Laughs without Lager

New Year Reflections

• Ali and Meg

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The calendar is sprinting toward a fresh start, but we’re not making resolutions—we’re choosing action. We look back at a year of sober wins and hard lessons, from funneling former bar tabs into a down payment to staying present during those nerve-wracking nights when teens push curfew and boundaries. The real headline isn’t perfection; it’s momentum. Sobriety didn’t just clear our heads. It recalibrated our money, our mornings, and our sense of security.

You’ll hear how skipping alcohol eliminated whole chains of hidden costs—Ubers, late-night meals, shame-spend shopping—and created room for values-aligned choices like a short health retreat and a half-price rug that sparked joy instead of guilt. One of us closed on a home solo and learned the quiet power of stability: no one can take away what consistent, clear action built. The other leaned into breathwork, gratitude, and seven-minute Insight Timer practices to stay steady through legal limbo and teen milestones. Together we unpack the mantra that resets scarcity thinking—I am enough, I do enough, I have enough, there is enough—and the practical difference between intuition and the mind’s noisy stories.

We also talk about parenting without numbing, setting firm but loving boundaries, and letting kids learn through natural consequences. Expect candid stories from the mining days to modern mornings with dog walks at dawn, plus a warm invitation to share your alcohol-free story on the show. If you’re craving a grounded reset for the Year of the Horse, Meg's Forward Together group coaching offers twice-weekly support, community accountability, and tools that fit real life.

If this conversation helps, tap follow, share it with a friend who needs a nudge, and leave a quick review to help others find the show. Then tell us: what’s one small action you’ll take this week to move forward—no numbing, just you, fully present?


Contact Us:

https://www.meganwebb.com.au/podcast-1

meganwebbcoaching@gmail.com



Ali

insta: https://www.instagram.com/idontdrinkfullstop/


Meg

website: https://www.meganwebb.com.au/

insta: https://www.instagram.com/meganwebbcoaching/

Connect AF: https://www.elizaparkinson.com/groupcoaching

SPEAKER_01:

Hey, hey, Allie. Woo! Megzi, how are you? I'm good. I'm good. I'm looking forward to just having a chat and a chill and reflecting on the past year because how is this year over? And we're heading into the new year. 2026, mate. The year of the horse.

SPEAKER_00:

Gideon. The year of the horse. Gide up. Yes, gide up. Gidey up. What's your animal? Well, my astrological animal is the dog.

SPEAKER_01:

Okay, I'm the ox.

SPEAKER_00:

Oh, the ox.

SPEAKER_01:

I should have some oxtail soup sometime.

SPEAKER_00:

Yes, that's what I thought of.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. Well, I like giddy up for the horse. Bring it on. Bring it on.

SPEAKER_00:

Last year, 2025 was the year of the snake. So lots of shedding and releasing. Oh, okay. And then the year of the horse means action. Mmm. Okay. Okay. Action. Yeah. Putting in your not so much your new year's resolutions. I don't like that. Yeah. Um, but definitely some intentions. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

Um, yeah, I love that. Action. Beautiful. Beautiful. Well, we thought we'd sort of reflect on the year gone, didn't we?

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, I know. It just went so bloody quick.

SPEAKER_01:

It's scary, really. It's too fast.

SPEAKER_00:

It's too fast.

SPEAKER_01:

But um, well, uh it I think it's a good time though, the end of the year to have a look at what worked, what didn't, you know, just um that goes for everyone. Just just reflect on your year and what you want to do differently for the new, the new year. So, I mean, we're coming to you in a new house. So that's pretty damn cool. That's something you've achieved during the year.

SPEAKER_00:

Yes, I uh bunkered down, you know, all that money that I would have fucking used on booze.

SPEAKER_01:

Oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_00:

It's incredible how much you don't um spend when you don't drink. Absolutely. And that just includes like even just Ubers, food, like just that crap food. Um just even just crap shopping, like you know, feeling like you need a niche or you hung over and you just think, fuck it, I'm gonna buy this because it's gonna make me feel better. And oh like I mean, we did do that episode on that scarcity mindset, but you know, like it just happens all the time when I'm especially now I'm in this new home and it's like I was at Bunnings or you know, I was in a big shopping centre, and you know, I was like just thinking, oh, what did I buy? I bought something for 70, oh, a rug, a beautiful rug at a very well-known store, and it was half price. And here we go again with the it was$75, which was the same as the um massage gun that I bought for my birthday. And yeah, I didn't even blink. I was like$75. And again, I drove away and I thought, fuck man, like that was a bottle of booze, which would have lasted a week. Oh, and it's just so amazing how little nuggets of wisdom and out being alcohol free, just never lost on me, mate.

SPEAKER_01:

So totally I I'm the same, like it you just said what it all added up, and and I was like the food the next day, the binge food, then binging on um Amazon or whatever, just because I had to, I felt bad about myself, so I better shop. Um, and I didn't even drink when it was like since it's got more expensive, I can't even imagine how much I'd be spending. And you know, a night out now, which is rare for me, but just dinner, you know, it adds up, let alone adding the alcohol. So totally, totally um get that. And I've just booked into, I would have loved, loved to do the New Year's Eve with Kimmy, our friend, but um it's too far away. So I have just booked in for mid-Jan to do two nights at a local, like an hour away health retreat. And yeah, and I mean I'm on a budget here, but I'm like, you know what? That's money I've I've not spent, and I'm gonna spend it on myself. Yes. Damn it. Have a reset. Damn it, you know, we deserve it. And that's that's just what I'm gonna do. So I'm looking forward to that. But um, yeah, so where should we start? Like what what kind of reflections have you had on the past year?

SPEAKER_00:

Well, yeah, just securing my my you know, I did a lot of work during the start, like uh with my root chakra, which is all about security and um money and finances and things like that. Because honestly, like you know, living in a little granny flat, uh kind of um at the perils, not really. I mean, it was with family, so I knew I would never get booted out, and I'm such a goody goody that I wouldn't ever do that to myself. But you know, yeah, there were certainly some dark souls of the night of like, what the fuck? You know, I'm 55, just turning, you know, 55, and I'm in a granny flat and my brother's property. Like, woo! And I a good prospect for love, and no, just that, you know, it's like that's okay, like it's coming to terms with um I don't know, it just gives you that time to heal, I think, was what why I landed there, and yeah, and you know, then it was like okay, let's regroup and um start looking for a property, and you know, just with friends and family that that came into fruition. Um so I know that I do have support and I'm not alone, and just really buckling down on yeah, because sometimes we get a little bit uh sad of like you know, I had lots of properties and I could have been very well set up in my past life, and I really had to get into that like, well, that was the past, you know, and let's move forward, and you know, that's why I'm just so I have to pinch myself when I'm waking up in my new home, Megsy, because you know, it's just the way the property market is, and it's just like, oh my god, I fucking did it. Yes, and I did it, I did it all my own. And somebody said to me like a couple of months ago, they said, which I'd never thought of, nobody can take this away from you. And I was kind of like, oh yeah, but you know, of course I love reflecting, and I thought, yeah, that's true, because it's not a marriage. There's you know, I did on my own, like so. Unless I don't, you know, I'll fuck up the mortgage, then you know that's how I'm gonna get out. But obviously I'm not so you know, like nobody else can take this away from me. So that was was really exciting, and um, you know, just settling into work. So I I guess my reflections was yeah, that I am supported, I can do hard things, and you know not drinking through the the worries of all that and the and the move, like Jesus Christ. I've moved my you know, I've often said that I was a furniture removalist in my past life because I fucking move so many times, and but every time I've either you know had male cookies for the you know packing and then you couldn't fucking find anything, or you'd be drinking, and like you'd you get people to help you move, and then literally they'd dump all your boxes and then fucking crack a beer, and you're like, uh I need help setting the bed up, but we'd just turn it into a party. Yep, yeah, you know, so this time, you know, definitely I've moved from down from Karatha, obviously, out to do all that on my own and same, you know, alcohol free. And then this time, so I've actually used the boxes now, I haven't stored them. I've actually put them on my lawn to kill the the weeds. Oh, goodbye, you know, because I won't need the boxes anymore. Um holding on to shit and also just not yeah, just also you know, you can actually live quite minimalistically without being a scrooge.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, well, I love that. What an amazing, amazing reflection. Quite a bit different to mine.

SPEAKER_00:

Yes. What's yours?

SPEAKER_01:

I'm kind of in this as it continues, seven-year limbo, because I'm sort of I'm not financially um split from my ex. So and and things have happened this year, but you know what? It it's been it's been a a year, and and I'm I'm very grateful um for health and you know, family and that, and I focus on that. Um, but it's been a year with all different things, and I guess I said to you before we started filming that I'm really, really this week thinking this is when I would have drank too, because it's quite um a tricky like time. It's um it my son's 16 and he wants to socialise a lot at night, and I find that really difficult. It's it worries me. Uh, so that is the time I would have numbed in the past and got through the night because I was so it's actually, you know, I've had a lot of stuff go on, but this is probably the hardest, and so I keep thinking about that, but reflecting just now, I'm thinking, because you're saying, you know, you've done all this yourself, which you have, which is incredible. And I'm thinking, I've done a shitload of stuff myself, and four years for me now, um, not drinking, and the things I've done, I just have to remember to stop and go, there is a lot, and just be proud and happy in the moment, because life's gonna be lifey. I'm gonna all of us are gonna still come up with feelings and anxiety and and loss and everything. Uh, but it's really about finding the happiness in the moment or finding the moment because there's a lot out of our control too. So I guess in reflection, I've I've seen that I've really been able to stay quite steady in the year because I do a lot of breathing exercises, a lot of self-personal growth work, and I guess recognizing how much that has actually changed my life. Um, so whilst hard times go on, um and and it could be far worse, and I'm I'm very grateful. Gratitude's another massive thing. Uh, but while there's a lot of uncertainty, I think just being proud of myself is probably, you know, celebrating your wins, celebrating how far you've come, I think is an important step in this. Because you can get caught up in the fear and all the you know negatives, but um, I I'm pretty good at pulling myself out. But I think this reflection's really good as well. It just brings you to the moment to look at how far you've come. So for anyone like listening, just pause and have a you know what worked, what didn't. Um, and what do you think about it?

SPEAKER_00:

Well, you've just got to be exactly, you've just got to be the like your own best champion, your own best coach. Oh, yeah. You know, like yes, I do have support and everything, but again, like you know, I've got to make these. You and I, we make decisions, you know, for our kids and or for our life. We we can't go, hey Dale, what do you think? I should I do this or can can we afford that? Like, you know, we are I you know I'm just an island really. Yeah, um yeah, so it's good to be able to have actually something now to anchor in that because um, you know, that's like this house is just I mean, it was all divinely orchestrated, but at the time, like you sort of oh, I was just fucking terrified, mate, because the markets has gone so thing, and I'm thinking, oh, it's not worth it, no, you know, and it's like people go, Oh, did what was it like, the feeling when you walked in? And I was like, Well, I walked in and just thought, in my mind, because it's an old banger, I was like, fucking put the offer in, and it kind of was a little bit nonchalant. I was a bit shitty with the agent because he was just like they are literally just money for jam, you know. Once you put a for sale sign out, then they their job's done. Anyway, so I was a little bit like but just as it turns out, like I I did get it, and you know, that's I just believe in the what's meant, what's meant for you will never pass you by.

SPEAKER_01:

Yes, you know what? I've got a um it's uh thing in front of me, a affirmation on my computer. I trust I am being guided, and that's what I trust in. I don't like like I dropped a while ago saying everything happens for a reason because then you get caught in the well, what's the bloody reason? I don't want that shit. But I trust I'm being guided is very calming to me. Yes, and you I remember this year or last year you were like, I found a house and then you didn't get it, and so to think that the right house has come along, you were being guided. Like there's yeah, I love that, you know.

SPEAKER_00:

Yes, and same with your kid, like honestly, you know, the the festivities of you know, the end of the year. Um you've got to like I just say, thanks for the protection, um, you know, for not just myself, but obviously my loved ones. Yeah, and you know, they're they're they're gonna be okay.

SPEAKER_01:

You know, yeah, yeah. It's a it's a big thing when you that's been your whole pattern of worry. It's a really big thing. Oh, and I've worked on it so much, but life as they say, you know, kids, we our heart is there. So it's it's a really challenging thing to face head on, but gosh, I've both of us like we've anyone not drinking has done that. Like, yeah, it's hard in all different areas, but we are facing life full on, like yeah, but yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_00:

Pretty cool that we don't just numb it out like 40 years, mate. Just in fact, I listened to a um my I did have a reading, a psychic reading September.

SPEAKER_01:

Yes, sorry.

SPEAKER_00:

Um, you know, and I funnily enough was drawn to that last night to I was on my shakti mat, which you know I hadn't used for a while. So I was just on there and I was listening to my um psychic and she said, you know, I've got a psychic ability, and she's not the first person to say it. And uh anyway, I sort of said to her, like, how does that work? So she said, you know, like with our intuition and our tummy, yeah, like before I got married or when I met my ex, you know, my guts was just screaming, but my head overwrote it.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

That's the difference of what I learned is that what does your gut say? And then you've got to trust your gut because your mind is where you go wrong.

SPEAKER_01:

Yes, right, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

You just think, oh, you override it, you override it. And that I again, I every time I've listened to her reading, I always get something different out of it. And that was kind of for me, like, you know, because I had a feeling yesterday that um, you know, the train I'd got this train running through, and I went outside and I just had this feeling, and I went, do, do, and no shit, Meg. Fucking the train went beep beep, and I went, that's that's what she's talking about. I love it. You know, so that's a win. So you can tick that and go, I felt it, and then it happened. So you everyone gets those sort of hits, yeah, but I never used to follow through the right way because my head would get involved and go, no, no, no, no, no, that's just fucking we were no no no, do this because you know, security, or you know, you he's you know, like whatever the reason, fill in the blank. But yeah, it was kind of just relearning listening to that helps me get back in touch with what's actually intuition and what's just fear or anxiety or lack or whatever.

SPEAKER_01:

Um, yeah, so yeah, and I do I love, I do trust the gut, and I have to say, in my financial situation, I kind of feel a mixture of I trust I'm being guided, but just it I don't need to get all you know um anxious about that. And I I think my gut's saying just chill, just just step by step. You have everything you need. Exactly.

SPEAKER_00:

But there's a do you listen to Insight Timer?

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, I've got it, yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, so I've just found that again.

SPEAKER_01:

Yes.

SPEAKER_00:

Um, and so I've just clicked on a couple of this week at site scarcity mindset, and it just so happened that the two of the same, I don't know, they had the same well, they're the same uh facilitators, but they've both read the same book, which I can't think of the top of my head. And it's so weird, it's so amazing. So basically, when you wake up in the morning, so it's not scarcity mindset just about money and yeah, most of the time it is, right?

SPEAKER_01:

Yep.

SPEAKER_00:

Well for me, um, and sounds like for you. And yeah, she's like, sometimes we'll wake up in the wake up in the morning, first thing was oh, I didn't get enough sleep. Oh, I I didn't I don't have enough time to water the garden, oh, I don't have enough time to do yoga, I don't have enough time to water the dog. So before your feet have even touched the ground, you're already in that lack.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

Isn't that incredible? So her thing. So what I've been saying this week, and just sometimes when I find yesterday I was thinking, I found myself thinking that negatively about a situation, and it's like, no, no, no. So I just say, I am enough, I do enough, I have enough, there is enough. Oh boom, yes, yes, you know, because there's a lack, lack is all around us, not just financially, time, sleep, I'm not fit enough, I'm not slim enough, I'm not good enough, I'm not pretty enough. Like fucking fill in the the dots. So if you just find yourself in that little mindset to say, I am enough, I have enough, I do enough, there is enough.

SPEAKER_01:

Yes, I love that. That's my bloody I love it, and I think it's a great reminder for me to get back on insight timer. What I love is they have short things.

SPEAKER_00:

Yes, it's seven minutes, mate. Boom. We have enough time, but because I get up early and you know, that's my choice. Like even just like fucking walking the bloody two hours, like they're freaking two hours, they're not even fucking kelpies, and I'm at the park at five o'clock in the morning with me bloody doggy bag and me fucking bum bag, looking around like a prairie dog, hoping no one else is around with their dogs, and it's like like I'm always in a hurry. That's the other thing that the lady said, the psychic said. So again, that's breath, so it's just like slow down, you know, just but be also like it's yeah, just be grateful and know that your kids are um because my child was going to make a very bad decision um, you know, because of New Year's Eve, she was just gonna not um get back on an aeroplane to work. And she tells me that, you know, like on Christmas Day, and I and I'm so glad she did, because then I was like, hang on, whoa, whoa, whoa. Like you're gonna fuck up potentially a job over a news New Year's Eve Day festival. And thankfully, you know, we had the chat, it was a difficult conversation, she didn't like it, got a bit salty, but thank God she listened to. Reason and she got on the plane and she's back at work, you know. But mate, I could have yeah, yeah, it's just little things like that. You gotta guide them, yeah. Yes, their own journey, but sometimes you just you can see it because we've been there. Oh yeah, but they think that we uh have never been kids.

SPEAKER_01:

I know, I it's a funny mindset because every kid thinks that, and it's like, how do you think we got to be our age? We thought that for our parents who who I feel like were probably more out of touch than we are. Oh, totally. We were only kids recently, like fuck her out.

SPEAKER_00:

Who are they kids? Like, you think I haven't done this shit? I know I invented the fucking book of excuses on same.

SPEAKER_01:

Like, you know, oh absolutely I I stuffed up so many jobs by just not turning up, but my daughter did the same a couple of years ago. She's um older now and she did lose her job, and I said, Well, that's it. You are not getting a thing until you get another job. And it was a really hard three months for her, and she learnt her lesson. So that's the flip side is they've got to learn lessons too. But I said, I told ya, oh, I didn't say that, but I thought it. And she had to experience that, and it was a good lesson because you can't, for one, it's like alcohol, you give up something for a day or a night of fun, and then the ripple effect is well, you might have lost your job, like in our daughter's case.

SPEAKER_00:

And it's like that has an impact, so yeah, yeah, you know, and like just we're putting alcohol before her job, which I did like as soon as I got I was in mining, like that's what I was saying to her. Bitch, well, I mean, back in the battle days, I was freaking crushing up Dexies on like snorting them. Oh my god. Like we did there was no drug and alcohol at all. We were like, like one of the mine sites I went to, one of my first mine sites was in Bumfuck Nowhere. We shut the whole mine site, didn't go back to work because of my birthday celebrations. We or it was only a small mine, we got so fucking fucked up that nobody could operate machinery the next day. Like it was just party like it. It was it was back in 1996, you know.

SPEAKER_01:

Party like it's 1996. I feel like the 80s and 90s were a bit different, and um, I will not tell my kids mostly what I did, but um, but the flip side is they've got to learn their own lessons too. So that's okay too. And like you said, trusting your gut and um knowing that we've done us a good job, and so you know and be proud, you know, be proud of ourselves.

SPEAKER_00:

And this this would be so buying a house, but my next proudest thing, Megzi, is our our podcast. Oh that's been amazing.

SPEAKER_01:

I'm that should really be first because oh look, it's it's such a huge achievement, and I'm so happy, and we're looking forward, we're gonna have to wrap up, I think, in a minute, but we're looking forward to continuing on with you guys for the new year. And um, and we're gonna have some people on that we're gonna interview and chat to. And if anyone wants to send in ideas, we're open to discussing anything and everything on this journey.

SPEAKER_00:

Or if you can, or if you guys want to come on and and tell us your your story. Somebody's story's always got something else in it for somebody else.

SPEAKER_01:

Well, you and I have both been guests on People's Podcasts, and it it is really helpful to other people, just as we've listened to podcasts and people have helped us. So, yeah, if you want to come on and um share your story on this uh finding alcohol freedom, we'd love to have you on.

SPEAKER_00:

And how's your um, you know, you've got your uh new beginnings, new year, you've got your new challenge?

SPEAKER_01:

I do. So, yes, um, people can still sign up. Uh, it has begun, but yes, there you can sign up right now and continue on with us. So it's called Forward Together and it's to kick start the new year, a reset, and then after that, there's an option for people to stay in the group. It's it's a really great group where myself and another coach we meet with you guys twice a week, or our clients, and there's a community, so it's really, really great for support.

SPEAKER_00:

Perfect.

SPEAKER_01:

So there's info in the show notes or at my website, which is justmeganweb.com.au. What an easy website. Um, but you can also find on that website um links to our podcast episodes.

SPEAKER_00:

Yep.

SPEAKER_01:

So they're all there, they all come as as we release them there, as well as like where you're listening now, Apple, Spotify. And we'd love you to rate and review if you can um spare the time.

SPEAKER_00:

100% and keep this bloody conversation going. But for now, yes, we will wrap it up. And we will see you next time. Bye.