Midlife AF Podcast

Sober October, No Drama: Daily Tips for a Take It or Leave It Relationship With Alcohol

Episode 14: Treat Yourself Like a Sick Child -Sober October, No Drama

When you are taking a break from alcohol, prepare your evenings like you would for a child who is sick and needs looking after.

Your evening preparation list:

I know what you are thinking. But I am an adult. I deserve to stay up late. I should be able to sit on the couch with a glass of wine like a grown up.

Here is the thing - a lot of people drink in the evening because otherwise it doesn't feel like they have given themselves permission to stop. To rest. To be done for the day.

Being an adult is also about knowing how to take care of yourself.

And treating yourself like a sick child - with gentleness, with warmth, with a really good bedtime routine - is one of the most radical things you can do for your nervous system when you are taking a break from alcohol.

This episode is part of Sober October, No Drama - a daily MidlifeAF podcast mini series with tips for cutting back on alcohol without willpower, labels or forever.

My Grounding Audio is perfect for that wind-down moment when you would normally reach for a drink - it gives your nervous system exactly what it is actually looking for. See links below:

Episode links & Resources
•⁠ ⁠Learn more about Emma Gilmour at: www.hoperisingcoaching.com
•⁠ ⁠Follow Emma Gilmour on insta @hoperisingcoaching

FREE TOOLS - four beautiful resources to help you drink less and feel fabulous:

1.⁠ ⁠7 Steps to Take Back Control of Alcohol - the exact steps I took when I started out on this journey nearly five years ago.
https://www.hoperisingcoaching.com/7-steps

2.⁠ ⁠Awareness Worksheets - if you do nothing else, working through the answers to these questions will change your relationship with alcohol for the better.
https://www.hoperisingcoaching.com/awareness-worksheets-opt-in

3.⁠ ⁠Your North Star Visualisation - stops your brain freaking out about doing something unfamiliar.
https://www.hoperisingcoaching.com/northstarvisualisation

4.⁠ ⁠Grounding Meditation - you know that feeling when you have a drink and the body goes "aaaaaaaahhhhhhh" and everything seems to relax? What the body really needs is to ground - to come back home to self, and for self to feel lovely. That is what we work on in my live programs. We start every session with a grounding and connect with ourselves to find out what our body really needs when it thinks it wants to drink.
https://www.hoperisingcoaching.com/grounding

READY TO GO DEEPER?

Are you tired of the mental back-and-forth about drinking?
I am running a FREE 3-Day Alcohol Reset on 22, 23 and 24 Sept, 7:30pm Melb/Syd (replays available). No willpower talk. No abstinence pressure. You can even drink while you do it. A judgement-free space to learn the tools to step into a take it or leave it relationship with alcohol.

REGISTER FREE: https://www.hoperisingcoaching.com/3-day-reset

Want a take it or leave it relationship with alcohol? Want to stop all the "will I, won't I" internal conflict around wine?

I am running the Great Aussie Alcohol Experiment LIVE from Thursday 1 October 30 days. Small group coaching. Only 25 spots. Small, intimate and private. Rewire your brain and nervous system so you no longer have to reach for a glass to quieten your busy brain, calm your overwhelmed soul or socialise when your social battery is spent.

We won't run this live again until January.

YOUR NEXT RIGHT MOVE STARTS HERE: https://www.hoperisingcoaching.com/the_great_aussie_alcohol_experiment

Change happens in a moment, my friends - the preparation for change takes a little bit of time. Take the time. You will be amazed at the difference it makes.

Sober October, No Drama: Daily Tips for a Take It or Leave It Relationship With Alcohol

Episode 13: If You Have to Drink to Enjoy It - You Probably Don't -Sober October, No Drama

If you have to drink to do something or enjoy something - you probably don't actually enjoy it.

It was only when I took a break from drinking for a year that I realised half the things I was doing in my life I didn't actually enjoy. There was something about them that wasn't really working for me - and alcohol was the thing that made them bearable.

My rule of thumb: if I have to drink, it's usually because:

This is fawning. This is people pleasing. And alcohol is the biggest mask of them all.

Because it allows us to do things we don't really want to do - while appearing to be having the time of our lives.

Unfortunately it often takes having a break to realise this. And one of the hardest things for people taking a break is:

This can feel very unsafe to our nervous system - and honestly it is the biggest reason people don't get through a month's break.

So here is the question worth sitting with:

Look at all the things you feel you can't cope with without a drink. Start asking - what would it be like to do them without drinking? What would be hard?

More often than not we have to make some changes to our lives to allow us to take a break - and it is worth working out what those changes might be before you start.

This episode is part ofSober October, No Drama - a daily MidlifeAF podcast mini series with tips for cutting back on alcohol without willpower, labels or forever.

My free watch-on-demand masterclass talks about exactly this - and will help you work out what needs to shift before your break begins. See links below:

Episode links & Resources
•⁠ ⁠Learn more about Emma Gilmour at: www.hoperisingcoaching.com
•⁠ ⁠Follow Emma Gilmour on insta @hoperisingcoaching

FREE TOOLS - four beautiful resources to help you drink less and feel fabulous:

1.⁠ ⁠7 Steps to Take Back Control of Alcohol - the exact steps I took when I started out on this journey nearly five years ago.
https://www.hoperisingcoaching.com/7-steps

2.⁠ ⁠Awareness Worksheets - if you do nothing else, working through the answers to these questions will change your relationship with alcohol for the better.
https://www.hoperisingcoaching.com/awareness-worksheets-opt-in

3.⁠ ⁠Your North Star Visualisation - stops your brain freaking out about doing something unfamiliar.
https://www.hoperisingcoaching.com/northstarvisualisation

4.⁠ ⁠Grounding Meditation - you know that feeling when you have a drink and the body goes "aaaaaaaahhhhhhh" and everything seems to relax? What the body really needs is to ground - to come back home to self, and for self to feel lovely. That is what we work on in my live programs. We start every session with a grounding and connect with ourselves to find out what our body really needs when it thinks it wants to drink.
https://www.hoperisingcoaching.com/grounding

READY TO GO DEEPER?

Are you tired of the mental back-and-forth about drinking?
I am running a FREE 3-Day Alcohol Reset on 22, 23 and 24 Sept, 7:30pm Melb/Syd (replays available). No willpower talk. No abstinence pressure. You can even drink while you do it. A judgement-free space to learn the tools to step into a take it or leave it relationship with alcohol.

REGISTER FREE: https://www.hoperisingcoaching.com/3-day-reset

Want a take it or leave it relationship with alcohol? Want to stop all the "will I, won't I" internal conflict around wine?

I am running the Great Aussie Alcohol Experiment LIVE from Thursday 1 October 30 days. Small group coaching. Only 25 spots. Small, intimate and private. Rewire your brain and nervous system so you no longer have to reach for a glass to quieten your busy brain, calm your overwhelmed soul or socialise when your social battery is spent.

We won't run this live again until January.

YOUR NEXT RIGHT MOVE STARTS HERE: https://www.hoperisingcoaching.com/the_great_aussie_alcohol_experiment

Change happens in a moment, my friends - the preparation for change takes a little bit of time. Take the time. You will be amazed at the difference it makes.

Sober October, No Drama: Daily Tips for a Take It or Leave It Relationship With Alcohol

Episode 12: Get Out of Struggle Speak and Into Choice - Sober October, No Drama

If you think it's going to be hard, it will be. That's cognitive bias. You know that feeling when you wake up in a bad mood and everything goes to sh*t? People do the same thing with taking a break from alcohol - and it makes everything so much harder.

Struggle language keeps you in willpower. Choice language gets you out.

Think about the difference between these two experiences:

Flow is connected to presence. Resistance lives in the past or the future.

Here's what most people don't know: a craving or a trigger is actually your body desperately trying to ground itself - to come back to the present moment. Struggle language takes you further away from that. Presence brings you home.

This is exactly why as part of the Great Aussie Alcohol Experiment this year we are running a present moment awareness breathwork practice alongside the program - to support everyone in learning how to live in presence rather than resistance.

This episode is part of Sober October, No Drama - a daily MidlifeAF podcast mini series with tips for cutting back on alcohol without willpower, labels or forever.

My Grounding Audio is your first step out of struggle and into presence - and it will help you identify the unmet need underneath the craving before it reaches for a drink. See links below:

Episode links & Resources
•⁠ ⁠Learn more about Emma Gilmour at: www.hoperisingcoaching.com
•⁠ ⁠Follow Emma Gilmour on insta @hoperisingcoaching

FREE TOOLS - four beautiful resources to help you drink less and feel fabulous:

1.⁠ ⁠7 Steps to Take Back Control of Alcohol - the exact steps I took when I started out on this journey nearly five years ago.
https://www.hoperisingcoaching.com/7-steps

2.⁠ ⁠Awareness Worksheets - if you do nothing else, working through the answers to these questions will change your relationship with alcohol for the better.
https://www.hoperisingcoaching.com/awareness-worksheets-opt-in

3.⁠ ⁠Your North Star Visualisation - stops your brain freaking out about doing something unfamiliar.
https://www.hoperisingcoaching.com/northstarvisualisation

4.⁠ ⁠Grounding Meditation - you know that feeling when you have a drink and the body goes "aaaaaaaahhhhhhh" and everything seems to relax? What the body really needs is to ground - to come back home to self, and for self to feel lovely. That is what we work on in my live programs. We start every session with a grounding and connect with ourselves to find out what our body really needs when it thinks it wants to drink.
https://www.hoperisingcoaching.com/grounding

READY TO GO DEEPER?

Are you tired of the mental back-and-forth about drinking?
I am running a FREE 3-Day Alcohol Reset on 22, 23 and 24 Sept, 7:30pm Melb/Syd (replays available). No willpower talk. No abstinence pressure. You can even drink while you do it. A judgement-free space to learn the tools to step into a take it or leave it relationship with alcohol.

REGISTER FREE: https://www.hoperisingcoaching.com/3-day-reset

Want a take it or leave it relationship with alcohol? Want to stop all the "will I, won't I" internal conflict around wine?

I am running the Great Aussie Alcohol Experiment LIVE from Thursday 1 October 30 days. Small group coaching. Only 25 spots. Small, intimate and private. Rewire your brain and nervous system so you no longer have to reach for a glass to quieten your busy brain, calm your overwhelmed soul or socialise when your social battery is spent.

We won't run this live again until January.

YOUR NEXT RIGHT MOVE STARTS HERE: https://www.hoperisingcoaching.com/the_great_aussie_alcohol_experiment

Change happens in a moment, my friends - the preparation for change takes a little bit of time. Take the time. You will be amazed at the difference it makes.

Sober October, No Drama: Daily Tips for a Take It or Leave It Relationship With Alcohol

Episode 11: You Are Not the Problem - But You Are the Solution - Sober October, No Drama

Our culture convinces us from the minute we are born that we are the problem. This is perpetuated by:

But the neuroscience shows that is absolutely not true.

Alcohol is an addictive substance to anybody who drinks it long enough and often enough. And the amount you have to drink for it to start working in a way that makes you want it even when you prefer not to have it - is actually a very low quantity.

The main reason people start drinking more than they want has nothing to do with that.

It is because they start associating the relief from discomfort - the relief from emotional or physical pain - with alcohol.

The big alcohol companies have done a very good job of convincing us that the problem lies with the person. Their "drink responsibly" campaign runs everywhere and continues to convince people that alcohol is a people problem - not a substance problem, coupled with a cultural and societal problem.

Anybody who works in psychology will tell you: a problematic behaviour is always the symptom of the problem - not the problem itself.

And this is true when we drink more than we would like.

The longer we stay stuck in the cycle of self-recrimination and self-flagellation, the longer we stay stuck drinking more than we want:

The thing that changes everything is when we stop blaming ourselves and start looking at the data.

This episode is part of Sober October, No Drama - a daily MidlifeAF podcast mini series with tips for cutting back on alcohol without willpower, labels or forever.

My Awareness Worksheets are the perfect tool for starting to look at that data without judgement - and without the self-blame that keeps us stuck. See links below:

Episode links & Resources
•⁠ ⁠Learn more about Emma Gilmour at: www.hoperisingcoaching.com
•⁠ ⁠Follow Emma Gilmour on insta @hoperisingcoaching

FREE TOOLS - four beautiful resources to help you drink less and feel fabulous:

1.⁠ ⁠7 Steps to Take Back Control of Alcohol - the exact steps I took when I started out on this journey nearly five years ago.
https://www.hoperisingcoaching.com/7-steps

2.⁠ ⁠Awareness Worksheets - if you do nothing else, working through the answers to these questions will change your relationship with alcohol for the better.
https://www.hoperisingcoaching.com/awareness-worksheets-opt-in

3.⁠ ⁠Your North Star Visualisation - stops your brain freaking out about doing something unfamiliar.
https://www.hoperisingcoaching.com/northstarvisualisation

4.⁠ ⁠Grounding Meditation - you know that feeling when you have a drink and the body goes "aaaaaaaahhhhhhh" and everything seems to relax? What the body really needs is to ground - to come back home to self, and for self to feel lovely. That is what we work on in my live programs. We start every session with a grounding and connect with ourselves to find out what our body really needs when it thinks it wants to drink.
https://www.hoperisingcoaching.com/grounding

READY TO GO DEEPER?

Are you tired of the mental back-and-forth about drinking?
I am running a FREE 3-Day Alcohol Reset on 22, 23 and 24 Sept, 7:30pm Melb/Syd (replays available). No willpower talk. No abstinence pressure. You can even drink while you do it. A judgement-free space to learn the tools to step into a take it or leave it relationship with alcohol.

REGISTER FREE: https://www.hoperisingcoaching.com/3-day-reset

Want a take it or leave it relationship with alcohol? Want to stop all the "will I, won't I" internal conflict around wine?

I am running the Great Aussie Alcohol Experiment LIVE from Thursday 1 October 30 days. Small group coaching. Only 25 spots. Small, intimate and private. Rewire your brain and nervous system so you no longer have to reach for a glass to quieten your busy brain, calm your overwhelmed soul or socialise when your social battery is spent.

Early bird pricing open now (ends 15th Spetember) - $500 off the full price, plus two 1:1 counselling sessions with me and 3 webinars included (worth +$1,000). We won't run this live again until January.

YOUR NEXT RIGHT MOVE STARTS HERE: https://www.hoperisingcoaching.com/the_great_aussie_alcohol_experiment

Change happens in a moment, my friends - the preparation for change takes a little bit of time. Take the time. You will be amazed at the difference it makes.

Sober October, No Drama: Daily Tips for a Take It or Leave It Relationship With Alcohol

Episode 10: Can't Do It Without a Drink? Here's What That's Really About -Sober October, No Drama

Start noticing the places where you don't just want a drink. You feel like you need one in order to do the thing at all.

If alcohol is what makes those things doable - that is not a drinking problem.

That is a sign that somewhere along the way your needs stopped being allowed to matter. And a lot of us have been doing that for so long we don't even know we have needs anymore.

This is grey area drinking at its most invisible. It is not about the alcohol. It is about everything the alcohol is doing for you that nothing else has been allowed to do.

So the tip here is not to stop drinking. It is to start noticing:

You matter most. Full stop.

This episode is part of Sober October, No Drama - a daily MidlifeAF podcast mini series with tips for cutting back on alcohol without willpower, labels or forever.

My Awareness Worksheets - perfect for exactly this kind of noticing - and my Grounding Audio, which will help you identify the unmet need underneath the craving before it reaches for a drink. See links below:

Episode links & Resources
•⁠ ⁠Learn more about Emma Gilmour at: www.hoperisingcoaching.com
•⁠ ⁠Follow Emma Gilmour on insta @hoperisingcoaching

FREE TOOLS - four beautiful resources to help you drink less and feel fabulous:

1.⁠ ⁠7 Steps to Take Back Control of Alcohol - the exact steps I took when I started out on this journey nearly five years ago.
https://www.hoperisingcoaching.com/7-steps

2.⁠ ⁠Awareness Worksheets - if you do nothing else, working through the answers to these questions will change your relationship with alcohol for the better.
https://www.hoperisingcoaching.com/awareness-worksheets-opt-in

3.⁠ ⁠Your North Star Visualisation - stops your brain freaking out about doing something unfamiliar.
https://www.hoperisingcoaching.com/northstarvisualisation

4.⁠ ⁠Grounding Meditation - you know that feeling when you have a drink and the body goes "aaaaaaaahhhhhhh" and everything seems to relax? What the body really needs is to ground - to come back home to self, and for self to feel lovely. That is what we work on in my live programs. We start every session with a grounding and connect with ourselves to find out what our body really needs when it thinks it wants to drink.
https://www.hoperisingcoaching.com/grounding

READY TO GO DEEPER?

Are you tired of the mental back-and-forth about drinking?
I am running a FREE 3-Day Alcohol Reset on 22, 23 and 24 Sept, 7:30pm Melb/Syd (replays available). No willpower talk. No abstinence pressure. You can even drink while you do it. A judgement-free space to learn the tools to step into a take it or leave it relationship with alcohol.

REGISTER FREE: https://www.hoperisingcoaching.com/3-day-reset

Want a take it or leave it relationship with alcohol? Want to stop all the "will I, won't I" internal conflict around wine?

I am running the Great Aussie Alcohol Experiment LIVE from Thursday 1 October 30 days. Small group coaching. Only 25 spots. Small, intimate and private. Rewire your brain and nervous system so you no longer have to reach for a glass to quieten your busy brain, calm your overwhelmed soul or socialise when your social battery is spent.

Early bird pricing open now (ends 15th Spetember) - $500 off the full price, plus two 1:1 counselling sessions with me and 3 webinars included (worth +$1,000). We won't run this live again until January.

YOUR NEXT RIGHT MOVE STARTS HERE: https://www.hoperisingcoaching.com/the_great_aussie_alcohol_experiment

Change happens in a moment, my friends - the preparation for change takes a little bit of time. Take the time. You will be amazed at the difference it makes.

Sober October, No Drama: Daily Tips for a Take It or Leave It Relationship With Alcohol

EPISODE 9: How to Finally Commit to a Break from Alcohol - No Willpower Required - Sober October, No Drama

There is an Afrikaans word - soutpiel - which literally translates to salt willy. It describes someone with a foot in two places, not fully committed to either. One foot in South Africa, one foot in Britain - leaving their willy in the ocean.

Trying not to get banned on IG.

It is a long-winded but perfectly apt description of trying to cut back on drinking without making a firm decision.

A maybe is always a yes.

As Yoda says - there is no try, just do. Trying, by its very nature, holds failure in its raison d'etre. Try and stand up right now. You can't - you either stand up or you don't.

A decision does something completely different:

If you are struggling to make the decision to take a sober curious break, sit with this question:

What is not making that decision keeping me safe from experiencing?

I would love to hear your answer. If you would like to you can email me at [email protected]

This episode is part of Dry July, No Drama - a daily MidlifeAF podcast mini series with tips for cutting back on alcohol without willpower, labels or forever.

My free resources below will help you prepare for and get the most out of your break. See links below: 

Episode links & Resources
•⁠ ⁠Learn more about Emma Gilmour at: www.hoperisingcoaching.com
•⁠ ⁠Follow Emma Gilmour on insta @hoperisingcoaching

FREE TOOLS - four beautiful resources to help you drink less and feel fabulous:

1.⁠ ⁠7 Steps to Take Back Control of Alcohol - the exact steps I took when I started out on this journey nearly five years ago.
https://www.hoperisingcoaching.com/7-steps

2.⁠ ⁠Awareness Worksheets - if you do nothing else, working through the answers to these questions will change your relationship with alcohol for the better.
https://www.hoperisingcoaching.com/awareness-worksheets-opt-in

3.⁠ ⁠Your North Star Visualisation - stops your brain freaking out about doing something unfamiliar.
https://www.hoperisingcoaching.com/northstarvisualisation

4.⁠ ⁠Grounding Meditation - you know that feeling when you have a drink and the body goes "aaaaaaaahhhhhhh" and everything seems to relax? What the body really needs is to ground - to come back home to self, and for self to feel lovely. That is what we work on in my live programs. We start every session with a grounding and connect with ourselves to find out what our body really needs when it thinks it wants to drink.
https://www.hoperisingcoaching.com/grounding

READY TO GO DEEPER?

Are you tired of the mental back-and-forth about drinking?
I am running a FREE 3-Day Alcohol Reset on 22, 23 and 24 Sept, 7:30pm Melb/Syd (replays available). No willpower talk. No abstinence pressure. You can even drink while you do it. A judgement-free space to learn the tools to step into a take it or leave it relationship with alcohol.

REGISTER FREE: https://www.hoperisingcoaching.com/3-day-reset

Want a take it or leave it relationship with alcohol? Want to stop all the "will I, won't I" internal conflict around wine?

I am running the Great Aussie Alcohol Experiment LIVE from Thursday 1 October 30 days. Small group coaching. Only 25 spots. Small, intimate and private. Rewire your brain and nervous system so you no longer have to reach for a glass to quieten your busy brain, calm your overwhelmed soul or socialise when your social battery is spent.

Early bird pricing open now (ends 15th Spetember) - $500 off the full price, plus two 1:1 counselling sessions with me and 3 webinars included (worth +$1,000). We won't run this live again until January.

YOUR NEXT RIGHT MOVE STARTS HERE: https://www.hoperisingcoaching.com/the_great_aussie_alcohol_experiment

Change happens in a moment, my friends - the preparation for change takes a little bit of time. Take the time. You will be amazed at the difference it makes.

Sober October, No Drama: Daily Tips for a Take It or Leave It Relationship With Alcohol

EPISODE 8: The Real Reason You Keep Reaching for a Drink - It's Not What You Think - Sober October, No Drama

You have heard of fight, flight and freeze - the nervous system safety responses.

There is a fourth: fawning - or masking. And alcohol is the biggest mask of them all.

The body and brain very quickly learn that drinking allows us to mask and pretend to be the human that society told us we should be - rather than the human we actually are. This is one of the most overlooked reasons people struggle to cut back on drinking.

I hear this from clients all the time: I don't know why I drink. I know it's hurting me but I just keep choosing it.

Like children, people do well when they can. When they feel safe to.

These are not moral failings. They are very valid reasons for reaching for a drink:

This is grey area drinking at its core - and it is far more common than anyone talks about.

The job here is not to solve any of this tonight. It is simply to notice - and to hold yourself with the same compassion you would give a scared child. That is where the freedom begins.

This episode is part of Dry July, No Drama - a daily MidlifeAF podcast mini series with tips for cutting back on alcohol without willpower, labels or forever.

My Grounding Audio will help you identify the unmet need underneath the craving before it reaches for a drink. See links below: 

Episode links & Resources
•⁠ ⁠Learn more about Emma Gilmour at: www.hoperisingcoaching.com
•⁠ ⁠Follow Emma Gilmour on insta @hoperisingcoaching

FREE TOOLS - four beautiful resources to help you drink less and feel fabulous:

1.⁠ ⁠7 Steps to Take Back Control of Alcohol - the exact steps I took when I started out on this journey nearly five years ago.
https://www.hoperisingcoaching.com/7-steps

2.⁠ ⁠Awareness Worksheets - if you do nothing else, working through the answers to these questions will change your relationship with alcohol for the better.
https://www.hoperisingcoaching.com/awareness-worksheets-opt-in

3.⁠ ⁠Your North Star Visualisation - stops your brain freaking out about doing something unfamiliar.
https://www.hoperisingcoaching.com/northstarvisualisation

4.⁠ ⁠Grounding Meditation - you know that feeling when you have a drink and the body goes "aaaaaaaahhhhhhh" and everything seems to relax? What the body really needs is to ground - to come back home to self, and for self to feel lovely. That is what we work on in my live programs. We start every session with a grounding and connect with ourselves to find out what our body really needs when it thinks it wants to drink.
https://www.hoperisingcoaching.com/grounding

READY TO GO DEEPER?

Are you tired of the mental back-and-forth about drinking?
I am running a FREE 3-Day Alcohol Reset on 22, 23 and 24 Sept, 7:30pm Melb/Syd (replays available). No willpower talk. No abstinence pressure. You can even drink while you do it. A judgement-free space to learn the tools to step into a take it or leave it relationship with alcohol.

REGISTER FREE: https://www.hoperisingcoaching.com/3-day-reset

Want a take it or leave it relationship with alcohol? Want to stop all the "will I, won't I" internal conflict around wine?

I am running the Great Aussie Alcohol Experiment LIVE from Thursday 1 October 30 days. Small group coaching. Only 25 spots. Small, intimate and private. Rewire your brain and nervous system so you no longer have to reach for a glass to quieten your busy brain, calm your overwhelmed soul or socialise when your social battery is spent.

Early bird pricing open now (ends 15th Spetember) - $500 off the full price, plus two 1:1 counselling sessions with me and 3 webinars included (worth +$1,000). We won't run this live again until January.

YOUR NEXT RIGHT MOVE STARTS HERE: https://www.hoperisingcoaching.com/the_great_aussie_alcohol_experiment

Change happens in a moment, my friends - the preparation for change takes a little bit of time. Take the time. You will be amazed at the difference it makes.

Sober October, No Drama: Daily Tips for a Take It or Leave It Relationship With Alcohol

EPISODE 6: How to Say No to Alcohol Without Going to War With Yourself - Sober October, No Drama

This goes against everything we have been taught about cutting back on alcohol.

Instead of going into battle - lean in.

A craving is not your enemy. It is just a trigger - a way of your body letting you know that something is not OK. So rather than fighting your body in distress, the invitation is to get curious and ask:

Your body is not broken. It is resourceful. It found a solution. Our job is to find a better one - together.

Part of changing our relationship with alcohol involves working out how to create those experiences the way we want them - without using alcohol. But the first step is always curiosity and awareness. Not warfare.

This episode is part of Sober October, No Drama - a daily MidlifeAF podcast mini series with tips for cutting back on alcohol without willpower, labels or forever.

My Awareness Worksheets are perfect for this episode - working through the answers to these questions will change your relationship with alcohol for the better. See links below: 

Episode links & Resources
•⁠ ⁠Learn more about Emma Gilmour at: www.hoperisingcoaching.com
•⁠ ⁠Follow Emma Gilmour on insta @hoperisingcoaching

FREE TOOLS - four beautiful resources to help you drink less and feel fabulous:

1.⁠ ⁠7 Steps to Take Back Control of Alcohol - the exact steps I took when I started out on this journey nearly five years ago.
https://www.hoperisingcoaching.com/7-steps

2.⁠ ⁠Awareness Worksheets - if you do nothing else, working through the answers to these questions will change your relationship with alcohol for the better.
https://www.hoperisingcoaching.com/awareness-worksheets-opt-in

3.⁠ ⁠Your North Star Visualisation - stops your brain freaking out about doing something unfamiliar.
https://www.hoperisingcoaching.com/northstarvisualisation

4.⁠ ⁠Grounding Meditation - you know that feeling when you have a drink and the body goes "aaaaaaaahhhhhhh" and everything seems to relax? What the body really needs is to ground - to come back home to self, and for self to feel lovely. That is what we work on in my live programs. We start every session with a grounding and connect with ourselves to find out what our body really needs when it thinks it wants to drink.
https://www.hoperisingcoaching.com/grounding

READY TO GO DEEPER?

Are you tired of the mental back-and-forth about drinking?
I am running a FREE 3-Day Alcohol Reset on 22, 23 and 24 Sept, 7:30pm Melb/Syd (replays available). No willpower talk. No abstinence pressure. You can even drink while you do it. A judgement-free space to learn the tools to step into a take it or leave it relationship with alcohol.

REGISTER FREE: https://www.hoperisingcoaching.com/3-day-reset

Want a take it or leave it relationship with alcohol? Want to stop all the "will I, won't I" internal conflict around wine?

I am running the Great Aussie Alcohol Experiment LIVE from Thursday 1 October 30 days. Small group coaching. Only 25 spots. Small, intimate and private. Rewire your brain and nervous system so you no longer have to reach for a glass to quieten your busy brain, calm your overwhelmed soul or socialise when your social battery is spent.

Early bird pricing open now (ends 15th Spetember) - $500 off the full price, plus two 1:1 counselling sessions with me and 3 webinars included (worth +$1,000). We won't run this live again until January.

YOUR NEXT RIGHT MOVE STARTS HERE: https://www.hoperisingcoaching.com/the_great_aussie_alcohol_experiment

Change happens in a moment, my friends - the preparation for change takes a little bit of time. Take the time. You will be amazed at the difference it makes.

Sober October, No Drama: Daily Tips for a Take It or Leave It Relationship With Alcohol

Episode 5: Why One Day at a Time Keeps You Stuck - And What to Do Instead - Sober October, No Drama

I know this one is controversial. I am speaking from my own experience.

For me, one day at a time meant I had to keep making decisions - which kept me in decision fatigue, which kept me in willpower. And willpower is a finite strategy for cutting back on alcohol.

It also reinforces struggle, battling and hard. It ties into good and bad - binary thinking - all of which keeps us in resistance and out of choice.

The alternative? Make one firm decision:

I am not going to drink for 30 days.

There is no try. There is only do - or do not. Thanks, Yoda.

This episode is part of Dry July, No Drama - a daily MidlifeAF podcast mini series with tips for cutting back on alcohol without willpower, labels or forever.

My free resources below will help you prepare for and get the most out of your break. See links below:

Episode links & Resources
•⁠ ⁠Learn more about Emma Gilmour at: www.hoperisingcoaching.com
•⁠ ⁠Follow Emma Gilmour on insta @hoperisingcoaching

FREE TOOLS - four beautiful resources to help you drink less and feel fabulous:

1.⁠ ⁠7 Steps to Take Back Control of Alcohol - the exact steps I took when I started out on this journey nearly five years ago.
https://www.hoperisingcoaching.com/7-steps

2.⁠ ⁠Awareness Worksheets - if you do nothing else, working through the answers to these questions will change your relationship with alcohol for the better.
https://www.hoperisingcoaching.com/awareness-worksheets-opt-in

3.⁠ ⁠Your North Star Visualisation - stops your brain freaking out about doing something unfamiliar.
https://www.hoperisingcoaching.com/northstarvisualisation

4.⁠ ⁠Grounding Meditation - you know that feeling when you have a drink and the body goes "aaaaaaaahhhhhhh" and everything seems to relax? What the body really needs is to ground - to come back home to self, and for self to feel lovely. That is what we work on in my live programs. We start every session with a grounding and connect with ourselves to find out what our body really needs when it thinks it wants to drink.
https://www.hoperisingcoaching.com/grounding

READY TO GO DEEPER?

Are you tired of the mental back-and-forth about drinking?
I am running a FREE 3-Day Alcohol Reset on 22, 23 and 24 Sept, 7:30pm Melb/Syd (replays available). No willpower talk. No abstinence pressure. You can even drink while you do it. A judgement-free space to learn the tools to step into a take it or leave it relationship with alcohol.

REGISTER FREE: https://www.hoperisingcoaching.com/3-day-reset

Want a take it or leave it relationship with alcohol? Want to stop all the "will I, won't I" internal conflict around wine?

I am running the Great Aussie Alcohol Experiment LIVE from Thursday 1 October 30 days. Small group coaching. Only 25 spots. Small, intimate and private. Rewire your brain and nervous system so you no longer have to reach for a glass to quieten your busy brain, calm your overwhelmed soul or socialise when your social battery is spent.

Early bird pricing open now (ends 15th Spetember) - $500 off the full price, plus two 1:1 counselling sessions with me and 3 webinars included (worth +$1,000). We won't run this live again until January.

YOUR NEXT RIGHT MOVE STARTS HERE: https://www.hoperisingcoaching.com/the_great_aussie_alcohol_experiment

Change happens in a moment, my friends - the preparation for change takes a little bit of time. Take the time. You will be amazed at the difference it makes.

Sober October, No Drama: Daily Tips for a Take It or Leave It Relationship With Alcohol

Why Thinking About Your Hangover Won't Help You Cut Back on Drinking - Sober October, No Drama

When we are taking time off alcohol we tend to spend a lot of time focusing on the hangover and anxiety post-drinking, and not enough time focusing on the issues in the moment.

Our craving doesn't care about tomorrow. It just wants to ease our discomfort right now.

If you start trying to sell tomorrow's hangover as a reason not to drink, you’ve lost it - that’s a future you problem.

Whereas if we start to think about the impact in the here and now, and in the few hours after the first drink, that can be really convincing.

Fear of the future, a bit like willpower and restriction, is a short-term strategy and will only last so long.

What we need to is:

1. Start to become the craving, need and trigger investigator.

2. Understand what is going on in the moment. For example, if we want excitement, confidence, fun, what do we believe we or the situation will be like without that?

This is the shift that makes reducing your alcohol intake feel natural rather than like white-knuckling it through the evening.

This episode is part of Sober October, No Drama - a daily MidlifeAF podcast mini series with tips for cutting back on alcohol without willpower, labels or forever.

My Awareness Worksheets - perfect for exactly this kind of noticing - and my Grounding Audio, which will help you identify the unmet need underneath the craving before it reaches for a drink. See links below: 

Episode links & Resources
•⁠ ⁠Learn more about Emma Gilmour at: www.hoperisingcoaching.com
•⁠ ⁠Follow Emma Gilmour on insta @hoperisingcoaching

FREE TOOLS - four beautiful resources to help you drink less and feel fabulous:

1.⁠ ⁠7 Steps to Take Back Control of Alcohol - the exact steps I took when I started out on this journey nearly five years ago.
https://www.hoperisingcoaching.com/7-steps

2.⁠ ⁠Awareness Worksheets - if you do nothing else, working through the answers to these questions will change your relationship with alcohol for the better.
https://www.hoperisingcoaching.com/awareness-worksheets-opt-in

3.⁠ ⁠Your North Star Visualisation - stops your brain freaking out about doing something unfamiliar.
https://www.hoperisingcoaching.com/northstarvisualisation

4.⁠ ⁠Grounding Meditation - you know that feeling when you have a drink and the body goes "aaaaaaaahhhhhhh" and everything seems to relax? What the body really needs is to ground - to come back home to self, and for self to feel lovely. That is what we work on in my live programs. We start every session with a grounding and connect with ourselves to find out what our body really needs when it thinks it wants to drink.
https://www.hoperisingcoaching.com/grounding

READY TO GO DEEPER?

Are you tired of the mental back-and-forth about drinking?
I am running a FREE 3-Day Alcohol Reset on 22, 23 and 24 Sept, 7:30pm Melb/Syd (replays available). No willpower talk. No abstinence pressure. You can even drink while you do it. A judgement-free space to learn the tools to step into a take it or leave it relationship with alcohol.

REGISTER FREE: https://www.hoperisingcoaching.com/3-day-reset

Want a take it or leave it relationship with alcohol? Want to stop all the "will I, won't I" internal conflict around wine?

I am running the Great Aussie Alcohol Experiment LIVE from Thursday 1 October 30 days. Small group coaching. Only 25 spots. Small, intimate and private. Rewire your brain and nervous system so you no longer have to reach for a glass to quieten your busy brain, calm your overwhelmed soul or socialise when your social battery is spent.

Early bird pricing open now (ends 15th Spetember) - $500 off the full price, plus two 1:1 counselling sessions with me and 3 webinars included (worth +$1,000). We won't run this live again until January.

YOUR NEXT RIGHT MOVE STARTS HERE: https://www.hoperisingcoaching.com/the_great_aussie_alcohol_experiment

Change happens in a moment, my friends - the preparation for change takes a little bit of time. Take the time. You will be amazed at the difference it makes.