Welcome friends to an end-of-the-year celebration! Reflecting on this journey through 2023, I've accomplished so much with your overwhelming support. And in the spirit of celebration, I’m taking a moment to celebrate all of the wins from this past year, and give you a sneak peek of what’s to come in 2024 - trust me, you’re not going to want to miss it!
Also included in this episode is a special rerun of the most downloaded episode of the podcast to date, so if you’re a newer listener, definitely stick around to hear that encore episode! But most importantly, thank you so much for tuning in and supporting this show. It means the world to me that you’re here and I hope that together we can continue to help others find joy and peace in living an alcohol-free life!
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 to an end-of-the-year celebration! Reflecting on this journey through 2023, I've accomplished so much with your overwhelming support. And in the spirit of celebration, I’m taking a moment to celebrate all of the wins from this past year, and give you a sneak peek of what’s to come in 2024 - trust me, you’re not going to want to miss it!
Also included in this episode is a special rerun of the most downloaded episode of the podcast to date, so if you’re a newer listener, definitely stick around to hear that encore episode! But most importantly, thank you so much for tuning in and supporting this show. It means the world to me that you’re here and I hope that together we can continue to help others find joy and peace in living an alcohol-free life!
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. Okay, hey, friends, it's Deb. Welcome back to the Thriving Alcohol Free podcast. This is the very end of 2023.
Deb:Merry Christmas, welcome to silly season. We're having a good time. It's the time between Thanksgiving and New Year's when it's silly, right? Everybody's got the out-of-office thing going on their email, everybody's going to the parties, the alcohol-centric events, and so maybe you've been surfing the urge, maybe you've been enjoying some non-alcohol cocktails in the middle of all this craziness some cocktails, some non-alcohol beers, some sparkling non-alcohol wines, whatever it is that you've been doing I'm here to encourage you that the fun's not over and that there are good things to drink when we're not drinking alcohol. So today's episode, that's going to be pretty special. We are going to do a quick wrap up of 2023. Talk a little bit about what's coming in 2024, because you're not going to want to miss it. You are not going to believe what I have going on. It's so exciting.
Deb:And then we're going to do a rerun of the most downloaded episode of 2023. That was actually episode one where I shared my story of becoming a thriving alcohol-free mom. The reason why I think it's the most downloaded episode is because if somebody finds the podcast maybe episode 18, you started listening, or episode 22 or whatever A lot of times people will then go back and listen to the first couple episodes of the podcast to get a feel of like, oh, who's this girl who's talking? What's this all about? So there you go.
Deb:So that's going to rerun here in just a few minutes, but to get us kicked off, I wanted to just say number one thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, to all of you who listen to, all of you who send me messages of encouragement and support. I can't tell you how much it means to me. This is a dream come true. It's a dream come true to be walking in authentic freedom without alcohol, to wake up each morning without a hangover, and so now to give back, to encourage others, to be of support. I'm out of my mind, so thankful and having so much fun. So thank you for letting me be a part of small part of your journey. I'm just a cheerleader. I'm certainly not the mocktail expert, but I've been able to talk to mocktail experts. I've been able to interview people in the sober space, and you can be here whether you're sober or not. There's no, you don't have to be. Maybe you're just interested in mocktails Great, but I'm certainly not the end all be all at all, but I am your number one cheerleader. I'm cheering you on wherever you are, on your sober journey or whether you're just window shopping sobriety, I am here to encourage you, doesn't matter. There's no judgment.
Deb:Okay, let's do a quick overview of 2023. What happened? And then we're going to look ahead, because 2024 is like we're looking at it it's coming, the calendar is about to change and it's always so exciting beginning of the year. Oh, I love setting goals. Okay, so last year when I started this podcast, I set a goal, because I just like to set goals. It was very arbitrary, I meant nothing, nobody else cares but I set a goal to have 20,000 downloads throughout the year. We did hit that. That was very exciting. In November we hit over 20,000 downloads. Again, it doesn't matter, nobody cares, I just cared. It was just like a little goal I set for myself and to just be consistent, be consistent in putting out podcasts. So we have done that.
Deb:I think I missed two weeks my wonderful, perfect nephew. He passed away in March and so I did not get an episode out right around that time. I think there was another week I missed, but it may have been right around that time, I can't remember. But all that to say, I've really tried to be consistent in putting out podcasts. So thank you for following along and being a part of all the fun that we're doing that.
Deb:We, we, me and my 12 personalities. Me and Coco here in my daughter's bedroom. She's off at college. So there you go. It's just me here in the house. It's me and my husband, larry, and then we have a 16 year old who still lives at home, and then our older daughter, hannah, is 22. She's off at college. So, okay, there you go. That's a little bit about what's happening here. So we hit 20,000 downloads. Something exciting. A publisher reached out to me in March. It was March. It was March of 2023. Great lady. Now I've gotten to know her and she reached out to me and we are coming out with a book. A Mock-Toe-Mom book is coming your way in 2024. So that was very exciting. That happened in 2023.
Deb:I haven't talked about it too much. I've been working on it behind the scenes, but I haven't talked too much about it. I was like, is it really going to happen? Like, until I really see it, I almost don't believe it's really going to happen. So it is, though. Apparently it is happening. They've changed the name, the title. It's changed a couple of times, so I don't know what it'll actually land on when it gets to a shelf near you or, hopefully, in your mailbox, you know, when you order it. Okay, the other thing that happened in 2023 was in January. The same time the podcast launched.
Deb:I launched a private membership, like a little sober drinking club for women. I call it thriving alcohol free. You don't have to be alcohol free, you can just be interested in alcohol free options. Most of the women I would say in the membership are living an alcohol free lifestyle or want to, or just sober-ish, want to drink less. There's no judgment there. So that launched in January and we've done weekly happy half hours every Thursday night. It's been so much fun. Some weeks we have a particular Mock-Toe we're making Some weeks there where we've chatted about non-alcoholic wines. We chatted about non-alcoholic beers. Sometimes it's just bring your own drink, share what you're drinking. But it's been amazing.
Deb:And so if you are a member of the thriving alcohol free community, I am so grateful for you. I love, love, love being a part of your journey. I love seeing you on zooms. You know some of us not everybody makes it each week. Sometimes it's a small group, sometimes it's a bigger. I just I love you wherever you are on your journey and I love being able to connect screen to screen on a regular basis. And if you've only been to a couple this year, no problem. Like, come as you are and come when you're able to, and that's been the best part of of all of it is just that small group connection each week, a place to come. It's a place that's available. You don't have to come, but it's a place that's available each week. So that's been amazing and I love being a part of people's story, you know, of seeing that there's fun still to be had. There's a better way, you know. You don't have to wake up with a hangover. Imagine that. Okay.
Deb:So before we get into the rerun of episode one, I do want to tell you coming up, mark your calendar 2024, during National Mocktail Week, I am hosting the Mocktail Summit so you can sign up at themocktailsummitcom, where you can sign up for free. So it's very accessible for everyone because it's virtual. So if you have internet access, if you're listening to this podcast, you'll be able to join the Mocktail Summit and it's free. So everyone can come and I want everyone to come. Whether you are just now finding out about mocktails, didn't know there were options like this beyond the Shirley Temple, join us if you've been on a mocktail journey or you've been deep into the alcohol free space for a long time, join us. There's something for everybody.
Deb:At the Mocktail Summit, there are over 18 mocktail influencers, mocktail enthusiasts who are going to be sharing their knowledge, their recipes, their tips and their tricks with you. They're sharing it with you for you. They're doing this for you so that you can be encouraged in January. A lot of people do dry January. You can be encouraged. There's good things to drink and there's many, many people in this space who are living life to their fullest without a drop of alcohol. So that's the Mocktail Summit. It's free, but if you're feeling extra, you feel a little extra, you want to bump up.
Deb:I have a VIP option. That's for those who would like extended access to be able to watch these videos beyond those first, beyond the days of the Mocktail Summit. If you want to say, oh, I'm going to be away that week, deb Can't watch it, well then, sign up for VIP. You can watch it whenever. You can watch us 15 times. If you want Watch us on repeat, you know whatever, fine. So extended access you'll also get. This is like gold. You're going to get an ebook emailed to you of all the recipes that are made on camera. I'm super excited about that. To be able to offer that. That's a gift from all the people who are taking part of the Mocktail Summit, that the VIPers are all getting an ebook with their recipes in there. So there's that. There's tons of downloadables, freebies, all kinds of stuff, resources that's going to be loaded up for everybody. But the VIPers are going to get an ebook of all the recipes that are made on camera. There's that.
Deb:And then, like the L'Xardo cherry on top of the entire Mocktail Summit, is going to be the VIP happy hours, which is going to be live each evening. The first one. I know for sure I'm going to have a co-host with me every night. The first one is on January 17th, I think. We're doing it at 7 pm East Coast time, 4 o'clock West Coast time. That's because it works for my time and for the co-host, which is Ian Blessing. From All the Bitter he is like you know. He knows you name, any knock-off spirit, any drink. He knows it all. He knows it all. He's going to be there as my co-host and he's so much fun. He's going to be the co-host of the first happy hour. We're going to do a happy hour each night of the Mocktail Summit. I know Ian's my co-host for the first night and then we are working out details for night number two and number three. But you will have a live happy hour. We can come connect, meet other people who are at the Mocktail Summit and see all the fun that we're having. So that's for the VIPers. That's what's happening. Make sure you sign up register, I should say, at themocktailsummitcom.
Deb:Okay, Last but not least, felt like I should give you a recipe. You guys want a recipe. I'm going to give you a recipe. Okay, this one is free, no charge. Okay, if you want to write it down, you can write it down. This is one that I'm hoping stays in the recipe or the Mocktail Mom book that's coming out in 2024. I have this one in there. I submitted it to the publisher. I don't know they're going to make changes. They'll do whatever they want to do, but this one I'm calling I called Lily's Lavender Royale. So if you want a recipe that my daughter and Lily, who has a very discerning palette, loves, this one is for you. It's simple. It's so simple, easy.
Deb:So grab yourself some Nanakawk gin.
Deb:Do you have Nanakawk gin?
Deb:Go, grab some.
Deb:You're going to use an ounce and a half of Nanakawk gin, three quarters of an ounce of lemon juice, half an ounce of lavender syrup.
Deb:You can make your own or just buy it. I have it. There's a lavender farm near me. I buy their lavender syrup, it's so good. And then you're going to need about three ounces of non-alcoholic white wine like a sparkling. So get like a Noseko. Grab some of the geese and sparkling brute. Grab some joyous sparkling white deliciousness. So grab or classical liars, classical Grab yourself some non-alcoholic sparkling wine. That's what you're going to need. You're going to need about three ounces, or like to taste Okay.
Deb:So in your shaker you're going to add your gin, one and a half ounces lemon juice, three quarters of an ounce lavender syrup half an ounce. Okay, put in some ice, shake it up. Shake it up, put in a flute glass or a coupe glass, or put it in any old glass that you want, doesn't matter to me, I don't care. Okay, put it in there. Then you're going to top it with your non-alcoholic sparkling white wine. So delicious, it's like a little, like a little lavender happiness, okay. So just yumminess.
Deb:You can garnish like a lemon slice and then maybe some little lavender buds. You don't really want to fancy it up and garnish with some. Like, if you have it in a coupe glass, you could garnish like a lemon slice on top and some little lavender buds on top. So very simple. It's nothing fancy, just a little, something that my daughter loves, loves, loves, loves. So there you go. There's a little recipe for you to end out 2023.
Deb:Big time cheers to you. Grateful that you guys are here. Please leave a rating and a review, if you haven't already done so, wherever you listen to this podcast. I would be most grateful, is something I'm going to be better about asking for this year Leave a rating and a review wherever you listen to the podcast. Most grateful, lots of love, and we will talk to you guys soon. Have a great last few days of 2023.
Deb:Hey friends, it's Deb. Welcome to the Thriving Alcohol-Free Podcast with Mocktail Mom. I am so happy you're here. Episode one are you ready? Are you ready to roll? Because we're going to have a good time?
Deb:Because, unlike what I thought being free from alcohol would be, I thought it would be drudgery. I thought it was going to be horrible. I could not imagine Making it to the first weekend, let alone a week, 10 days, 30 days, 60 days, 90 days. Here I am almost two years free from alcohol. I thought it was going to suck. You want to know the truth. I really thought sober was going to suck and it doesn't. Sober is so much fun.
Deb:Being free from alcohol has been the best decision of my adult life and I am so grateful. I cannot wait to share with you the fun, the joy of sobriety, the joy of breaking up with alcohol. On this first episode, though, I've never been a stranger, never in my life. I love to make friends. Today I just want to share, though, with you my story. I want to just let you know who I am. Who's this girl in Kentucky Lives in Kentucky. I'm not from Kentucky.
Deb:I grew up outside Philly city of Brotherly Shove, as we called it. Who's this girl who's talking about being free from alcohol? I want to share my story with you. I just want to encourage your heart, wherever you are, that you can come here. There's no judgment, there's no shame. You can just leave it all at the door. Come as you are, let's be friends, let's talk about being free from alcohol and the delicious things there are to drink when we aren't drinking.
Deb:So I want to share with you how I got started on this journey of starting Mocktail Mom and how I broke up with Chardonnay and the hard things that happened along the way. It wasn't an easy road. I didn't come out of the womb with a bottle of Chardonnay in my hand, so it didn't start out the way it was at the end of 2020, like probably many of you. Anyway, I grew up outside Philly, I should say I'm the middle of three girls, and I just had the most amazing parents, had a wonderful upbringing. The worst thing that happened to me as a child was I had to eat peas. Truly, I just won the lottery with my parents and my sisters and I am so, so grateful for the foundation of love, faith and their encouragement in my life.
Deb:But I wasn't a drinker, I wasn't a partier. Even on my 21st birthday, I didn't have a drink. Yeah, I didn't have a drink on my 21st birthday. Not to say that I never drank, I did. I just it wasn't a big part of my life. Maybe you're the same way. Maybe drinking, you know, used to have a backseat in your life and then it kind of came up to the front seat, you know was riding shotgun with you and then, you know, maybe at this point in your life, maybe maybe the alcohol is driving the car. That was my experience. It used to sit in the backseat, it used to be in the trunk, I didn't even care. Then it sat in the backseat of my life. Then it started riding shotgun with me and then it was like, oh my gosh, the wine is driving the vehicle of my life. You know, it's what I'm thinking about all the time, and that was not, was not who I was, and I just I knew I needed to make a change.
Deb:So in my 40s, though, I went through some really hard things, probably, like you, both of my parents passed away. My mom had had dementia, my dad had had Alzheimer's. My father actually passed away when he was out here visiting with me. So that you know. Obviously, both my parents passing away was very difficult, but that was an added layer of that experience. I had gone through a divorce, so I was single mom, raising my kids for several years. I got remarried to a wonderful, my matchcom sweetheart. So I am, I am married. I also had breast cancer. Probably, let's see. I guess that was about two years after I got remarried. I had breast cancer, had a double mastectomy and then, right three weeks after my double mastectomy, my mom passed away.
Deb:11 months later, my dad passed away, and then, prior to that, I would say, maybe it was. Maybe it was like the first, like the lead domino into like the hard times and into my drinking. And that would be when my older daughter I have two daughters when my older daughter she's now 21. And she's the picture of health. But when she was seven she was very, very sick with aplastic anemia and we spent like 160 nights or so in and out of the hospital pediatric oncology unit. And so to go through that as a mom we certainly had so many fun times in the hospital. I have so many fun, wonderful memories of we just made the best of it. I mean we'd eat Captain Crunch at three o'clock in the morning and we'd watch movies. And you know I remember people saying like, well, are you doing schoolwork with her? You know I'm like I don't care, like I just wanted to live. You know we went on a make a wish. So that was hard, that was hard to say the least, and so.
Deb:But you've gone through really hard things too. You've walked some really hard roads too. Whether it was your own illness, whether it's your parents illness that you're walking that road right now, a child's illness, we've all gone through hard things and during my divorce alcohol started to. It helped. It helped numb the pain that I was going through. It helped numb how shattered my heart felt, how shattered I felt like my life was it was. You know, my girls would go away for the weekend. My eight year old, my two year old would leave for the weekend and I was in a house by myself and I would buy a wine to, you know, be my companion to comfort me.
Deb:So some really hard things kind of got me on the road of drinking and in the beginning it numbed. I wouldn't say it was numbing all my joy. It wasn't numbing everything, but it was starting to take over. It was moving up to the shotgun seat in my life and it had never had that place before. So I wasn't quite prepared for the primary role alcohol was taking in my life. I wasn't ready for it. I just thought like kind of bought into the whole mommy wine culture like, oh, you're going through a hard time, have some wine, you know. Oh, you're celebrating. Have some wine, you know. Oh, we're going out, order a drink, you know.
Deb:I just bought into it and then all of a sudden I was thinking about it way more than I ever had in my life, in my 30s there'd be wine that would collect dust in my house. In my 40s I would be thinking, oh my gosh, how can I hide this bottle? You know how can I hide these bottles? Where can I throw this away that no one will know how much I'm drinking? I don't want someone to hear the clanking when I'm taking out the trash. That's embarrassing.
Deb:Okay, as you guys know, I love Giesen 0% wines. Their Savoyum blog is my go-to on a regular basis. They recently launched a delicious sparkling brewed 0%, which is quickly becoming a fan favorite. So proud to have Giesen as the exclusive non-alcoholic wine sponsor of the Thriving Alcohol Free podcast. Giesen 0% wines are created through the magic of advanced spinning-cone technology to remove the alcohol from their full-ended wines. The award-winning winemaker Duncan Shuler and his team have done wonders in Marlboro, new Zealand, by creating an entire family of 0% wines with all the flavor and deliciousness you expect from traditional quote full-ended wine. Their non-alcoholic wines maintain the aroma and the body to create a low-calorie wine that never contains more than 0.5 ADV. Globally available, look for Giesen 0% wines wherever you shop for your non-alcoholic options. Their family of alcohol-free wines include the most effervescent member of the family, the sparkling brewed 0%, which is absolutely delicious for any celebration. My personal favorite although I do love them all is the Savoyum Blanc coming in at only 100 calories for the entire bottle and, not to be missed, the other members of their 0% family the Riesling, the Premium Red Blend, the Rose Day, the Pinho Gris. With Giesen 0% wines, there's a de-alcoholized wine for everyone and every occasion. Give Giesen a try and let me know how much you love it. If you want to meet their winemaker, go back to episode 33 of the podcast, where Duncan Shuler joined me to share about the Giesen story.
Deb:2020 came Many of you, I'm sure, like the rest of the world, like many people in the world, I just thought okay, as long as I have wine, I'll be able to survive this, whatever we're going through, whatever happens here, whatever happens, whatever's shut down, I'll be fine. As long as there's dark night in this house, I buckled up, made sure I had plenty of bottles and spent most of the rest of that year waking up with a hangover. This was like well, we weren't on a schedule and you could stay up late and nobody was really paying attention. We were all kind of in our own, zoned out. I guess we're all doing our thing, kids were doing school online and life was a mess. Alcohol was just kind of helping numb the stress of all being stuck at home together.
Deb:During that time I would say towards the end of 2020, I started following some sober accounts on Instagram. Maybe you're doing the same thing right now. Maybe you're just sober curious. Maybe you're listening to podcasts and you're curious about being sober or what an alcohol-free lifestyle looks like. I'm so glad that you're here. That's how it started for me. I was just a little fascinated.
Deb:There was this lady that I followed on Instagram. Just a mom, just a mom. She doesn't have a sober coaching program. She doesn't have any business attached to anything about sobriety. She just would share. She was a single mom. When her boys would go to their dad's house, she would post about all the steps she was getting in, how many days she was free from alcohol. She would share about how good she felt, the clarity she felt in her mind. I was so I was really fascinated by it, but I was also. I was so impressed. I thought how is she doing this? How is she just not drinking? How are you not drinking? I couldn't imagine it. I couldn't imagine not drinking. I loved just watching her posts and listening to her talk about being free from alcohol. She would post videos and static posts and stuff. She always, always encouraged my heart.
Deb:I also followed sober Dave over in the UK, for whatever reason. I got following a lot of the UK sober accounts and was just so encouraged by his realness about the pain of alcohol and what it had caused the trouble and it caused him and I really just really resonated with my heart that I had to make some changes. I had to make some changes. So the last day of 2020. December 31st 2020 was my very first day being free from alcohol.
Deb:I broke up with Chardonnay and it was really, really hard. I am not going to candy coat it. After nine years of drinking more than I intended to, it was really hard. So now I will tell you it's fun. I'm on the fun side now, but in the very beginning it was very difficult.
Deb:I really wanted to pour wine into my glass at five o'clock. I really wanted to just stop at the store and grab a bottle. I was very, very, very tempted, but I was very determined. I wanted to just go. I wanted to just try to take like a month off. I thought if I can just take a month off, you know, then then maybe I can moderate, maybe then I can just have a glass of wine and not be thinking about the second one, or maybe I can buy a bottle of wine and it'll just last here in my house for a week or more. You know, that was kind of my goal.
Deb:But as I took my little break I started to feel a lot better. I started to sleep a lot better. I woke up without a hangover. I woke up and felt so proud of myself I wasn't walking around with shame anymore that I was drinking more than anybody knew I was drinking. Nobody knew, nobody really knew. Nobody knew how much I was thinking about it. Nobody knew how much I was struggling with my drinking. I knew from the outside. You know, people didn't know, but I knew. I knew what was going on in my head. I knew all the head noise and I knew how much I was consuming and I knew how much it was affecting me physically, mentally. So much brain fog, so much anxiety. I had so much anxiety and depression. I'm not a depressed person, I'm not someone who struggles with anxiety, but alcohol is like fuel for all of that and it was just like it was. Just I was fueling the fire of everything bad in my life by drinking too much.
Deb:So anyway, when I first took a break, I didn't tell anybody. I didn't tell my husband I should say that I didn't tell anybody my real life. I did tell people online, but I didn't tell anybody in my real life. I didn't tell my husband, I didn't tell my sisters, I didn't tell my best friend. I didn't tell anybody. I was like nobody's going to know, because they're not going to think I can do it. They're not going to think I can actually take a break. They're not going to think I can make it to the first weekend without my wine. I didn't think I'd make it to the first weekend without my wine. That's why I didn't tell anybody. I was like they're all going to know I'm going to fail. I don't think I'm going to make it, but anyway.
Deb:So when I first broke up with alcohol, when I was first taking that break, I was like okay, I had extra time in the evening. I wasn't buzzed, you know. I was like what am I going to do with all my time? I don't want to do puzzles. I hate to color. I don't want to do puzzles, I hate puzzles, I don't like games. What can I do? I can make videos on Instagram.
Deb:So so I started Mocktail Mom. That's how Mocktail Mom got started. I started my account Mocktail Mom is my Instagram handle and I started my account for two reasons. Number one I wanted to share the new things, the new drinks I was finding, the alcohol-free drinks I was discovering. And I wanted to also share with strangers, you know, internet strangers, instagram strangers. I wanted to share with them the struggles I was having, because I was really struggling.
Deb:You know, I remember being at Trader Joe's in the very beginning of my alcohol-free journey. And they have the grocery store, at least here in Kentucky, they have the grocery store Trader Joe's and then they have like a separate entrance for the wine store. And I remember I was in the grocery store part and I was just like I just want to go over to the wine store, which I normally went whenever I was Trader Joe's. But then I just want to go over to the wine section and lay down on the floor in front of the chardonnay and just a flail. You know, like a little three-year-old, a little two-year-old have a temper tantrum, like do you miss me? Do you miss me Because I miss you? I miss you. That's how I felt. I missed my stupid chardonnay. I missed it so bad so I hadn't told anybody in my real life. So I needed to tell, I needed to express that frustration and that just that feeling of like, what am I doing? How am I going to live this life? How am I going to live the rest of my life without alcohol? How am I going to live 30 days without alcohol? So that was how I started my Instagram account. That's how Maktel Mom got started was just sharing online the good things to drink.
Deb:Number one right here, ritual Tequila changed my life. When I started my account, one of the first drinks I posted was a spicy, alcohol-free margarita using Ritual Zero Proof Tequila. And I just I will never forget it because I remember thinking this is so good, this is so good, this is a perfect replacement Like this will help me surf the urge, because at five o'clock, I wanted to pour wine. I wanted to fill that glass back up. I was like, okay, it's five o'clock, mommy, time pour the wine. So I needed something to replace. You know, I needed a replacement. So having delicious alcohol-free options was a game changer for me, and so my spicy, alcohol-free margarita using Ritual Tequila was like right there, number one first drink, that really just kind of really like turned my head, like, wow, there are good things to drink, so I wanted to share those, so started sharing that on Instagram, started making lots of friends on Instagram and just connecting with brands and sharing just the fun, the joy of being sober.
Deb:There are hard times, especially in the beginning. There's hard days, but just take it. They say, oh, one day at a time. I heard that so many times. One day at a time. But it's so true, it's so true. You cannot think about oh so, and so's wedding is coming up in two months, and how am I going to be there and not drink? Or, oh, my birthday is next week. Like, how am I going to go to there and how am I going to go party and not drink? You just have to think about right now. Put on your blinders, put it on and just think about right now. You do not have to think about too far down the road. You don't. Don't even think about tomorrow.
Deb:Right now, right now, I am not drinking.
Deb:I don't say that I won't ever, ever drink again.
Deb:I probably won't.
Deb:I mean, I really probably won't. I feel so good but I don't feel trapped to say I'll never have a drink again. You know, I don't know, I don't know, but right now I am not drinking, right now I'm not, and I'm coming up on two years without one drop of alcohol, without anything. Nothing, I mean, except for mocktails and non-alcoholic wines and alcohol-free. You know non-alcoholic beers and that's what I'm drinking. You know I'm drinking, I'm just not drinking alcohol. So Anyway, all that to say, I just want you to be encouraged. Just don't think too far down the road and If there are hard times, that doesn't you're not doing something wrong.
Deb:You are working through it. You know there's a lot of. We show up to this Party to be alcohol-free with a lot of baggage. We bring a lot of stuff with us. So there's a lot to unpack, there's a lot to work through, but this podcast is going to be an encouragement for you of the fun that you can have, the joy that is waiting for you, the lifestyle of freedom that is waiting, that is just here for you, served up on a platter. I'm telling you, the good life is here For me.
Deb:Moderating doesn't work. For some people it does, and I am all for it if it works for you, you know. So again, no judgment, no labels. If somebody drinks, doesn't drink, it doesn't matter to me. I just want people to know, I want you to know, I want you to know that not drinking is okay, that not drinking is a wonderful option for your life, that being sober is fun, that being sober is a life filled with joy and freedom, authentic freedom, authentic freedom. So I think that's it. I think that's it.
Deb:This might be a wrap for episode one, holy cow. Okay, listen. First couple episodes here are gonna be solo episodes. Okay, I want to get to know you. I want you to get to know me a little bit. I'm a little crazy. I want you to know a little bit of my crazy. I want you to know who I am. But, um, mostly this podcast is going to be Interviews. It's gonna be conversations over mocktails.
Deb:We're not necessarily making a mocktail During the podcast. It doesn't work, like with the sound quality, you can't be clanking, shaking. But I do have a sober drinking club for women, a private Facebook group, a private community. We get together on a zoom once a week and we make a. We have like a happy, happy half hour I call it happy half hour we make a mocktail together. So if you want to learn about making alcohol free drinks, join me there because it's so fun and you can see, you can just see the fun of being free from alcohol and you can, you know, taste, literally taste the delicious things to drink. We share recipes and Every week I have a new mocktail that we're making and we talk about non-alcohol beers, alcohol free wines.
Deb:So you know there's, there is a way to go deeper than just the podcast. So come, you know, come drink with me, come drink with me all day long. You can do day drinking, we can do mocktail making, and the evenings, whatever it is you can do when you're not drinking alcohol. So mostly the podcast is gonna be Conversations over mocktails. On the podcast we won't actually be making the mocktail, we'll be making mocktails on my, in my private community, in my sober drinking club for women. It's called thriving alcohol free. Huh, imagine that it's called thriving alcohol free, a sober drinking club for women. So come join me if you want to and Get plugged in. It's not a sober program, but it is just a place to be encouraged that the fun isn't over a place to Drink alcohol free drinks, and you know, just realize that there are so many good things to drink.
Deb:So, anyway, I just want to share my story with you. I want you to know like who I am, who's this crazy girl in Kentucky? You know, who's making drinks and sharing the freedom of Living, thriving, without alcohol. So big time cheers to you from the great state of Kentucky, so happy to do this podcast with you. Cannot wait to see you on the next episode. Big time cheers to you for tuning into 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 in 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.