Sober Summer: How To Have Fun Without Drinking

Worried that summer will not feel “right” without an icy cold drink?

In this episode of The Alcohol Myth Podcast, coaches Jonathan Ball and Ellen Biggs tackle one of the biggest seasonal fear stories: “My perfect summer won’t be perfect if I don’t drink.” From grilling and lake days to golf, weddings, vacations, and patio happy hours, we break down why it feels so daunting, and how to build real confidence through first times, simple planning, and self-compassion.

If you keep telling yourself, “I’ll do it after this event,” this conversation is for you.

In this video, you’ll learn:
- Why there will always be a reason to drink if you wait for the “perfect time”
- How to handle summer rituals: grilling, beach days, golf rounds, weddings
- Why first times feel weird, and how new neural pathways form fast
- How to reframe the experience: what you are allowing, not what you are losing
- A practical experiment: try one event alcohol-free and record what you learn
- How mocktails and alcohol-free options can keep the ritual without the aftermath

Connect with us:
Email: thealcoholmyth@gmail.com
Jonathan: https://livecreativeaf.com/
Ellen: https://ellenbiggscoaching.com/

Subscribe for more episodes on pulling back the curtain on the alcohol myth.

Chapters
0:00 Stop waiting for a “quiet season”
1:36 The summer myth: “I need a drink for this”
2:46 Why summer feels like a boogeyman
6:15 The key realization: there will always be events
8:13 Busy seasons can build your sober muscles faster
9:52 First times and new neural pathways
13:27 The golf example: disentangling the fun from the beer
19:20 Glamour vs reality: alcohol math, dehydration, distraction
22:13 Try it without booze: camping and beach trips
29:37 Plan ahead: fun summer drinks without alcohol
35:16 Practical takeaway: pick one challenge, bring an alternative, journal the results
38:08 Compassion, curiosity, and email us your “summer fear list”

#SoberSummer #QuitDrinking #AlcoholFree #SoberCurious #AlcoholMythPodcast #ThisNakedMind #Mocktails #HabitChange

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

I had to realize was that if if every event, if every social gathering, if every time I allowed myself to have fun in the past had always been paired with alcohol, then there would never not be a reason to drink in the future. I was never going to hit a point and be like, well, six months of nothing on the calendar, now's a good time to get right for my alcohol. Um, that was never going to occur. So instead of waiting for this never occurring lack of anything going on that I used to drink at, I just had to say, okay, how am I going to figure this out? In spite of there being events and challenges and things that I would have to navigate for the first time, totally alcohol-free. Why does the world act like alcohol is the answer, even while it is creating problems of its own?

SPEAKER_01 1:01

On the Alcohol Myth podcast, we pull back the curtain so you can see what's really going on with alcohol and what life could be like without it.

SPEAKER_00 1:08

We are coaches trained in this naked mind and effective liminal psychology who fell for the alcohol myth for decades. Now we help people take back control of their lives by changing their relationship with alcohol from the inside out.

SPEAKER_01 1:20

You don't need to wait for a rock bottom. You don't need more willpower. You just need a new way to understand what you are feeling and why you are reaching for that next drink.

SPEAKER_00 1:28

So let's dig in.

SPEAKER_01 1:48

Hey there, Jonathan. Great to see you.

SPEAKER_00 1:50

Another certified coach. Great to see you, Ellen. Uh, and today we are tackling the myth that my perfect summer won't be so perfect if I don't have an icy cold alcoholic beverage. And this is something that comes up. We're thinking about it right now because uh at the moment, spring is springing. Um, I went and got my propane tank refilled so I can do some grilling. Grilling was a major uh time for me to drink in the past. And all of the fun spring and summertime activities. Um, I'm thinking about going to spring sports, summer sports, um, oftentimes associated with alcohol. So, how do we navigate that? How do we think about navigating a summer if we are trying to cut back on our drinking? What comes up for you, Ellen?

SPEAKER_01 2:46

This was a big one for me. Um, I I was living and I still live most of the year across the street from Lake Michigan. And so, you know, the idea of having a drink on the beach or, you know, grilling outside and people, all the people come to my house to visit, to spend time at the lake, and the socializing around, you know, that all involved tons of alcohol and grilling too, of course. I grilled a lot, my husband grilled a lot always, you know, with drinks with the neighbors, right? Everybody's out on the street, everybody's having a drink. And um this was it, it it brought me to my knees, you know, like thinking about how am I gonna navigate that alcohol free. Like I just it it it it it felt really big. It felt, you know, it terrified me, kind of, you know, and um and it's kind of funny looking back on it, how in my head I was around it when it's like, I mean, it's a it's a liquid in a glass, you know, like it's half the time you got a koozie around the beer. Like nobody would really even know what I was drinking. Like there's so many ways to navigate it, which we'll talk about, but I just think it's important to recognize that it's a big old boogeyman for a lot of us. And um, we make it even bigger than it really needs to be because of just, I don't know, the the conditioning we have, the beliefs we have around it, the the fear we have, and and not to mention all of the advertising and the images we get that you know, happy people laughing on the beach with beers. And um yeah, I'm really glad we're talking about this because I've I feel like it would have been helpful for me to hear a conversation like this when the season was approaching, to know that okay, like A, I'm not crazy for worrying about this, and uh B, it's not unsurmountable and it's totally doable.

SPEAKER_00 4:46

Absolutely. What's coming up for me is when I think about the summer, back when I was drinking more than I wanted to, I would get to this point where like maybe I've navigated dry January, right? Maybe I've made it through that. And then, you know, February maybe is starting to creep up a little bit, but I've I've got a lid on it. But then spring hits and summer right behind it, and I'd be looking ahead and seeing my social calendar for the spring and summer, and you know, the the barbecues and um go into the game, and you know, we just we just did the Super Bowl and ahead of us. Uh, this weekend, my wife and I are going to weddings, so like there's lots of spring weddings, and that was always a big drinking event. And I think that it's daunting to look ahead in the future and to know that you have so many instances or events coming up that historically have involved alcohol. And when you're trying to think about navigating a life with less or no alcohol in it, it's like, how do I, how do I do this? And of course it makes sense that it's kind of daunting because you haven't done it before, right? It feels it feels uncertain, um, it feels like something new because it is new. But I think that one of the things that I had to realize was that if if every event, if every social gathering, if every time I allowed myself to have fun in the past had always been paired with alcohol, then there would never not be a reason to drink in the future. I was never going to hit a point and be like, well, six months of nothing on the calendar, now's a good time to get right for my alcohol. Um, that was never going to occur. So instead of waiting for this never occurring lack of anything going on that I used to drink at, I just had to say, okay, how am I going to figure this out? In spite of there being events and challenges and things that I would have to navigate for the first time, totally alcohol free.

SPEAKER_01 7:14

Yeah, I think that's so true. Like I think about when I was, you know, trying to think about going alcohol free, there was always a reason not to, right? There's always like, okay, but I've got this wedding, so I can't do it now. Okay, I've got, oh, we have a barbecue next weekend. Can't do that. So I'll do it after. But then there was always something, right? There always something there, and there's always going to be something. I think, I think dry January, one of the reasons it's kind of stuck is that January maybe tends to be a month where it's okay to hibernate, you know, like it's cold, it's dark, we just did all the festivities. And so it's a little bit maybe, maybe it depends. I mean, nothing is it can be, you know, it depends on your mindset if it's easy or hard, but maybe a little bit easier because you're not being polled to be so social. I mean, the minute the sun comes out, your neighbors are out. Like suddenly you're getting invited to happy hour on the patio. You know, there's just so many social events. And it actually made me think I did a little mindset flip around this when I took my break. It was in the this the holiday season, uh, October, and it was like, you know, um the Halloween and then Thanksgiving and then Christmas and then New Year's. And I did all of those in my early days of alcohol freedom. And it seemed super daunting. Like, how could I do that? All of these big events. But looking back on it with hindsight and reflection, I see like it gave me like muscles, you know, like back to back, I got to practice. It was like, okay, I did that thing. Okay, I feel a little bit stronger. Then I do this thing, I feel a little bit stronger. This thing, do a little if it's if things are so spread out, we don't have the chance to like have that snowballing effect of success. So if you're coming into a busy season, your first thought might be, oh, I can't do it now. Like now's not the time. But I just encourage you to think about like maybe it's the perfect time, maybe it's a chance to build the reps back to back. And in a month, you can have more freaking first times, you know, that will build your success for the future than you would, you know, in any different season potentially.

SPEAKER_00 9:26

I love that. Like, go ahead and do the hard thing because it's not going to get easier. Anytime you do something for the first time, it's gonna feel weird, it's gonna feel like a challenge. You you will likely be in your own head about it, but it doesn't mean that it's gonna hurt you. It doesn't mean that it's going to like be a failure. And um, just just getting after it, I think, is is like facing it early on. And every single time you do that, you're laying the groundwork for this new neural pathway. Whereas before it was, you know, this super highway of drinking, right? Like that's a really well-worn pathway. And each time you do something, each time you navigate one of these events for the first time, alcohol free, you're just you're just taking the off-ramp. And like at first, it's gonna feel bumpy, right? Like it's not established. You're gonna be bouncing all over the road, but then you take that off ramp again and again and again, and they get smoother and easier, and it doesn't stay hard. That's one of the big things that I'd like to encourage people with. Like, it is hard the first time, that's why we call them freaking first times, but it's not as hard the second time, and it's way not as hard the third time.

SPEAKER_01 10:48

Yeah, absolutely. And there's so many different things, like, you know, if you think about the number of potential pitfalls or opportunities, right, to um exercise this new skill. Um it's it's there's a huge variety, right? It's like weather-related things, it's you know, um, going to the beach, having a campfire, uh the ball games, like you're saying, all, you know, there's just it's like we can start to really get some uh get, you know, just build that repetition, build that skill, start to get that confidence. And there's also lots of great excuses, right? Like dry January is a great excuse because you can everybody recognize that I'm doing dry January, but you know, we're coming up on bathing suit season, we're coming up on short season. It's very easy to say, oh, I'm just, you know, I want to watch my health right now because I want to get back into, you know, my summer body or whatever. Or I mean, I don't know. What are some of the things that you would say in the springtime if you're worried about what other people might think?

SPEAKER_00 11:58

Um, I am always a fan of pointing to health and wellness, you know, like, oh, I'm just like pushing myself at the gym right now, or um, I'll blame it on work a lot too, right? Like, um, oh, you know, like I I just don't have time for that right now. I don't have time to feel hung over, um stuff like that. But those, I mean, you know, with enough practice and stuff, those excuses kind of fall away and you don't feel yourself relying on them as much, too. It's one of it's another one of those things, right? That gets easier with time. Um, yeah. I I was thinking about the what you were saying about the different events and the different kinds of things. And I think it's such a good practice to go into each one of those different kinds of events, holding yourself with that self-compassion that we are always talking about, and especially the curiosity. What is coming up for me as I'm going into this that's making me think about a drink? Or, you know, what am I noticing about my urge right now? Is it because I am uncomfortable in this scenario, or I don't know what to say in this scenario, or I feel wound up and need to relax in this scenario? And just it's another great opportunity to ask yourself, what do I think alcohol is giving me that it's actually not capable of giving me, that's coming from inside of me.

SPEAKER_01 13:27

Yeah, absolutely. You know, I'm reminded of um a client of mine was talking about one of the things that he it's been hard, is that he's a golfer and he likes to play, you know, around a golf, and the weather's really good now, right? So you play around a golf, and then um he was describing sitting around with the gang of you know guys that played with around their golf carts and they're all cracking a beer and talking about the game. And he's like, Yeah, because you know, nobody likes to talk about the game as much as the people just played. Like once he leaves, he knows his wife is not gonna care about it. So it's like this really nice camaraderie of we just did this athletic endeavor, we're all talking about it, it's fun, everybody's sharing a beer, the camaraderie. And like, of course, that's amazing, right? That's so fun, and how tightly linked like having a beer is to being able to enjoy that event and like just starting to disentangle the fact that it's like everything he loves about that situation right there. I mean, alcohol is a minuscule part of it, right? It's it's the drink that he's imbibing, and yeah, maybe it has that little bit of relaxation in the beginning, but it's he's already relaxed, he's already enjoying life. He's all he's with a group of people he enjoys in the sunshine. So, you know, if you flipped out an alcohol-free beer for that beer, like uh it would feel uncomfortable at first. You might feel like everybody's looking at you. What's wrong with you? You're not one, you know, there. Of course, there's gonna be some initial discomfort, but do that once or twice, and you know, you can start to reap the benefits is oh my God, I get to do this really fun thing with people I care about and still try stay true to my value that's I don't want to drink and be able to leave the golf course not tired, not needing a nap, not worried about if I can drive home, you know, like all of these other benefits. And and I think, you know, insert, you know, walk on the beach at, you know, sunset, like we insert any activity that we, you know, for the golf game. And I think it's really um transferable, just this whole idea of we, and we've talked about this before, but we just tie this feeling of relaxation to alcohol when it has it's just a teeny little part of it.

SPEAKER_00 15:46

I love this golf story and I find it so relatable. Like I very distinctly I I love to play golf poorly with my friends. It's it's it's a great fun time for me. Um, but the friends that I play with, especially one, is a big, big drinker. And one of the times that we played closest to when I quit, like we were both drinking pretty heavily on the golf course. And um, we were having a great time until towards the end, where we started to not have such a good time. And he'd overdone it, and he was getting a little bit mean and he wasn't playing well, and um, then he wanted to go to the clubhouse and have another drink, and so we went and we had another drink, and then I excused myself after a drink because I had to drive home, and I was already at the point of like, you know, I've I'm just gonna be really focused on my driving, right? Like, because I had already had a few and he wanted to have more, and he just started digging into me about like going home and cutting the party off, and just like he ended it really, like it was a fun time, and then alcohol kind of ruined it for both of us, and you know, like after you know, like the next day he apologized to me and stuff for being a jerk. Um, but then contrasted to going out with this same friend um and playing around a golf um when I'm not drinking, and when I'm not drinking, he's drinking way, way, way less because he's not trying to match me. He's not trying to, you know, like you know, prove anything or you know, like go any extra. So he's still drinking. I don't mind if he drinks, right? Like, I'm not drinking. We had such a better time because it wasn't about like the alcohol vector in this whole equation is like a disruptor as opposed to something that actually makes it better. And you just don't know that until you experience it yourself because everything that we're told tells us that oh, alcohol is this great thing, it's gonna make the connection so much better, and you're gonna loosen up, you're gonna have so much fun, and and all this, the and all the advertising, and you know, just makes it look like all this great stuff. But like my actual lived experience tells me that that's not the case. And it it takes it takes living it a few times, and still, like even to this day, you were describing that moment of you know, at the end of the game and the guys, you know, cracking up with the beer and stuff like that. I was like, hmm, I can almost taste it. I feel like I'm there, right? But that's so not that's so not my actual lived experience. My actual lived experience is different, but it it doesn't make it any less powerful in the mind. And it's like the the the big show or the big illusion of alcohol, especially as it relates to going into the summer, is one thing, and then the actuality of it is so different.

SPEAKER_01 19:17

Yeah, uh yeah, we glamorize it, right? We we make this image of it's gonna be this certain way. Crack open the beer after the game. But in my lived experience, if I did something like that after the first one, my brain would start doing the calculations of is it too early for me to have another one? Is it like absorbing? Is everybody else gonna have another one? Yeah, I'd start to get into my head right away. And so I would be distracted from the connection, from the camaraderie, from that would that would be one thing that would happen. The other thing would be happening in the sunshine. I mean, any kind of alcohol is it dehydrates you, right? And so you're sitting in the sun, I would get flush-faced, I'm getting dehydrated versus having you know some kind of an alcohol-free beverage, you're actually hydrating yourself in the sun. So there's that too. And it's just like the image is like all the laughing and the fun, and the truth is distraction, flushed red face, dehydrating, and all it's just like I'm not sure it's all that, but we we we have a a tendency to just see this image that is uh you know, obviously given to us in all the forms of media. And it might feel that way in the first minute or two, right? But just how quickly that like eclipsed.

SPEAKER_00 20:44

I'm thinking about the because it is true that like the first little bit, right? Like you have that first drink, you have that huge dopamine rush, and it's like, wow, this is great. Here we go. Woo! And then the cost of maintaining that is something that I I mean, you and I both know very well, and I would imagine a lot of people listening to this podcast understand of staying on that train and like we know where this stupid train goes. We know where this is taking us. It's taking us to feeling like crap the next day. It's taking us to feeling like we have broken yet another promise to ourselves or to our loved ones. It's taking us to, you know, worries about our physical health and our, you know, it's just it's it's not taking us to a good place. And it's such a tired place to get to, right? Like it's if the first because the first little bit is all about like what's possible in a summer, right? Like, you know, what's fun and you know, like it's it's this like um there's a sense of of wonder and possibility. And then if you get on the alcohol train, you know where that stop is getting off. And it's the same thing over and over and over and over and over again. And it just takes us realizing like, I don't want to keep doing the same thing over and over again. What would it be like if I had the courage to say I'm gonna see what camping is like without drinking a fifth of bourbon? Hmm. Could I do that? And the thing is, like as you explore those things, you're gonna find stuff that is really, really exciting and really fun. And some of the stuff that you thought was fun before is gonna be fun in a different way. And you might even find stuff that wasn't really that fun anyway and was just an excuse to drink. But wouldn't you rather know? Like, you're not gonna find me sitting in a baseball stadium since I don't drink because I don't think that it's fun anymore. That's just me, right? Baseball's not my thing, it's not my game. And I used to like to go because I used to get those big old beers, right? And I like to drink. I didn't like to go see a baseball game, I like to drink, and so I could take my little hobby in a lot of different places I didn't actually like to be. But there are other things that are fun in different ways, right? Like, so since um, I mean, I camping, right? Camping used to always be a very, very boozy affair for me. And I was worried going camping that now that I don't drink, that I wouldn't like it as much because it's a lot of time outside by yourself, and you're kind of like oftentimes you're a little bit uncomfortable, right? Like, and there's lots of like kind of empty, unstructured time, time with your own thoughts, right? Like in your own head. Would I be able to handle that without drinking heavily? Uh, turns out, yeah, it's it's actually pretty cool, it's pretty fun, right? Um, and so that's like that's a positive experience of something that you know used to be a summertime boozy affair. And as I've I've found I really enjoy in a different way, right? I don't enjoy it the same way that I'm not drinking now, but I enjoy it in a new and exciting way.

SPEAKER_01 24:25

Yeah, I love that. I you know, I think one of the things um one of the things I've been thinking about is like going on a trip, right? A lot of people take a summer trip to somewhere warm, somewhere beachy, somewhere, and um I I I mean two thoughts. I'm thinking about my first trip like that, which um was alcohol free, which was um a really big deal for me. That was a huge milestone. But but even before we're talking about that, I wanted to like I have a client right now who just had their first trip to the beach. And she's right now, she's two months alcohol free. She wants to do three months. Um, she's not sure what she's gonna do after that. But so she had committed in these three months, I'm not gonna be drinking at all. And so she went to the beach and she, like, of course, the first day, it was like, I feel really this is the time. And I mean, she said these are the words I told myself. This is the time where I would normally drink. This is when I would get a beer. I would totally be getting a beer right now if I weren't doing this thing, right? And instead, she ordered a soft drink of some kind, something different. And you know, the moment passed. And then it was like the second day at the beach. It was like a little bit of a way of like, oh yeah, okay, this is when I would normally get a drink, but you know, and by the end of it, it's like, okay, yeah, like this is the time I would normally drink and I didn't. And so it feels different. I'm not really sure what to, you know, and in that moment, it feels really like awkward and you feel a little like what do I do with myself. But then you figure it out, right? Because that moment does pass, and then you figure it out. And then, you know, now in the other side of this, she's proven to herself, okay, I can go to the beach and not drink. Like that was okay. And then you list all the benefits. Actually, I wasn't crashing out in bed by eight or nine o'clock. You know, the person I was with actually likes to eat dinner later in the day, and I wasn't super resentful about that. I was totally fine, you know, like all of the things that you can start to see as the benefits on the other side of it. And I think, you know, so often we we we because we've always done it that way. I mean, I every time I'd gone to the beach, I drank. So you can't, it's like you can't even imagine. There's no there's no space in the brain to be like, what would that even look like? I, you know, and and and I think we tend to like be like, well, it's gotta be terrible, you know, instead of like, oh my god, it might be amazing, you know?

SPEAKER_00 26:54

Like, I like to think about it um as instead of saying, like, okay, I'm not allowing myself to have this thing that I want. Instead, like, what are you allowing yourself to have because you're choosing to not drink? Right? Like so you're opening up yourself to this new experience if it's something you don't usually do. You're opening yourself up to clarity, you're opening yourself up to um not going to bed feeling like crap. You're opening yourself up to not, you know, going on vacation and having that argument with your partner that you always have because you've been drinking too much, right? Like, what would it be like to go on vacation and to not have this tense, resentful morning afterwards, after the first night, because both of us had too much to drink the night before and you know, we said some things we shouldn't have, right? Like you're allowing that into your life when you choose to take away from the drinking. And like sometimes it's really helpful to think like, what am I giving myself as opposed to what am I denying myself?

SPEAKER_01 28:02

So true. And you know, you're talking about earlier about like as we go through this, the compassion, you know, that is really important to bring forward, right? Because I mean, it of course it's gonna feel uncomfortable. Of course, we're a little bit scared, of course we we're not even sure we want to do it, you know, like just allowing for the fact that and it might be a little bit tricky, you know? It it might not, it might not be the best weekend ever, but it it might be, right? Like let's hold out the opportunity, the, you know, so in along with the compassion for ourselves, no matter what happens, is really that genuine open curiosity of could it be better? Is it better? What or what parts of it are better? Like maybe not all of it's better. Maybe you still feel uncomfortable at dinner time because you're not having your drink and you're a little irritated because your partner is. But what about the mornings? How about that? What about, you know, the the time between when you would normally be drinking at lunch and when you'd be drinking at dinner? Like, how were those afternoons before versus how are they now when you're not drinking? You know, like there's there's gonna be, we can always tease out parts that are, it just depends what we're looking for. You know, if we're looking for the all the ways that it's bad and worse and not good, we're gonna find them. If we're looking for the parts that are better, that we're enjoying, that are, you know, new and wonderful, and we're interested in learning more, you know, then we're gonna find that too.

SPEAKER_00 29:30

Mm-hmm. 100%. I think about the in the summertime too, one of the things that I think makes it a little tough is that there are so many like kind of summer slanted drinks that are very available at on tap. So, you know, like get your summer shandies, you've got your margaritas, you got your mojitos, you got your, you know, drinks with the umbrellas and stuff like that. And I think that like acknowledging that that is kind of like a part of the summer can actually prepare you to navigate the whole summer experience with more success if you're trying to cut back. So instead of just saying, oh, well, I'm just denying myself all of these fun, fancy, fruity, refreshing drinks, go ahead and plan to make yourself some really fun alternatives, right? Like everybody else is gonna be having watermelon margaritas. Cool. You can make an AF version of a watermelon margarita. It's lime and it's the same watermelon stuff, and it's you know, like there are even, you know, AF spirits that you could put in it that are kind of like tequila, right? So it's going ahead and planning in advance to how can I participate in the ritual of having the fun summer drink without derailing myself and the goals that I'm trying to achieve.

SPEAKER_01 31:06

Yeah, 100%. I that was really important to me, my first spring summer. Like I did all the mocktails, all the alcohol-free beers. I it's kind of fun. Like the market of what you can get now in the alcohol-free beverage world, it's exploding. I mean, there I one of the things that I had really regularly was I discovered this fever tree uh grapefruit soda mixed with um a ritual, which is an alternative spirits company tequila. And that's a paloma, right? I I didn't ever, I was never really a cocktail drinker. So I I got in addition to like learning mocktails, I'm just learning all the cocktails because I was just like a beer and wine girl, but I don't really like alcohol-free wines or not as many. So I've really, I was like, okay, well, I'm gonna learn this whole mocktail thing. So it became kind of a fun hobby of mine to like I got a couple books about how to make mocktails. I ordered some alcohol-free bitters to like spice up the drinks. I, you know, I tried all these different alcohol-free spirits, and you know, some are better than others. Everybody has different tastes. You can get them in cans now, you can get, you know, the bottles to mix your own. I mean, it is unlimited the amount of um really nice mocktails you can make in the summertime with, you know, like you said, all that fresh ingredients, all and it it's kind of fun. So it's like it also gives you something creative to kind of get excited about, learn something new, and and you can offer it and share it to your friends too, because even if your friends are drinking, they might not, you know, they might like to alternate, or maybe somebody's not drinking one night and drinking another night. And I don't know. When I offered it to people that were drinking, they they were all pretty, it became a really nice point of conversation to introduce what I was doing in a non-threatening, inviting way.

SPEAKER_00 33:09

Mm-hmm. Yeah, I was just thinking about that. What you were talking about, like first the market for alcohol-free mocktails and spirits and and alternative beverages and all that stuff is huge. And that speaks to the massive interest. Like, if you're listening to this podcast, you were on the vanguard of this huge social movement of people thinking, like, I'm not sure alcohol is really serving me anymore. Um, and so, likely as you navigate the summer, you're gonna be running into people who, if not on the outside, at least on the inside, are starting to get curious and wonder about like what would it be like if I didn't drink as much or um like I have been, right? And so um I love what you're saying about using that as a using exploring mocktails as a way of sharing that your journey with other people in a not pushy, not weird, you know, preachy kind of way. It's inviting them into what's going on, and you're still doing something that's kind of cool and uh like a little artisanal. I think there's some interest there, and it's still community. I'm still like, I've made this, I'm sharing with you. Um, and you know, that's what we're all after, anyways, in these like summer social events is that connection and um and just kind of sharing with one another. So I love that.

SPEAKER_01 34:41

Yeah, and if you're comfortable too, there in the beginning I didn't love having a lot of liquor in my house, but you know, later it didn't bother me. So you can, you know, I would be like, if you want to throw some gin in there or the real stuff, like I don't, you know, go for it. Like, you know, this is kind of the base, and then you can so you know it doesn't need to be, oh, you need to come over to my side of the alcohol-free stuff. It's just like this is something delicious, and you want to try it, or do you want to add some gin to it? And um, yeah, just keeping it really, really light, I think. That's fun.

SPEAKER_00 35:13

So, Ellen, like we do, you knew this was gonna come. How can we make this super practical for people? Um, what's what's a takeaway that somebody can um take with them into the summer as they're trying to drink less or cut it out of their lives?

SPEAKER_01 35:32

Um, so I I would encourage people to to pick something, pick something that they normally do with drinks and set a challenge to themselves that they're gonna do it alcohol-free and come up with a plan that they can have a fun alcohol-free alternative, you know, whether it be like that that that um golf game I was describing, you know, pack your six-pack of whatever your favorite non-alcoholic beer thing is, but you know, put it in a have a koozie ready. You don't even have to tell anybody what you're doing. Like just experiment and be like, okay, do is the beer what's important in this experience, or is it everything else? And I can be drinking this alcohol-free beer and be just as happy. Or, you know, I mean, insert any situation, but but set yourself a challenge to try something that you would never think that you could get through. Um, and give yourself a fun alternative drink and just really be curious, like really be curious and be compassionate with yourself if it's tough and just try it out. Because the only way we're gonna pop that big fear bubble of it's I can't do it, I can't imagine it, is to give ourselves the evidence that we actually can. And Jonathan and I, we can sit here and tell you all day that it's gonna be great and you're gonna be fine, you're gonna love it, and come on, join us on the other side. But until you try it yourself, you know, you just you gotta try it for yourself. Get your own evidence. What about you?

SPEAKER_00 37:04

Wonderful, wonderful advice, wonderfully well said. I'm just gonna add on to yours. Once you do that thing, take the time to sit down and record how you feel and how you felt. There's something about putting our thinking and feeling onto the page that makes it more real and helps us to internalize it more. Even if you never look at it again, even if you throw it away. Research shows that if we commit our thinking and feeling onto the page, it sinks in a little bit more deeply. And this journey is so much about taking that off-ramp and starting to build those new neural pathways that are not just doing what we've always done and drinking too much. That just helps those neural pathways form and get smoother and easier to do so much faster. And might as well, right? Like, might as well make that easier and faster. But above all, I say just hold yourself with compassion and be curious about going into the summer. What stories come up for you as you're approaching the summer? Like what are the events that are coming up that you're like, oh my goodness, I can't possibly navigate that without drinking. Um and write them down and let us know, right? Like write it in an email and shoot us an email at thealcoholmyth at gmail.com. We'd love to hear about it and we'd love to help you navigate those challenges um together because you don't have to do it by yourself. You know, Ellen and I are here for you. Um, and you know, if that's all you got, then that's great. Um, but if it's not, then even better.

SPEAKER_01 38:54

Yeah, yeah, 100%. And I love what you said about journaling too. Like I always like to think about an event like that in the span of a 24-hour period, like leading up to it, the event itself, coming home after the event, going to sleep, waking up the next morning. Like, think about the whole span of those 24 hours. Because, you know, when we think about that, when we do it an event drinking versus doing an event not drinking, we start to see this kind of stark contrast of where the pleasure is when we're drinking, like how short-lived it is, and where how short-lived the discomfort is when we're not drinking. And it can be a really powerful thing to start to notice in terms of like just the time that we spend um either in pleasure or discomfort.

SPEAKER_00 39:45

Yeah, perspective. Perspective changes everything for sure. All right, we've been the alcohol myth podcast. We're so glad that you've been here. If this episode made you think of anyone, share it with them. And until next time, I've been Jonathan.

SPEAKER_01 40:01

I'm Alan. Great to be with you.

SPEAKER_00 40:04

Have a beautiful day. Thanks for listening to the Alcohol Myth Podcast.

SPEAKER_01 40:09

If this episode sparked something for you, we'd love to hear about it.

SPEAKER_00 40:13

Send your questions, stories, or ideas for future episodes to thealcoholmyth at gmail.com.

SPEAKER_01 40:19

We read every message. We really do.

SPEAKER_00 40:22

Take good care of yourself. We'll see you next time.