Thriving Alcohol-Free with Mocktail Mom

EP 117 | The Joy of Sobriety with Mocktail Mom & Podcast Update

• Deb, Mocktail Mom • Season 1 • Episode 117

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Deb, the Mocktail Mom, returns from a brief hiatus to share updates on her alcohol-free journey and exciting changes coming to the podcast. After 4.5 years without alcohol, she continues to find joy and gratitude in sobriety while focusing on spending quality time with her family before her youngest daughter leaves for college.

• Four and a half years alcohol-free with no regrets and continuing joy
• Spending summer focused on family time before becoming an empty nester
• Weekly Mocktail Social Club happy half hours providing connection and support
• Members celebrating sobriety milestones from days to years
• The beginning of sobriety is challenging with no "express pass," but it is worth pushing through
• After time passes, alcohol stops taking up mental headspace (99% gone)
• Season Two of the podcast will feature making mocktails with guests
• Hot Flash Summer Mocktail Recipes guide now available, see below

Grab the Hot Flash Summer Mocktail Recipes guide for refreshing alcohol-free options! 

Email your thoughts about the podcast intro and mocktail suggestions for Season Two to deb@mocktailmom.com 


Send me a message about the show!

Click HERE to grab my FREE Hot Flash Summer Mocktail Recipes.

Click HERE to get a copy of my FREE Mocktail Resource Guide.

You are loved. Big Time Cheers!

Speaker 1:

Buckle up, 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, where 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 Thriving Alcohol-Free. How are you? I am so happy that you are here, so excited to connect with you. I've been on a little bit of a hiatus and I have been missing you guys. I've really really been missing connecting through our podcast and I cannot tell you how grateful I am for the kind messages Some of you have reached out and said like how's it going? When are you coming back? When's the podcast coming back? So I just wanted to pop in check in with you guys, let you know what's going on.

Speaker 1:

I want to say happy dry July or dry-ish July for those of you who are participating. I'm participating on. I want to say happy dry July or dry-ish July for those of you who are participating. I'm participating again. I think this is my fourth. Is it my fourth dry July? I don't know. I'm four and a half years alcohol free. So, whatever that makes me my fourth or my fifth, I don't know. I guess it's my fifth. Let's see 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024. Yeah, 2025. Okay, good, I'm really good with math. You guys know I'm not good with math. This is my fifth dry July, four and a half years alcohol-free, and is absolutely unbelievable. I still can't believe it. I wake up in the morning without a hangover and I'm so, so grateful it doesn't go away. The joy of living an alcohol-free life for me has not gone away after over 1,600 days. So, anyway, so many things have been going on, but I just want to pop in, give you guys an update on what's happening in terms of like with the podcast, the future of the podcast. Good news, all good news, all good things happening. So I want to update you on that and just kind of life stuff, just kind of do a little check-in and say like hey, I'm still here.

Speaker 1:

I've just been really trying to be present with Lily. This is her last few months here at home. We're actually down to, I think, a month. I think today is like a month, I think a month. From today I'll be moving her into Murray, her school, murray State down in southern Kentucky. So she'll be about three and a half hours away, which is actually where my older daughter lives, because she went there for school and got married and she lives in that town too. So the girls will be together, but this girl and Coco and Larry will be here at home. We'll be empty nesters. So it's going to be a big, big adjustment. But anyway, yes, lily graduated in May.

Speaker 1:

So last time I chatted with you guys, kind of one-on-one here, was in April when we were in Branson, missouri, for Lily's spring break. I was there with Lily and my daughter Hannah. We had an awesome time. Branson highly recommend, not the mocktail capital of the world but we had a wonderful time. And then this summer we've really just been enjoying, like getting to the pool, and we've done some vacationing.

Speaker 1:

We went to Larry and Lily and I went to Williamsburg, virginia. It was about a million degrees. We walked around there and saw how the people lived back in the 1700s and I just. And then we also went to Jamestown, which is how they lived in the 1600s when they first came here and, holy cow, I just thought there's, there's no way I would not have made it. I would not have made it, I would have gone and just laid down in a field and it would have been over for me. These people. So I have a lot of respect for, for those who paved the way for our wonderful country, very, very grateful.

Speaker 1:

But we had to do some history stuff. And then we went to Busch Gardens and Larry and Lily rode the roller coasters and I just did some surfing from one bench to the next, which is the best way to do an amusement park when you're 53. I did one roller coaster. It was like one of those rickety wooden roller coasters and it didn't go upside down. So I was like I'll go on it. So I went on it and then I was like I'm good, I'm good, thank you, peace out, you guys have fun. So I had a great time, but Lil's a graduate of high school. We had some great Korean barbecue after she finished her graduation, and it's just been a really, really nice summer.

Speaker 1:

Personally, I've just kind of pulled back from a lot of things I was doing Obviously, the podcast I haven't been dropping episodes every Tuesday, but just pulled back from some things to just say, hey, I need to take my foot off the gas A lot of the initiatives that I was doing and really be able to just spend time together. So it's been really. It's been really nice. Okay, what's been really nice? Okay, what's been happening, though, besides all the vacationing and pool time is thriving alcohol free, which actually the the.

Speaker 1:

My membership is now the Mocktail Social Club. So inside the club, though each week, we still have continued to have weekly happy half hours, and it's been so much fun. I cannot even tell you how much I look forward to our Zooms. We get on Zoom, we connect, we make a mocktail together, and it is just a wonderful place for connection and drinking. I mean, that's my whole thing is like the fun's not over and there are still good things to drink, and that is what the whole thing is about over at the Mocktail Social Club. It is all about the fun's not over. We get together, we have fun and just support one another. There's been several ladies in the Mocktail Social Club who've just celebrated over 100 days alcohol free Phenomenal like triple digits, some just hit double digits, but I mean that's such a milestone. Actually, I mean any day is a milestone Day one, day two, day three.

Speaker 1:

If you're doing Dry July, maybe you're on day 16, well, day 15, I think when this will come out, this episode will come out on. I'm looking at my calendar right now. The episode is going to come out on the 15th. So maybe you're on just day 15, not just. Maybe you're on day 15 when you're hearing this podcast and I. Maybe you're on day 15 when you're hearing this podcast and I'm so happy for you, I'm so thrilled for you. That is a huge accomplishment.

Speaker 1:

Or if you're just doing dry-ish July, you're just being more mindful. I am so happy for you. That is a big change. It's a big change and I celebrate that. I just want you to know how encouraged you should feel that you're just being more mindful or you've totally stepped back from the alcohol and you're really taking a break. Great. I hope you're feeling good.

Speaker 1:

I hope at this point you know, two weeks in, that you're feeling a lot better, that you're feeling some of the benefits, because in the beginning it's hard, it's just hard. There's no way around it. You can't. You can't like just go under it or get around it, like you have to go through the hard for it to get to the place where, right now, I mean I just actually had lunch with a gal. She was actually the first member of the Mocktail Social Club, member numero uno, founding member numero uno, jennifer Page. She just had her 1000th day alcohol free and so we had lunch together to celebrate that and it's huge and we were talking both of us like it's not on our mind.

Speaker 1:

It doesn't take up headspace. Alcohol doesn't take up any headspace anymore. It doesn't say there aren't times where maybe we're tempted or there's that little urge or a little bit of like, oh gosh, it'd be nice. It's just 99% of it is gone and it just takes time to get there. It takes time to get there and there's no way around. There's no express pass. We were going to get the express pass at Busch Gardens so that you can get on the rides faster. There's no express pass to sobriety. There's no express pass to it getting easier. You have to go through the hard and the beginning part is the hardest.

Speaker 1:

So, anyway, I just want to encourage you, wherever you are, in your alcohol-free journey or your sober curious journey. I am cheering you on. I was a cheerleader in high school and that spirit, my heart of cheerleading, continues. So, okay, let's see, I have some notes here because, as you guys know, I forget all the time what I'm trying to say. Let me just look down at my notes and make sure I've told you. Okay, I told you about our weekend. Oh, this is what I wanted to tell you, thank you. I'm so glad Thank you Thanking my notes that I wrote this down. I wanted to tell you guys I Hot Flash Summer Mocktail Recipes, a little downloadable guide that is available. I've been kind of promoting it wherever on social media, but I wanted to put it in the show notes for you guys so you can grab it as well.

Speaker 1:

Hot Flash Summer Mocktail Recipes. There's about five recipes in here and then a couple of links to, I think, three different non-alcoholic brands that I. Well, there's many that I love, but I just put three in here just to kind of like say here are three that I really love. One that I've been drinking nonstop. I'm drinking it right now here in my tumbler. Perhaps I should take a sip. It's so good. It's not a mocktail, but you can make a mocktail out of it. It's instant hydration. I'm drinking their watermelon electrolyte drink and it is so refreshing and phenomenal and it's not too salty Like it's. You know, life's salty enough. You don't want your electrolyte drink to be too salty, so it's really, really good. But the link is in the downloadable. There's a link to Go Brewing, which I love, and Amethyst oh, actually Amethyst is right behind me here on my shelf of goodness behind me. So those are three brands that are in the hot flash summer mocktail recipe guide, and then there's some great recipes. So if you're having hot flashes, if you're experiencing, you know, the hotness of menopause or menopause whatever, grab the downloadable. It's in the.

Speaker 1:

I'll put it in the show notes, if I remember. I'll make sure I do that. Make myself a note. So I do that for you guys. Okay, here's the plan. All right, now we're a few minutes in. Let me just tell you the plan for the podcast. So I have three episodes that I recorded already actually late spring that were recorded. So I'm working on getting those edited. One of them is edited. That'll be ready to go on the 22nd, so a week from today that episode will come out.

Speaker 1:

It's with Kristen Horstman. She's wonderful. I loved our conversation. I didn't edit out too much of the beginning of the podcast. I feel like it started a little, I don't want to say, slow, and this is nothing against Kristen. We just kind of did a little little deep dive into like her background, which I think I wanted to keep it in there so you could hear that. But her she has such an encouraging, joyful I mean just like a naturally exuberant personality. She just bubbles over with kindness and happiness. I think you guys will just I know you'll love her, so you'll just love her. So I hope you really enjoyed the episode. But I tried not to edit too much of it out, even though there was like a lot. We did a lot of talking in the beginning about her background, like her history of drinking and stuff. So I hope that all of it will be of encouragement to you. But I just wanted to tell you that that's coming and then there's two more episodes that will come right after that that I've already recorded. We just need to get those edited. We and me and my 12 personalities, I need to get those edited for you. So those will drop and then I'll be taking Lily to college, larry and I will, and then we'll go into season two. So we're going to go into season two and this is what I want to tell you guys.

Speaker 1:

I'm changing the format a little bit of the podcast. I'm excited, I'm really excited about this. So the background of it is I used to do back in the day, early, early on my days, on beginning days, on Instagram. I did a Instagram live on Monday nights and it was called making friends and mocktails. I called it making friends and mocktails and we I would go live on Instagram and I would go live with someone We'd plan on, you know, meet me online. Basically, I would go live and then they would join me on the Instagram live and we would make a mocktail together and I'd hear their story, I'd ask them some questions and it was basically like a podcast, so to speak.

Speaker 1:

We would make a mocktail as we were talking, and I wanted to do that in the beginning with this podcast, but then I just felt like, oh, the clanging of glasses and it won't work really well for a podcast. And I'm like you know what so much of podcasts nowadays. It feels like I listen to podcasts now and I hear I used to think like I thought like you have to be in this like room of quietness for it to be a podcast. And I listen to podcasts now and sometimes you'll hear the doorbell ring or you'll hear the dog or you guys sometimes hear Coco bark, like it's not as formal. I think in terms I don't, a podcast doesn't have to be as formal and quiet as I think I envisioned it had to be when I first started this.

Speaker 1:

So, all that to say, I am bringing back the kind of the vibe of making friends and mocktails. So on each podcast episode we're going to make a mocktail together, my guest and I. We will make a mocktail together. That way, each time you walk away with a recipe or what they maybe it's their favorite mocktail we get to make that one together. We'll make one for my book, the Happiest Hour, or we make one for somebody else's book. Whatever, we're going to make mocktails together and that way you always learn. You know you always walk away with like a recipe, or you get to listen to us make one and also hear their story. Which I think is the most encouraging part is, you know, hearing people's stories because you know all of us should know we are not alone.

Speaker 1:

I felt so alone for so long. I thought I was the only mom, I was the only Christian mom who'd wake up in the morning and think like, oh my gosh, I did it again. I felt such shame, and so I just want you to always be encouraged by the guests that you're not alone and you are not the only one. You are not the only one who has struggled with this or are struggling with this. So there you go. So that's going to be the new format for season two, and that will kick off once Lily is packed up and moved out and I can focus on some new things. So I'll put the link down in the show notes for the hot flash summer mocktail recipes. You guys can grab that. Make some summer mocktails, hot flash mocktails, and then I'll have some episodes coming up. Next week will be the most adorable, kristen Horstman. So I can't wait for you guys to meet her. She's just a love, love and I'm excited to just continue to be of encouragement to you, to be of support to you. You guys are a support to me.

Speaker 1:

I cannot tell you how much it means to me to know that what I'm doing makes a difference. You know, I want my life to make a difference. The struggles that I went through and the shame that I felt for so long. It's like it's being used for good. It's being used for good and for that I am so grateful. I'm so grateful because you just think like, wow, I wasted years, I wasted time and God redeems that time, and he is redeeming that time in my own life and I'm very, very thankful. So I just want to send you guys lots and lots of love.

Speaker 1:

Okay, here, wait, I have a couple questions. I wrote it down, otherwise I would have forgot to ask you my gosh, literally. Okay, I need like a producer here. I need someone to help me who wants to come over and help me with these episodes, hold up cue cards in front of me and say, like Deb, next you have to talk about this, okay, but good thing, I have my notes, all right. Here are two questions I wanted to ask you. Are there certain non-alcoholic options or mocktails you would like to see in season two, as we go into like kind of changing up the format of the podcast format, it's going to be like the talking part is going to be the same. We're just gonna make a mocktail each time or at least talk about like drink a specific non-alcoholic beer or non-alcoholic wine and talk about it. Um, and then the other question I have for you guys is this is kind of like a silly question maybe, but should I keep the intro to the podcast the same when I started the podcast two and a half years ago or so?

Speaker 1:

The intro is kind of long. It's like 50 seconds of thriving alcohol-free and all the music and stuff and then coming into the podcast. And as I listen to more and more podcasts, they don't have really long intros. So I don't feel like it's necessary. But I have had some people tell me like oh, I love the intro, like I almost have it memorized. You know, I like know it and stuff. So I don't want I know how it is to listen to. Like there's a podcast I listen to every day and she has a very quick intro. But I mean I can say it and it makes me almost feel like, like I, it's like it just feels like home to hear it.

Speaker 1:

So, anyway, all that to say, should I keep the intro as is, or should I really cut it back and just have a very brief intro? Maybe we keep the same music. So would you email me, deb, at mocktailmomcom? I would love to know your opinion of keeping the intro the same or maybe changing it up, shortening it. And then also if there's a certain mocktail or a certain non-alcoholic option that you would like to see us make, see or hear me and a guest make on season two, I would love to know. I'm really really open to suggestions.

Speaker 1:

So I love you guys, I'm cheering you on. I'm so thankful for you, I'm grateful to be of support and you guys are a huge encouragement to me and you give me reason to keep going. You give me a great reason to never stop doing what I'm doing in the sense of, like, staying alcohol free, staying on my track, staying in the lane of sobriety, you know, just staying on track because I want to keep being of encouragement to you. So that is possible. It's absolutely possible. I didn't think it was possible and it's an absolute miracle that I'm sitting here today. It's a miracle that I actually remembered all the things, that I wrote them down in the notes and hopefully, after this podcast is uploaded, I don't go oh shoot, I should have put something else in the notes.

Speaker 1:

Okay, I'm spinning my chapstick. Who has a million chapsticks? I do. I have a chapstick everywhere. I'm gonna do a challenge. I think I should do like a show me all your pictures of where your chapsticks are, because I have a chapstick in. I find them everywhere. I mean, I did the laundry the other day and I'm like, oh well, and there's a chapstick. It must've been in one of my pockets. So, all right, love you guys, have a great Tuesday. Whenever you're listening to this, have a great day.

Speaker 1:

Episodes are coming. More episodes are coming your way, connecting with y'all more. So big time cheers and lots and lots of love. We'll talk to you soon. 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 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.