13 Lessons in 13 Years of Sobriety: Hard Truths, Healing, and Hope for Your Alcohol-Free Journey

Episode 236:  13 Lessons in 13 Years of Sobriety: Hard Truths, Healing, and Hope for Your Alcohol-Free Journey 

In episode 236 of the Sober Vibes podcast, Courtney Andersen talks about the 13 years of living alcohol-free. She has learned some powerful lessons about what it takes to get sober, stay sober, and thrive in your sober life.

Courtney is sharing her 13 biggest takeaways from her journey, truths she wishes she had known when she was starting out. Whether you’re sober curious, in your first year, or navigating the tricky space between year one and year two, these lessons will give you hope, direction, and practical strategies to keep moving forward.

What you will learn in this episode:

• Why you don’t need to hit “rock bottom” to change your life
• The messy truth about slips and how to recover from them without shame
• How to rebuild trust with yourself after years of drinking
• Why the first year is so different from every year after
• The role of rest, forgiveness, and boundaries in lasting sobriety
• How to create a sober life you love (and don’t want to escape from)

Sobriety isn’t just about removing alcohol; it’s about building a life that feels full, free, and authentically yours. Courtney's hope is that these lessons give you the tools and inspiration to do just that.

Resources Mentioned:

Sobriety Circle 

Breakthrough 

Sober Vibes Book 

The After

PODCAST SPONSOR:

This episode is sponsored by Soberlink, a trusted accountability tool for anyone navigating early recovery. Whether you're rebuilding trust with loved ones or want more structure in your sobriety, Soberlink offers a discreet and empowering way to stay on track.

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Hope this episode helps you today!

Thank you for listening! Help the show by Rating, Reviewing, and/or Subscribing to the Sober Vibes Podcast.

Connect w/ Courtney:
Instagram
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Apply for 1:1 Coaching
Order the Sober Vibes Book

Chapters

• 0:31 13 Years of Sobriety Lessons
• 3:20 My Rock Bottom Story
• 12:10 Lessons 1-4: Starting Your Journey
• 18:53 Lessons 5-9: Feeling Everything
• 26:19 Lessons 10-13: Building a Better Life
• 34:09 Why Staying Sober Is Worth It

Transcript

Courtney Andersen: 0:31

On August 18th I'll celebrate 13 years of sobriety and today I'm sharing the 13 biggest lessons I've learned along the way. Welcome back to the Sober Vibes Podcast. I'm your host and sober coach, courtney Anderson, and helping you live a kick-ass life without alcohol. You are listening to episode 236. So today we're talking about 13 years of sobriety.

Courtney Andersen: 0:54

August 18th, I celebrate my sober anniversary, which is really, you know, become when I quit, starting on that first year mark, one of my favorite days of the year. I like this day. I like my sober birthday better than now my regular birthday. Okay, you know, my son's birthday is my favorite day of the year and this comes into a close second. So I want to share with you today, just kind of like reflecting, and share 13 lessons I've learned along the way, because I think that these can help, especially too, especially if you are in, if you're trying to quit, or you're in those first couple of years and, believe you me, when I participated in AA, that very short period of time for those first couple of weeks when I got sober and I will never forget, this man said he was like 10 years sober and I was so riddled with anxiety at this meeting. I still remember this to this day. My jaw was almost on the ground because it's like how the hell am I going to do this? So if you're feeling that way as you listen to this dude, I get it, I totally get it. It's overwhelming, especially in that beginning. But after a couple of years you then let's just say this okay, after that fifth year, really that sixth year, then it just becomes normal life. Sixth year, then it just becomes normal life. Those first five years are really, really, really you building a new life for yourself and getting comfortable in a world that is full of alcohol and you getting comfortable in your own skin and on the healing journey and recovering from the years of abusing your body. That is simple facts. And those first five years are early sobriety, okay. But so if you're in like those first couple days, just know you can get here too. I would have, if you would have told me that in those first you know, those first couple years, those first couple months, that I would have 13 years of sobriety. I would have kicked you straight up.

Courtney Andersen: 3:09

So if you are new here and you haven't heard my story, I'm just going to recap it a little bit. If not, you can go back to the very first episode and listen to the full report of my story. I woke up that day. I woke up on August 18th. It was like many times before, in a 10-year period of alcohol where I a relationship with alcohol where I woke up and I was like still extremely drunk, didn't know what happened and I was told that I had lost my rescue cat, fiona, for a second time and my boyfriend at the time he was not stoked, he was very pissed and I was like no, no, no, she's fine. A couple hours later I fully get up and realized that my cat was really gone and we could not find her and that my boyfriend at the time was like beyond pissed, okay, and that I that evening apparently I threatened his life that we have a joke about now, but it wasn't really funny in those first couple of years, okay, and that I that evening apparently I threatened his life that we have a joke about now, but it wasn't really funny in those first couple of years. Okay, you can't really joke with your partner about threatening their lives until years down the road. So just an FYI, if that ever comes up, if you ever want to make light of it with somebody. So at that point you know he had told me he was like, look, you can continue on with this, but I am not going to stick around. He was like, again, you choose what you want to do, but if, if, there's alcohol involved, I'm not staying. At that point man and I had lived together for a. We have been dating for a year and a half and I think living together at that point about a year.

Courtney Andersen: 4:46

So I sat in a three-day hangover. That was God awful, because there was so much shame. And there was so much shame because it really was like a 10 year, like all 10 years really truly hit me because I felt so bad about losing sweet Fiona for a second time and then having Matt so upset because I know I kid a lot and I like to laugh a lot, but at that point threatening his life, it wasn't funny in those couple of days, you know, and sitting in that hangover, dry, heaving in our guest bedroom just on the ground and not giving a rip about it like disgusting, that is pig behavior. So I finally found Fiona after the third day and it was like a movie. It was one of those times you'll hear a lot of people say that they had like this movie moment, almost, or this moment that was so clear to them that they knew it was over. And for me it was that when I had picked this cat up and she was so scared, she peed on me well-deserved. And you know, before I even found her, in those three days, I made a pact with the universe and I said you know, if I find her, I'm going to quit drinking for good.

Courtney Andersen: 6:07

Because here's the thing I had been trying to moderate my drinking for four years prior to that one moment. So I had spent 10 years in a relationship with alcohol, was addicted to alcohol, did consider myself an alcoholic, and but those four years it was when I hit 25, I had a moment where I was like there's going to be a day that I have to give up drinking I don't know when, I don't know how, but that was my gut talking to me of like this is going to happen, right. And then, from four years, from 25 to 29, that was really trying to control something that I had no control over. And that is okay, because guess what? As human beings, we do not have control over everything, and I think that's the biggest problems with people like us, people like you or me, and you and you're listening to this, it's a control thing. Listening to this, it's a control thing.

Courtney Andersen: 7:10

And once alcohol hit my lips, it was like I felt that switch go off in my brain and it was like lights out. Regret my days drinking no, because 10% of the time I actually had a really good time and I wasn't blacking out and I wasn't a pig person, and there's a lot of memories I have that drinking is associated with it and it's good. So I will never not embrace the full spectrum of it, because I had some good times and to me, not embracing those bad times, it wouldn't get me to the point of where I am at today. So I don't pretend like it never happened. I've spent years of therapy too, of dealing with some trauma and getting to the place that I am now.

Courtney Andersen: 7:52

But I want you to really understand that at 25, I knew it and it wasn't like I'm going to quit drinking alcohol. Today it's like, okay, let me try to put rules on this. No shots right. Like go a couple weeks without it to prove to yourself and others like oh, that you can function and not be an animal. But the point was that I couldn't. So when it got to August 17th and that was the last night I was drinking, there was just no control, even though I went into that evening being like I won't do this, I won't do that, I won't do that, okay, and I did all of those things and that was the fallout right.

Courtney Andersen: 8:33

I truly do believe that you don't know the last time that you're going to drink until it was the last time for you. I'm sure a lot of people do plan it out, which is probably a small percentage. I'm sure there's a small percentage of people who are like, okay, come December 31st, that's the last night of drinking and then they made that happen. But I think for a large group of people the numbers of it that you don't know that's the last time you're gonna have to tell alcohol until it's done. And for me that was the last time because, even though I had a bajillion episodes and quote unquote rock bottoms that were way worse, trust me, way worse than me losing even though losing your cat is really high up there on the D-bag list it's still there was many worse things that I had done. Where that wasn't the moment, I do believe that your rock bottom moment is just that. It's the moment that you're just like I'm done, I can't do this anymore, and that is okay.

Courtney Andersen: 9:44

So for me, it was August, waking up, august 18th. Somebody asked me one time they're like, do I count my sober days? Like the day I decide I'm not drinking. I'm like, oh no, please do it the day after the night of drinking and like that is your day one, okay, cause I'm not giving up those three days that I spent in that guest bedroom where I was dry, heaving on the floor. Those mattered, okay.

Courtney Andersen: 10:09

So, and here I am, 13 years later, and the one thing that is always comes up for me that when I reflect back in, and every year on August 18th, when I wake up that morning, clearly I'm recording this before August 18th, as you understand, the date that it's released, but on August 18th I will always wake up that morning and reflect back to me waking up 13 years ago and where my life used to be. Because I still at this point of my life and will continue, I will 100%, always keep it humbled. I will humble my ass through each year, because for anybody, nobody's got it like that and that is why I like to humble myself and remember where I came from and how I lived for 10 years, because that can how I live now can be easily taken away, not saying that my need for I don't have a need for alcohol there, but I can't. I don't know what's going to happen tomorrow. You know what I mean. Like I don't know, nobody does so, and people can get triggered off. I don't know Nobody does so and people can get triggered off of. You know life events. It's happened. We're human beings. So I like to keep myself humble and I recommend you doing the same thing. That's why I've always said, especially with clients, when I work with them, it's like you have got to remember where you once were. You don't need to live in it, but you have to remember where alcohol took you, because once you get out of that cycle and you're not drinking anymore, it's very easy to forget, and that is why I've always connected with Courtney drinking. I've always continued to reconnect with that through the years on anniversaries, to remember where I want to go, okay. So these are the 13 lessons I wanted to share with you today. I will link the first episode in the show notes below, and two you can hear how the Sober Vibes podcast has evolved, because I was really nervous when I did that first episode.

Courtney Andersen: 12:24

So the 13 lessons Number one you don't need to hit rock bottom to change your life, you don't. Okay, a lot of people think that you do need, like, this huge rock bottom. Right, I told you I had rock bottoms before, but it wasn't until this because it was like I was good and tired. You can start this anytime, and for a lot of people too, even if you know that this is a problem, okay that you know drinking is a problem. You have got to at some point stop it before it becomes a bigger problem for you. Truly, you have, and I will share this story.

Courtney Andersen: 13:05

I had a person reach out. We did a consult. She wanted to end up doing one-on-one coaching. She reached out and then a couple days later had gotten a DUI. Like that is the type of stuff that I'm talking about, because DUIs are life ruiners. They're a changer to your life, right, and whether you end up hurting somebody, hurting yourself, or then you're stuck in that court system and then having that on your record for the rest of your life, not to mention the guilt that you would feel for it.

Courtney Andersen: 13:38

So you've got to take the control now before it gets way, way, way worse for yourself and it's going to get way, way, way worse for yourself and it's going to get way, way, way worse for anybody. So you might think right now like, well, it's not that bad, well, where could it go to? Okay, because nobody who is. If you were questioning your dream, you're not listening to sober podcasts and following sober accounts. If you're, if you don't have a problem, truly you're not, unless you're somebody who's listening because you have a loved one who has a problem, okay. But like, in reality, if you're pressing, play on this today, there has been an issue and it's okay because alcohol is a highly addictive substance. All right, nobody, nobody is protected from it. So stop it before it gets worse.

Courtney Andersen: 14:31

Number two the first year is a total rebirth, so you need to treat yourself with grace. I can't even tell you how many times I have said this, but it's like that first year you are a newborn baby inside Insert whatever age you are body. So when I quit drinking, I was 29. I was like six weeks shy of being 30, right. So when I came out of that and entering in my 30s, I'm like I felt like a tiny tot. I was a person where I felt like a baby, where then I had to relearn how to live. Right, and you're becoming somebody new in who, in yourself. Right, this is a whole new identity shift as well. It's not just like oh, courtney quit drinking. It was like, no, courtney quit drinking and then needed to figure out how to live without alcohol and then had to grieve her old self and then to had to come into this new identity. There's a lot that goes on.

Courtney Andersen: 15:31

So you don't need to be perfect that year. You don't need to beat yourself up. If you need a effing cupcake, eat the cupcake, okay. You don't need to beat yourself up. If you need a effing cupcake, eat the cupcake, okay. You don't need to beat yourself up if you're not working out yet, like, it will all come in time. Trust me when I say that it will come in time. When you are ready to take on the next thing. Some days, especially that first year, it is like man, I just got to breathe today and brush my teeth and watch some shows and that is all you're going to do some days, and that is okay. You are not a machine, so be patient with yourself.

Courtney Andersen: 16:08

Number three slips don't equal failure. They reveal what needs to be more. Okay, and when I say that it's really like it needs, you need to figure out with the slips what do I need more of? Sometimes it's good you can't do it all on your own and you can't put that much pressure to have it do it on your own, especially with this. The more you get around people who understand it, the more it will help you. Or were you hanging out with somebody that it's just when the slip happens? I'm just giving examples. Were you hanging out with somebody that it's just when the slip happens? I'm just giving you examples. Were you hanging out with somebody who is maybe not such a good influence on you? And everybody has those friends where it's I get into trouble with her Maybe. I just need to take a pause for a few, right? So you really got to look at those slips as lessons and you will continue to learn from them. Hey, good people of the world, it's Courtney, and if you're in your first year or your fifth year of sobriety, let's be real.

Courtney Andersen: 17:09

Summers can be tough, like a very, very, very challenging. It took me a couple summers to finally feel comfortable. There's something about warm weather parties and poolside drinks that can make it feel like everybody's drinking but you. But just because drinking culture ramps up, especially during this time, doesn't mean your progress has to slow down. That's where a tool like SoberLink can help. It's a high-tech breathalyzer that helps people in recovery stay accountable, not through shame, but through structure, scheduled daily tests. Let you share instant, verified results with the people who support you, so you don't have to do it alone, worried someone might question your results. They can't, because Soberlink uses facial recognition and tamper detection, so there's no way to cheat it. Whether you're rebuilding trust or you just want that extra layer of support this summer, soberlink is here to help you stay the course of your journey. I've witnessed people benefit from Soberlink and I want you to be the next. Visit wwwsoberlinkcom. Forward slash sober dash vibes to sign up and receive 50% off your device today. You can also check the link in the show notes below Number four loneliness fades, but community must be built.

Courtney Andersen: 18:30

So this is what I'm saying and this is why I have these kind of back to back. No one is going to magically save you, but you. So this is where, again, you saving yourself and then building a community of people around you who get it is going to be one of the most helpful things that you can do, even if that's just. You have a girlfriend who quit drinking a couple years prior to you. You go to AA meetings. You join an online support group, like just people around who can uplift and support you.

Courtney Andersen: 19:03

Number five you'll feel everything you've numbed. Get ready, and I say that with love, but that's okay. You have to remember you've been numbing stuff for years with alcohol. So this is a good thing. That's happening. It's coming to the surface. It means that you are a human being in your healing. I want to tell you too when you go through a healing process, it is very common to want to go inward and to get quiet and you might not be interested in some of the things that you once were, and that's okay, because that's again part of the process.

Courtney Andersen: 19:41

Number six you can be sober and it'd be fun. Can you believe that? I can, because I'm fun. So you really have to ditch this mindset of sober is boring. You just don't see a different side because you haven't crossed that yet and you probably thought for a very long time that being sober was boring. I did. I did that ass. I did where I'm like, oh, what do you do? And then it wasn't until I got into it and then had people ask me what I did for fun, where I was like, oh, okay, I get it, because when you're so hyper-focused on something and that's all that is, it is about your life Then. Or if you need that to go out socially and like that's how you have fun socially, you're going to be in that mindset forever. But there is plenty of fun things to do.

Courtney Andersen: 20:31

This really does come down to mindset and you have to keep remembering to yourself. It's like are hangovers fun at this point anymore? After 40, right? Like, is the shame cycle fun after a couple days? Like, no, is not remembering a concert fun? It's not. These are all things that. It's just like it was a lie, like alcohol is one big fat Liar liar pants on fire. But this is where you will start seeing the more sober days you do have and the more you go out there and experience life where you're like, oh, that was a good time and I didn't need a drink for it.

Courtney Andersen: 21:09

Seven triggers can change over time, so you must use your coping tools. Okay, and the triggers you have at day one are going to be totally different than the triggers you have at, like, year three. And what worked for you in year one with the tools might not serve you at year five. So for me, this is why I had always as part two. This is why I had always as part two. I never, even to this day, at 13 years, I have always sought out help outside of myself, and that's what I recommend for anyone listening to this. Now that help can look different. That help could look like okay, you did AA for a couple of years and now you want to move on. Maybe you wanted to do a sober coach in the beginning and then you wanted to go explore AA. Maybe that's looking at a therapist or a life coach or group. It all looks different to everybody. But continuously, I'm not saying get help for yourself every day, but in pockets of time when you need that help, explore new health options or new help options.

Courtney Andersen: 22:19

Number eight there's no one right way to recover. There's just not, and especially in 2025. Now there's so many options to get help, all right. So the only right way to recover is the way that works for you. So you have to choose what empowers you, and you're not doing sobriety wrong if you are not going to meetings, or if you were California sober, that, or if you're on antidepressants, you're not doing sobriety wrong. I am one for harm reduction. So whatever again works for you to get you to that point of if your drug of choice is alcohol and that is you're not having a good time with that anymore, then you figure out what works. You can also, too, grab my book, because if you're in the first 30 days or the first couple months or trying to quit drinking, a lot of my book is set up for you to figure out what works best for you along the process.

Courtney Andersen: 23:25

Number nine forgiveness. Self-forgiveness is key. I know it's going to take a long time, but you have to put that practice in a little each day. There's on my Sober Vibes Instagram account. There's have to put that practice in a little each day. There's my Sober Vibes Instagram account. There's one board that I recycle quite a bit and I want you to use it more of as an affirmation I forgive myself. I forgive myself for taking so long to give up alcohol and something like that.

Courtney Andersen: 23:56

I'll put the quote I made in the show notes, but you have to use it like an affirmation and even if you say it, because you get to a point in your sobriety journey where you're like, man, I wish I would have done this sooner, but that sooner version of you would not have quit, because maybe you've tried to quit at 35, but now you're 45 and you're like, okay, I'm done and you've. You now have six months and you're just like. You go through that. That's where that's a little bit of like the grieving process, because you'll you'll feel sad at moments where it's like, oh, you know, especially as you get older, you realize how important time is. You start looking at time differently. When I had the dictator, like day two, it was like the thought, the time, time as a whole was so different for me once I had a kid. So just know that that past version of yourself wouldn't have stopped and you stopped when it was time for you to stop. So keep forgiving yourself, okay. And two for the actions if there's stuff that you need to forgive yourself, work through that and you will be able to get past it.

Courtney Andersen: 25:16

Number 10, the people who don't get it aren't your people. Bottom line you don't need to explain anybody your healing journey. You don't need to explain anybody to why you quit drinking. If they don't get it, they don't get it, and it's not on us to make anybody get it. They get it or they don't. And the people who are like, oh, that's awesome and are there to support you, let them support you and lean into those people.

Courtney Andersen: 25:43

Eleven, rest is not laziness, it is required. Too many of us beat ourselves up for needing to take 30 minutes or an hour to recoup some energy, especially to when you get sober, you're going to start realizing what type of person you are. Especially, too, when you get sober, you're going to start realizing what type of person you are, and when I'm talking about the introvert, extrovertness if you're a highly sensitive person, you need more of that rest. A lot of people, too. You walk a fine line of being an extrovert, introvert, okay, and so then you need to recharge yourself. Like quitting drinking, because you go through that detox period and because everything is so heightened, is very easy to get tired and be tired. So allow yourself that rest.

Courtney Andersen: 26:32

I love a good rest. I love towel time, and that, to me, rejuvenates my soul. If you do not know what towel time is, it is you get out of the shower with your towel on your head and then you just go lay in your bed and stare up at the ceiling oh man, anyone else, borderline, sociopath but it's just, it's rejuvenating and it's resting and that is just something I love to do. I don't get it as often but that, to me, if I get one hour of towel time, it is like six months worth of rest. It's really it. And don't get on your phone, just sit there and let yourself rest. Plus, you're coming out of the shower too, so you're in a more relaxed state, but just know you can rest. Plus, you're coming out of the shower too, so you're in a more relaxed state, but just know you can rest. Rest is doing something and your body needs it. Your nervous system needs it, and it will also help you get more comfortable in your skin where you're not don't feel like you need to be walking around your house all the time, or where, like you, can finally sit down and watch a movie.

Courtney Andersen: 27:35

Number 12,. Alcohol wasn't the problem, it was the solution. Right, and you will understand this until you build a life you don't want to escape from, and that's the whole thing. There is a reason. With alcohol, there's usually a lot more going on underneath the surface, right Of why, then we drink to begin with right, and on the same side of that too, it's we drink to cope. But then it also becomes this awful habit. But there's a lot of issues that you want to bury down and drink to escape. So when you get into the sober space and start creating this new life for yourself, you are not going to want to escape from it. And that is facts.

Courtney Andersen: 28:28

Again, you could have told me at day 30, like, do you you're going to want to escape from your life in 13 years? Like no, and it takes some time to build that and to get comfortable with yourself. And it's not going to happen within those first six months of sobriety. So that's where you got to pull the reins a little bit and pump the brakes of. You don't need to be at this certain place by six months If you're not feeling good yet. That's okay, it's going to come on your timing. You can't rush it and stop comparing yourself to others and just know you will get there. And the sobriety thing too, it's not you don't arrive at this destination. It's like you arrive at little stations along the way of this journey Okay, or it's oh, okay.

Courtney Andersen: 29:18

And there might be something I might say in one of these podcast episodes where then, five years down the road, you're like, oh, I get what she's talking about. I remember her talking about this when I used to listen, or listen to her show early on. Right, I remember this and now I can apply it and it makes sense because a lot of what I speak about it's really speaking to you quitting, and up until those five years and like again, I'm great If you graduate from this podcast for five, feel goodbye. I hope it helps. I don't want you listening to me forever. I don't. I want you to go out and explore new things and I want you to take this. You need it. You know what I mean. So, cause I don't ever want anybody to go through that recovery, burnout, because that's real, that sobriety burnout's real and then you end up resenting people and being like F you and then pushing it away. You know, and I don't ever want anybody to think of this space like that. So, again, that is why I suggest listening to other podcasts. I suggest listening to other podcasts outside of the sober space and really focus on podcasts too, if you're looking more of that personal development, self-help, of stuff that you need help with. So, obviously, yes, sobriety, but then if there's like an anxiety issue, then start listening about anxiety and how you can start focusing on how you can help yourself more of that.

Courtney Andersen: 30:50

Right? Number 13, you are allowed to be proud of who you become and celebrate your milestones. Celebrate it every day, even if that's just giving yourself a pat on the back, because you deserve that, and a person who doesn't have an issue with alcohol doesn't understand how hard this is. So give yourself a pat on the back. Say that you're proud of yourself, even if you are five years in, like, yeah, that you did this, amazing, and keep going with it. You know, and that's the thing. That's the thing.

Courtney Andersen: 31:29

It gets to a point where it's eventually just like your way of your default mode doesn't even go into like I want to drink. It goes into. I need to go home and take a walk. I need to go home and get myself into bed early because I just need a good night's sleep. I need to go home and put on my red light therapy mask and read my book. I need to go home and eat a cupcake. I need to go home and drink four Waterloos back to back. It doesn't even go to. I need a drink. It just doesn't.

Courtney Andersen: 32:05

Because you just start living and, like I said, you just start to live and not like you know, I'm living this sober life. It's just I'm living, you know, and that will happen for you. So I want to thank you all and for me, when it comes back to thinking about that, because I was just in that thought, when I think of that, it's like my life is a complete 180. And for the Courtney who was in this addiction with alcohol, looking back at her it makes me sad, right, because that Courtney didn't want to live. And that former version of myself God, I hate talking like this, but I hate that Courtney, but that former version of myself. I still get sad for that girl from time to time Because there was a couple times that I didn't want to live. My drinking was led me down a path of.

Courtney Andersen: 33:10

I don't think I would be here today if I would have kept drinking alcohol and it's not even like now. You just know people who fall and hit their heads and end up in comas and don't make it out, or people who drink and then where it completely takes over and there's no turning back for them. So I am just very, very grateful to be here with where I'm at now and actually truly loving myself, and not to be in a place of desperation, because that's what that was for so many years of just desperation and being stuck and not being free. And, as cheesy as it sounds, that is a true freedom. When you stop drinking and when you get out of that cycle, that cycle and like, once you get out of it, just stay out of it, because it is going to get so much harder for you to keep going back and then detoxing and then a couple months later getting back, because there could be a point where you go back to drinking and you don't come back from it. And especially to the older we get, it's going to just get harder and harder. So once you stay out of it, just stay out of it and connect again, figure out what type of help you need.

Courtney Andersen: 34:38

You have to remember your why that yes, it is worth living and to give sobriety as many chances as you gave alcohol. And so when people are like, oh, would you ever go back to drinking or could you just have one, like now and it's like, I've thought of it, like could I? But I'm like, no, I didn't know, because I don't even one, I wouldn't even want to risk that right. And two, I don't have it in me to do another day one, that was not a joyous time. It's not a joyous time for anybody. I don't even care if you get the pink cloud. Once you get out of it, stay out of it, because nothing good is going to happen when you drink alcohol again. It's just going to go by quicker and you're going to end up being like how did I get back to this point? I've seen it. I've seen it a thousand times.

Courtney Andersen: 35:32

For four years I tried to control something that again was uncontrollable and it's just not worth it, especially to when you start feeling some good in your life. You know that's another topic for another day with the self-sabotage, but, like when you start feeling good, you deserve that good and ride that out and continuing because it's just going to get better and better and better. So thank you so much for tuning into the Silver Vibes podcast. So, thank you so much for tuning into the Silver Vibes podcast. I'm just very, I feel very grateful to be here and to turn 13. I truly, truly, truly do from the bottom of my heart, and it's just. It's a good place to be, as in living life without alcohol, it's a good place to be, as in living life without alcohol, it's a good place to be. So, again, thank you for listening. If you haven't yet, please rate, review and subscribe to the show.

Courtney Andersen: 36:41

Always feel free to reach out to me on Sober Vibes, on my Instagram page, sober Vibes, or you can shoot me an email. So if you're just starting out or you're somewhere in the messy middle, know this Again. I've been where you are and I so remember those days and understand what it feels like to be there. I get it. So if you're craving guidance, support and tools to build your sober life, come hang with me inside the sobriety circle.

Courtney Andersen: 37:06

Or feel free to book a sober breakthrough session so you don't have to do this alone. And two there just might be something that could you know inside my programs, help you more in your sober journey. Or like especially two for my sober breakthrough sessions to kind of get you unstuck of having somebody kind of look outside of what's been going on with why you keep going back A lot of people. It comes down to self-sabotage. It truly does, because you don't feel like you're worth that good feeling like I was describing. So I will put the links in the show notes below. Again, thank you for listening and keep on trucking and stay safe out there.