because when I started sharing my story, like why I was doing this, my history with drinking, I felt that that that brought so many people to me. You know, people just started popping up from all over the world sending me messages saying thank you for talking about this. You know, you look so again in inverted commas, normal. I don't know what that means. But you look so normal and it's nice to see a normal person like struggling with this, because it feels like there's such this misconception, I guess, about what you know someone with alcohol use disorder actually looks like. So thank you for speaking up and yeah, and it just went from there, but just grew from there. The people came and they didn't stop coming, which is amazing.
Speaker 1:I love that the people came and they're never going to stop coming. I mean, literally like the sky's the limit. It's so fun to watch. Like it's so fun, okay, yes. So let's talk about like a viral video. What is that like in your house when it's like a video goes insane, and your Instagram account like they come from everywhere, all over every corner of the globe, they're coming. Yes, dad, what is that like?
Speaker 2:I had one recently. I don't know if you spotted it. I did one for sober October and it was like a little. It was so funny because it was one night. I put it together, I was exhausted, I used it.
Speaker 1:I was sitting on the couch. Those are always the best ones.
Speaker 2:Oh my gosh it was so funny, the ones that you put the least effort into, if I'm being honest. So I was sitting there it's like 9 30 at night I'm an early to bed kind of person, so that was kind of late for me to be fiddling around on my phone and I just used little clips of videos that I taken in the past and I put them all together. So there was like a zero effort involved and it was just a little preview for sober October. You know it was like point of view looking for muck towels for sober October. Well, that one, I've never seen anything like it. I think it's up to almost like 4 million views now.
Speaker 2:No no it resulted in 52,000 new people.
Speaker 1:Yes, bring them all in. What is that? Bring them all in. What is happening? You need to sit on your couch, maybe stay up a little later every night. You know just right.
Speaker 2:Look how that worked out for you. Really, I do my best work after 9 pm. Yes, no, I needed.
Speaker 1:I'm just on the couch ready to go to bed. It's so fun, isn't it so fun to have something like that happen. It's crazy, do you?
Speaker 2:know what it's so fun. And also, deb, it really made me to be honest, like before. Then, you know, things started to sort of slow down a little bit, like people were trickling in and I'm grateful for every single person that is there, absolutely. But things had started to, you know, slow down a little bit and I was thinking, oh, maybe everyone's just you know, so many people are sober now, maybe everyone's just done with talking about it. But then this video bought all these new people and it sort of was like. I was like wow, there are so many people who are interested in this. And I feel like as the years go on and more research comes out about the effects of alcohol and how much better life can be without it, I just feel like more and more people are going to realize, wow, this is just a better way to live. Maybe not cut it out completely. I'm certainly not anti-alcoholic, it's not about that Same. Some people can drink in a healthy way. I'm not so bad In moderation.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I so wish I was that girl again. I know Sometimes, yeah, I'm not, and it's okay, it's fine. Yes, she's gone now. She was fun, I know.
Speaker 2:She was fun.
Speaker 1:She was fun. Yes, I'm just as fun. Yes, I'm just as fun, that's right.
Speaker 2:Exactly, yeah, Exactly so. Yeah, it really restored my faith that you know there's lots of people still interested, and which is an amazing feeling.
Speaker 1:It is. It's so fun. No, and I think I mean even now, like it just still feels like we're just getting started.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 1:Yes, does it feel that way to you? Like I truly feel that way. Like I feel like so many fun things have happened and opportunities and it's been. I feel like a kid in candy store, but at the same time, I feel like we're just getting started. This is we're going to look back on this and be like remember when you know.
Speaker 2:Yes, Right, even though we're not just getting started. But yes, I completely agree with you, deb, and I have to watch all of your. I have to say, I love watching all of your videos where you say I'm just getting started. I'm like, yes, just getting started, just getting started.
Speaker 1:Yes, 52 and just getting started. Yeah Well, that kind of that really started because did you see Don Lemon? He used to be a CNN anchor. He had said that women over 40 were past their prime Do you know what?
Speaker 2:I didn't see him saying that, but I've watched your video like your sort of takeoff of it and I was like, yes, deb, that is so true.
Speaker 1:I was like you know what, like I couldn't get it out of my head that he had said that, and I was like you know, okay, fine, like, whatever, like. But I felt like all women, whatever your beliefs are, whatever your political persuasion, whatever we were all like, no wrong, let us just correct you on this.
Speaker 2:Well, it makes me laugh that well, not that we really want to get into this, but because it's not really like hard and but it makes me laugh that a man thinks that they even have the right to comment on what is a woman's prime and what is not. And what does that even mean? Exactly, I mean if anyone's talking about women's prime. It should be women right it should be us in our prime.
Speaker 1:And here we are talking about it. We are in our prime. It is prime time. Seriously.
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Speaker 1:Giesen comes from the Marble region of New Zealand, widely available in global markets. If I can get it here in Kentucky, you can probably find it where you are to. I hope you love it. Okay, what else are we going to talk about? We're going to talk about functional mocktails. Good for you, mocktails. I'm so excited you're coming on. I'm having a mocktail summit in January during National Mocktail Week, so it's going to be so much fun You're going to come on. We're going to make a functional mocktail together. But would you like to share a little bit about? I mean, obviously, your blog is incredible. You have a recipe book coming out. Yes, super exciting. Yes, so exciting. So do you want to share a little bit about better for you, mocktails and kind of the drinks that you typically share about?
Speaker 2:Sure, well, basically I started thinking about. I mean, I share a wide variety, so some of my drinks are a little bit higher in sugar. Some of them are, you know, really aimed at health, whether it be like gut health. I've done some glowy skin punches and you know all of that sort of fun stuff, but really I'm creating drinks that I wish had existed when I stopped drinking. You know how they say create what you wish existed in the world. That's really what I'm trying to do because, you know don't get me wrong Non-alcoholic beverages in general have like come ahead in leaps and bounds in the last three years since I started the Mindful Mocktail. Like it is insane, what is available to us now that was not available to us then. But I do find that, you know, a lot of the drinks really are a lot higher in sugar and that doesn't really make women feel great, you know.
Speaker 1:So so and it looks like I'm through menopause, so I have a whole all kinds of other issues that you don't have. You're raising young children.
Speaker 2:We were talking about that just before we came on. We're like, we're totally different, life stages, different stages yes, and that's fine, that's good, yes.
Speaker 2:Yes, so I do a lot of my. You know mixes of things like kombucha, you know probiotic waters, like vitamin waters and things like that. I use fresh ingredients wherever I can like, wherever possible and, like I said, just focusing on lowering sugar and even using things that are more natural sweetness, so maple syrup and honey, because we do need sweet, like we do need sweet and we do need something to create that little bit of mouth feel. And obviously, when you remove the syrups like sometimes it's you know, the syrups that can sort of cause that coating on the tongue and make drinks sort of like just up the ante, just elevate them a little bit. So I just try and find, I guess, better for you, ways of still creating really delicious drinks, but ones that are just better for you. So that's the goal and, yes, I've got I'm writing a book at the moment, which is so exciting. It's like the most amazing thing that has ever happened to me work wise. I'm really, really excited and I do have like a pre-order wait list.
Speaker 2:If you go to my Instagram, you'll see that in the bio and, yeah, I'm still writing it, so I haven't even handed in. The manuscript is due, the first of Jen, so I'm like it's a really intense time for me at the moment, especially given the time of year.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I was going to say okay, so I'm doing one as well, but it's like it's very intense, Isn't it? It is.
Speaker 2:The whole deadlines.
Speaker 1:It's so intense I did not quite realize how intense all of it was. Yes, yeah. I will be the first one ordering your book. Oh, I just want you to know, like I'm not kidding, I mean, I'm so excited for this to come out. So this, this is what it's about today, but I just it's so excited for you. Yes, Congratulations, it's huge, it's huge.
Speaker 2:I'm so excited that you're doing one too. I will be the first one. You need to send me the link as soon as it's available.
Speaker 1:Okay, yes, we'll just have. We'll have a book party. We can have a book party because you know what? We're all cutting the cake right, we're just cutting it differently. Yeah, I love there's, and, like you said, like there's, there's room for all, there's all there's so many people in the world.
Speaker 2:Oh my gosh. Yes, well, you know, we'll give a shout out to Derek from Mocktail Wiz because he has just released a book. Oh, I don't know if it's out yet.
Speaker 1:His pre-order still.
Speaker 2:Pre-order yeah.
Speaker 1:He was on. He was on Yep, yep, we talked about his book. Yeah, and he's going to be on the Mocktail Summit as well. Oh, I'm amazing. I mean, I'm like let's do a book bundle, like, oh yeah, do you know what I mean? Like there's so many different ways to make Mocktails and have fun and the fun's not over. Yes, yeah. I was so excited for you, so congratulations. Yeah, so you're in the thick of it right now.
Speaker 2:In the thick of it, you're writing. Yes, writing and then photography will start in January, so I'm doing all the photos for the book. How did you go with the photo process? Or you don't have to if it's no, you're fine.
Speaker 1:Yeah, illustrations, I'm doing illustrations, what a great idea. So I've got my crayons.
Speaker 2:Get your daughters onto that.
Speaker 1:Yes, so I've got my kids. They're, they're making pictures. Oh dear, that's awesome, yeah, yeah. So it'd be a little bit different that way. I mean more like a gift book, I think, but it'll be fun. Just take on like moms that, like you can. You know you can have hot flashes and still have good things to drink.
Speaker 2:That is amazing. I love how we're all coming at it from different directions, because you know, like Derek is more about mixes, so he uses a lot of like liars, all the better. You know more sort of product based drinks, and then you're coming at it from a different angle. I'm coming at it from a different angle and I do love, as you say, there is room for everybody. Like there's no competition here, it's just all of us working together for this higher purpose.
Speaker 1:I am like totally cheering you on a hundred percent. I am your number one fan. Anyway, I feel like I'm fan girling having you on today. It is such a gift to know you. You've been such an encouragement to me for a minute one and to find someone who was sharing good things to drink, because, really, what I broke up with Chardonnay and it was a hard breakup it was like what am I going to drink? What am I going to drink, you know? So yeah, when did you start your Instagram?
Speaker 2:So I stopped drinking January 2020 and then my first post went live on Instagram in April. So there was like a three month gap in there where I was thinking am I going to go back to drinking, aren't I? And I think actually in the February I did sort of try and have a couple of wines and something had just happened to me, so some of the switch had flicked and I just thought I'm just really done. I need to take an indefinite break. I never sort of I've actually never said I'm never drinking again.
Speaker 2:I don't believe in like putting myself in a box like that, but I just cannot say myself ever drinking again, like I don't have enough of a reason to go back. Like my life is just so much better now. And it was funny when I was drinking because I felt like I was at full capacity, like I couldn't possibly fit anything else in. And then it's not until you stop that you realize how much time and like headspace that it's actually taking up, because I have exactly the same workload. My kids are a bit older now. They're probably even harder work, but I fit in this entire new venture with the mindful Mok-Tal and it's like I look back and I think I never would have been able to fit in. What was I doing before? You know, I was probably just hungover and low energy.
Speaker 1:Yeah, there were hours in the evening where I was just zoned out, you know, and then, and then right, and then the morning it's like, oh, it's like sluggish, sluggish. You know, it was like recovering from, from it. So, yeah, yeah, we have the same amount of time in the day, but we have, we can fit in a whole, nother full-time job.
Speaker 2:That's right, because of it, which is incredible Without drinking, yes, yeah, incredible.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I was yeah. It was like, okay, what am I going to do? I didn't want to do puzzles, I didn't want to do, you know, coloring books, like a lot of people do that when they stop drinking. You know like, no, thank you, let me make some videos. I'll make some videos. Put it on for strangers. Did you tell everybody in your real life that you had started the mindful Mok-Tal when you started your Instagram, or was it like you kind of started it anonymously and then you said you already sharing your recipes with everybody.
Speaker 2:So yeah, no, I. I didn't tell everybody. I didn't tell everybody that I'd stopped drinking, to be honest, because I wasn't really ready to have those conversations. So I, when I put my first poster, it was a post of my face. So some people, you know how Instagram has a funny way of suggesting new accounts for people.
Speaker 1:You might know her from work.
Speaker 2:I Started to get these messages saying, oh my gosh, what are you doing? I'm like what are you doing? And how did you see that?
Speaker 1:What are you googling that this would show up on your feet? Yeah, you problem. How did you find me?
Speaker 2:But yeah, I'm out in the world now because you know there are people that haven't messaged me, that have probably seen it too, but I didn't go into the whole thing with everybody. It was really interesting, well, because and we weren't seeing a lot of people because of career, so I was able to sort of shield myself a little bit from social situations. It was both a blessing and a curse that this happened during the pandemic, because I didn't I didn't have to deal with social Situations where there was lots of alcohol, but I was the most stressed I'd say that I had I've ever been in my life. So yeah, it was just a really strange time, blessing and a curse.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, no, because I stopped. Well, I guess December 31st, 2020, was my first day alcohol-free, so it was like it was still during the pandemic and you know, people weren't going, we weren't going out in 2021, early 2021. So it was like, kind of, we're shielded a little bit from that social stuff in the beginning, because it's hard. It's like, huh, what do you say when they say what do you want to drink? Yes, yes, in the very beginning, very awkward. And when you're not ready, not not prepared to have those conversations, yes, you know, it's like I just want to see how I feel I'm not really ready to tell everybody I'm not drinking, yeah, or that I'm, that I'm taking a break for right now.
Speaker 2:So, it was interesting when I, when we did start socializing again, I did go and really prepared and I literally had a script in my head of what I would say when people asked me. I think it's so important to be prepared because it's very confronting when you have made what is a huge decision for some people, like if you tell some people don't care at all.
Speaker 2:Most people just care that they can drink. They don't really care that you're not drinking, but for some people it is a really big deal that you've decided to cut alcohol out of your life. So, going in prepared with a script, how is this conversation going to play out? What am I gonna say at each point? You know, if someone says just have one, or surely you can't have one, or why did you have a? Did you have a problem with alcohol? Or you know all of these things like, what is it that I'm going to say? And I just found that gave me so much more confidence walking into social situations because I was just armed and ready and I knew exactly what I was going to say.
Speaker 1:That's wonderful advice. That's great advice, especially right now, as this episode comes out. During the holidays, people are going to situations where maybe you're seeing family you don't normally see, or they saw you last Christmas or saw it last holiday. Get together and you know You've made changes since then. So obviously we've all made changes, but you know what I mean.
Speaker 1:Yeah that's great advice. That's such great advice. Okay, before we go, though, because I know you have to get your boys to school, what alcohol free wines? Because you did mention that and, like in the very beginning, I mean you, both of us know like the world has just changed so much in three years. Yes, we've stopped drinking. Yes, it's unbelievable. So, like I know, you and I both love geese in bottles, to their bottles right behind me, like are they not so good? I had Duncan the Winemaker on the podcast.
Speaker 2:I saw I was speaking through your podcast guests and I'm like oh my gosh, I flagged it to listen.
Speaker 1:I had such a great chat with him and to hear the story of how, during the pandemic, how they started Creating non-alcoholic wines, is crazy town. I mean how it started like a fluke for them. They were doing a health challenge, yes, and then they were like, well, this stinks, we can't drink. It's crazy. I mean it's like like the best fluke, I don't know fluke, but you know, I mean like they, they saw I was like okay, like a weekend. They were all like we got to figure this out because we can't drink.
Speaker 2:Oh, my gosh man. We need to thank them all for their health challenge because we are all like from that. It was so funny, I actually wrote down a couple of my wines and geese in is I mean, you can't, I love them, I love them. You can't really compare them honestly, because I feel like in many ways they're just in a league of their own. Um, and I have been a geese and drinker for decades because that like oh, I never drank. Oh, really never drink really.
Speaker 1:so, geese, I didn't know.
Speaker 2:Oh, my gosh geese and sav blanc was my Like my go-to. I loved it, sav, really. Yes. So I have been drinking geese, and forever in a day. And I remember when I did have that break from alcohol Sorry, from non-alcoholic wine and I thought, oh, I'm not ready to quite touch that yet. When I came back to non-alcoholic wine and it was geese and an edenvale, which is an Australian brand, they will always have a soft spot in my heart but I tried both geese and an edenvale and I remember when I had the geese in the first time I was just like I felt giddy.
Speaker 2:I felt a little bit like I understand it was a really weird feeling because it was a hot day, the sun was shining, I had my wine and it was almost like my brain was making the connection between, and I felt a little bit tipsy and this is why I think we need to be careful with non-alcoholic wines. But what I'm trying to say is it just was so bloody good, it was amazing, hit the spot, hit the spot. So, yeah, geese and Envale. As I've said, envale there's a couple of their varieties available in the States and I love envale because they have been around for at least 15 years. I'd say. They're non-alcoholic wine and they sat there next to the bloody Ginger beers and kombucha's for a decade when non-alcoholic wine wasn't even a thing. But edenvale was just always there. And, of course now Non-alcoholic wine is everywhere. But I really feel like they were the trailblazers in, you know, making non-alcoholic wine happen and a big push for it over here in Australia. And then my other favorites are the Laotis I never know how to say these brands.
Speaker 1:Laotis, I know I say them all wrong. I said Geese and Gays in Forever. I said Shirley and Surly. I said them all wrong. I still say, I probably say them all wrong. Ok, All right. So Laotis yes.
Speaker 2:Laotis is good. And then the other one is my, again one that I don't know how to say, but it's the Litz Litz.
Speaker 1:Einzwe I don't know how to say it Einzwe, litz. Yes, excellent, excellent. They're my top brands. It's wonderful that there are so many good ones. Now. I mean, if it's not a trigger to you, you're not going to be deprived. If you're not on alcohol, wine isn't going to trigger you. Go for it. There's so many good ones and I agree with you. I did not drink the. I had never had geese in before I became alcohol-free. But they're seven young belong. First of all, it's 100 calories in the States for an entire bottle.
Speaker 1:Which is crazy. The entire bottle is 100 calories. It's less than a Snickers bar. And it's so good. Yeah, it's just so good. It hits the spot. It's so perfect. Ok, I'm so glad. I love that. We're both massive fans of the geese and they're closer to you. You could probably go over there and do a tour, because they're just a little flight away. Ok, I could talk to you forever. Seriously, nat, thank you so much for coming on today. I'm so excited for everything, the future, for everything you've already done in this space. Thank you for everything that you've been to so many people. We're just. You're just incredible, absolutely incredible.
Speaker 2:Oh damn.
Speaker 1:Keep it all up.
Speaker 2:Seriously, I will keep it up and I just want to thank you, deb, like I feel like you're a trailblazer in this space. You really are, and I just love everything that you do and I feel like we're just blessed to have you in this space.
Speaker 1:And thank you for having me on.
Speaker 1:We're just having fun, we are, we are, we are. How nice is it? It's amazing. I feel so thankful. Yes, it's so much fun, so much fun. Ok, I'm going to stop our recording. Thank you everybody for listening. This is an epic episode. This one's for the record books. Nat was in the house the mindful Mocktail she's the best Big time. Cheers to you for tuning in to the Thriving Alcohol Free podcast. I hope you will take something from today's episode and make one small change that will help you to thrive and have fun in life without alcohol. If you enjoyed this episode and you'd like to help support the podcast, please share it with others, post about it on social, send up a flare or leave a rating and a review. I am cheering for you as you discover the world of non-alcoholic drinks and as you journey towards authentic freedom. See you in the next episode.