No Alcohol Needed: The Podcast

By Julie Miller & Steve KnappSociety & Culture Health & Fitness Mental Health Education Self-Improvement Philosophy

No Alcohol Needed: The Podcast episodes

April 17, 2023E32: Are Sobriety and Recovery the Same?
Sobriety and recovery are often used interchangeable, but are they the same? Have you ever wondered what the difference between them actually is? Have you ever wondered what people actually mean when they talk about their "recovery"? We are joined by sober influencer Ryan from The Sober Mountain; recovery mentor Dana, founder of The Yarn Consolery LLC; and author and motivational speaker Martin Lockett to explore the meanings of these two words, and the importance in understanding the difference. We'll also dig into what the word "recovery" means to each of us, and how we apply that in our own lives.

"Recovery is equal parts healing and growth."

Some of the other concepts we touch on include:
"Who Am I?" Discovering and rebuilding your new identity in recovery
Defining recovery as a continuous lifestyle
The biopsychosocial spiritual model of recovery
Developing a naturally healthy emotional response to situations
Finding the emotional wound, uncovering the root, and working to heal it.
Recovery should consist of things you find enjoyable
The value of developing a recovery plan
Rewired by Erica Spiegelman
Honesty with self - authenticity
Breaking down old responses and rebuilding them with intention
Learning to deal with incorrect thinking
Coping with suppressed emotions starting to surface

"The #1 reason people relapse is due to negative emotional states."

Meet our guests:

Martin Lockett is a substance abuse counselor, author, public speaker, and advocate for reducing DUI fatalities. He spent 17.5 years in prison for a DUI fatality that claimed two lives and severely injured another. Lockett devloted the rest of his life to honoring his victims' legacies by helping others who struggle with substance abuse. While incarcerated, Martin earned a BS in sociology, MS in psychology, and acquired state certification as a substance abuse counselor, and published two books. Now released, Lockett continues his mission and message by helping those in need of counseling for mental health and substance use disorders and sharing his powerful story across the country.

Ryan is passionate about helping people in their 20's and 30's naviage the challenges of sobriety in a culture that encourages dirnking. Getting sober in your 20's is weird, is' fun, it's difficult, but it's worth it. He truly believes that on the other side of sobriety, your talents, passions, and most authentic self are waiting for you. Find Ryan on Instagram @thesobermountain

Dana's chased recovery for 30 years. Arrests/the legal system didn't get her sober. Using drugs/alchol she completed her Masters degree and married; only briefly getting clean during pregnancy. Through therapy, meditation, quit lit, the I Am Sober app, contributing to Sobertown Podcasts, brainspotting, trauma yoga, facilitiating Rewired support groups, starting the Yarn Consolery, LLC and crisis training, she recovered. Cravings after having a NICU baby reignited her passion for life over addiction. Find Dana on Instagram @theyarnconsoleryllc

Resources:

Dana and Julie discuss the book Rewired by Erica Speigelman and how it's benefitted their recovery.

Martin refers to the biopsychosocial spiritual model. Click here for more information.

Let’s connect!

[email protected]

Find us on:

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Visit our website at throughtheglassrecovery.com for a full transcript of this episode.
35 min
April 09, 2023E31: How To Cope With Anxiety In Recovery
People often say they drink alcohol to calm their anxiety. As we start to understand that alcohol actually contributes to our anxiety, we have to start learning healthy ways to cope with it. It's not easy. In this episode, we talk with Travis, Antje, and Zoe about how we deal with anxiety in recovery, and we all walk away with some valuable new ideas. We hope you do, too.

"Anxiety is like being nervous, but with teeth."

Some of the concepts we cover include:
How to stop ruminating
The power in identifying anxiety
Learning to name feelings
Using creativity to cope and to explore feelings
Signs of childhood anxiety
Skin picking
Tools for dealing with anxiety
Recognizing what doesn't work
Self care as crisis prevention
Medication assisted treatment

"I've had to learn to make friends with my anxiety."

Travis mentions grounding exercises often used for anxiety. You can find more info here.

Julie mentions the I Am Sober app. You can learn more about the app on their website.

Antje and Julie talk about how much the book Alcohol Explained by William Porter helped them understand the connection between axiety and alcohol.

Meet Our Guests:

Antje first discovered drinking as a way to "fix" her eating disorder. She thought that drinking was more acceptable than binging and purging all of her meals. When drinking grew more and more out of control, she reluctantly considered sobriety in January of 2022. Soon after, she found connection and support in an online sober community. She is so glad to that she took that first, scary step and gave sobriety a chance.

Let's Connect!

[email protected]

Find us on:

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For a full episode transcript, visit our website at www.throughtheglassrecovery.com
48 min
April 03, 2023E30: Ownership and Responsibility in Recovery
Getting honest with ourselves and taking ownership and responsibility for our actions is one of the hardest and most important parts of the recovery journey. In this episode, we are joined by Jason, Robbie, and Dave as we take a vulnerable dive into taking responsibility and taking action, to make the changes necessary to live a full and healthy life.

Some of the concepts we cover include:
Acknowledging and owning that we have a drinking problem and taking action
Determining what is our responsibility and we need to let others own
Remembering why we chose to take action
Apologies in recovery
Taking responsibility for our mental health and emotions
Noticing when we blamed others for our drinking
Recognizing changes we need to make
Sharing the stories that bring us shame
The importance of community
Increasing meaningful connection in relationships
Self forgiveness

"Taking responsibility means taking an action."

Robbie is 44 years old, from Rapid City, South Dakota and he's been sober 120+ days. He's a trail endurance athlete and running coach, and Robbie is also the host of the Golden Hour Adventures Podcast.

Dave is 7 months sober from his over 20 year relationship with alcohol. He went to rehab on August 12th, 2022. His Rock Bottom didn’t look like losing everything or a long path of destruction, but it was his bottom. He has suffered from childhood trauma, and comes from a long line of addiction. Breaking the cycle and healing is his new goal. He hopes to inspire others, while sharing his daily story through social media.

Jason is father of two boys and an experienced executive and entrepreneur. He is an active public speaker, philanthropist, and has held board of directors seats at various non-profits and educational institutions throughout New England.Jason’s recovery began on December 27, 2022 and included overcoming alcohol abuse as well as multiple mental/emotional health disgnoses. He continues to lean on his sober network and close friends for support while giving back to the community through hosting meetings and offering assistance where he can. Jason prides himself on authenticity and being true to himself.

Get in touch!

[email protected]

Visit our website at throughtheglassrecovery.com

Find us on:

Instagram

Facebook

Tiktok
For a full episode transcript, visit our website at www.throughtheglassrecovery.com
41 min
March 27, 2023E29: Overcoming Perfectionism in Recovery
We're joined by recovery coach and superstar Daph, the host of Creating Ripples podcast, Alex, and our good friend John to talk about how perfectionism shows up in our recovery. It seems like some people struggled with perfectionism, and it was one of the causes of their drinking. And others fight perfectionism now that they're in recovery, wanting to make up for lost time. Either way, we're diving into perfectionism into this episode, sharing what we've learned and sharing where we've struggled.

"I realized I lived my whole life by expectations."

Some of the concepts we cover include:
Trying to 'perfect' our recovery
Learning to embrace where we are right now
Parenting and perfectionism
Learning to accepting being 'good enough'
Finding balance in the all or nothing mentality
People pleasing and becoming a doormat
The opposite of perfectionism - where don't even bother to try
Trying to get people to like us
Discovering our own expectations
Communicating and knowing our limits
The tendency to quit things we can't do perfectly
Talking to ourselves like we would if we were children

"We shouldn't 'should' our lives away."

Meet Daph: I have been sober since July of 2018, after 6 days of detox then door to door intensive inpatient treatment for 90 days. I use a personal recovery path which includes AA & Refuge Recovery. I recover out loud trying being the voice I never heard but needed. After covid hit, to fill my spare time, I decided to learn all I could about this disease.I enrolled in online virtual classes and I am now a Nationally Certified Sober Coach, Sober Companion, Safe Transport, Relapse Prevention Professional. I share my experience, strength and hope with everyone to show that recovery is possible. I put the same effort and time into recovery as I did my drinking.

Alexandra Zauner is a life experimenter with a mission to create ripples in the world. 8.5 years ago Alex removed alcohol from her life and that change has impacted her life in more ways than she could have ever imagined. A journey that initially was met with resistance ended up being exactly what she needed to guide her on an exploration of self & provided her with many lessons & learnings. Alex has a mission to guide others on a journey of self exploration, adventure and personal growth to bring you back home to self. Alex enjoys spending her time with her family relaxing at the lake, playing with her kids, traveling and exploring new places, hosting her podcast Creating Ripples, spending quality time with her people, coaching, moving her body and creating sober opportunities for others to discover the magic of sobriety.

Let's connect!

[email protected]

Visit our website at throughtheglassrecovery.com

Find us on

Instagram

Facebook

Tiktok

Visit our website at throughtheglassrecovery.com for a full transcript of this episode.
41 min
March 20, 2023E28: Practicing Forgiveness in Recovery
You hear over and over in the recovery community that resentment leads to relapse. And while that might be a bit harsh, it's also not far from the truth. Carrying around resentment can build up all kinds of negative feelings inside of us that can lead us to want to escape. In this episode, we talk with Eliza, Matthew, and Alex about letting go of resentment by practicing forgiveness.

"There is no timetable for forgiveness."

Some of the topics we cover include:
Forgiving ourselves
We can only quit drinking for ourselves
Society's tendency to see addiction as a moral failing
the controversy surrounding MAT
Learning not to play the victim
Taking responsiblity for our choices and actions
Believing that we deserve forgiveness
Accepting that some people won't forgive us
Showing we have changed through our actions
Rebuilding trust
Fake versus real apologies
You don't get to blame the booze
Learning acceptance when forgiveness isn't possible
Not allowing yourself to be a doormat

"Forgiveness is a two way street. Acceptance is a one way street."

Eliza mentions MAT, which is Medication Assisted Treatment. You can read more about it here.

Alex mentions the book This Naked Mind, which has helped thousands of people recover from addiction. Learn about the book, and author Annie Grace at thisnakedmind.com

Eliza Foltz is in long-term recovery after struggling with opioid addiction for over a decade. She is the CRO at Pretaa, a behavioral analytics company that improves the continuity of care for those with SUDs or behavioral health challenges and aims to predict relapse and notify caregivers so they can provide the right intervention at the right time. She lives outside of Boston, MA with her husband (also in recovery), two children, and dog Bean.

Matthew is a former executive chef who grew up in the orchestrated chaos of the culinary world under belly. He now travels as a Director of Operations for a hospitality company in the Senior Living division across the U.S. He got sober Nov 4th 2020 after chronic relapses, jails and institutions. Matthew enjoys learning about others sober journey, recovery and addiction as he fly’s around the country. His favorite quote is “Integrity is doing the right thing, even when no one is watching.” C.S. Lewis

Alex: Born in Iowa, raised in McAllen, Texas, current resident of Omaha, NE. Sober for 126 days after 12 years of being an advocate for alcohol use/ consumption. Believer that kindness and vulnerability goes a long way for the general human condition. Be a good person and good things will happen.
Get in touch!

[email protected]

Visit our website at throughtheglassrecovery.com

Find us on

Instagram

Facebook

Tiktok
45 min
March 13, 2023E27: Self Worth in Recovery: Discovering and Embracing Your Identity
Today, we're going to dig into self worth, and all of the ways that a lack of self worth can affect our recovery and affect our lives. This one's for you, you've ever struggled with people pleasing, with setting boundaries, with fear of failure, or if you've ever found yourself wondering, "Who am I?"

We have invited fellow sober podcaster Tim (The Sober and Happy Podcast), sober blogger Jessica, and our good friend Christina to talk about their struggles with self worth and how they've faced them in recovery. The conversation turns toward finding and embracing our identity after we put down the bottle, which can be an adventure in itself!

Some of the topics you'll hear about include:
Understand and setting boundaries
Facing a fear of failure
Earning validation from others
Finding hobbies and activities that increase our self worth
Taking the time to do things just for us
Dealing with unsupportive people
Letting go of limiting beliefs
Social media and it's effect on self esteem
Allowing other people to support us
Authenticity, allowing ourselves to be truly seen
New ways to look at bad days
The often over-looked value of introverts
Learning to work through negative emotions

For more information on things mentioned in this episode:

Tim also recommends the book Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking by Susan Cain

Julie mentions the book Rewired by Erica Speigelman

Christina talks about social media addicton

Jessica mentions a previous episode she was on about Finding Hope After Addiction

Meet Our Guests:

Tim has over a decade of sobriety and has gone through the journey from rehab to 12-step programs, to finally discovering his own path to recovery and happiness. He has transformed from the daily battle of trying to stay sober to learning to love himself and his life so much that he no longer needs to drink. He hosts the Sober and Happy Podcast, where you will learn how to discover yourself and blaze your own path, methods to help you along your journey to recovery, and motivation to help live a sober and happy life.

My name is Jessica. I’m a married mom of two from Connecticut, and I’ve been sober since August of 2022. I’m the youngest of 3 girls, I married the guy I fell in love with when I was 15 and I’m a huge true crime buff. My highest priority is to be the very best mom to my children that I’m able to be, so I live every day working hard to break unhealthy cycles.

We would love to hear from you!

[email protected]

Visit our website at throughtheglassrecovery.com

Instagram

Facebook

Tiktok
42 min
March 06, 2023E26: Facing Self Doubt and Finding Your Purpose
How much have you let self doubt hold you back in life? How often do you dream about the life you want, but you let fear stop you from making it happen?

In this episode, we've invited sober motivational speakers Jacob Brown and Martin Lockett, along with the always amazing Through the Glass regular Molly, to share their experiences of self doubt, and their thoughts on overcoming it. Listen as we also discuss defining and understanding our purpose in life - by first identifying our values, and then implementing them with the support of the people around us.

If you've ever let a lack of confidence stop you from chasing your dreams, and could use some inspiration, this episode is for you!

"My biggest impediment was myself." -Martin Lockett

Some of the many concepts you'll hear us talk about include:
Overcoming societal beliefs and narratives
Understanding that other people's reactions are a reflection of them
Dealing with others' negativity
Recognizing growth
Working through Impostor Syndrome
Allowing ourselves to try new things
Allowing ourselves the freedom to live a full life
Faith in what you don't know
Actions aligned with values come with less self doubt
Understanding the commonality - that we are all on the same journey
Knowing and recognizing our purpose in life
The importance of connection in manifesting our purpose
Ikigai - the Japanese concept of life purpose
Speaking your goals to create your reality
The effects of self-talk and positive affirmations
Vulnerability - allowing others to support us

"Self doubt and impostor syndrome only come right before something amazing is about to happen." - Jacob Brown
For full show notes, links, and transcript, visit throughtheglassrecovery.com
41 min
February 27, 2023E25: Dealing with Boredom in Sobriety
When you quit drinking, it suddenly feels like days are 143 hours long. How do you fill all that time?

In this episode, we talk with Rai, Jessie, and Jamie about dealing with boredom in sobriety. We talk about what it feels like in early recovery to start filling all that new found free time, and discuss some of the ways we did that. We talk about finding new hobbies, how to deal with previously fun activities starting to feel boring, and we chat about how finding meaningful connections has helped fill our time in a positive way.

Other things we talk about include:
Learning how to do normal tasks sober
Being careful not to replace one addiction with another
Restlessness
Fear of being alone with our thoughts
Realizing we used alcohol to create drama
Trying new things and the fear of failure
Moving past limiting beliefs
Boredom creates potential and creativity
Authenticity - discovering who you really are
Deciding what is actually worth your time and energy
The value of play

"There's no harm in doing something new and being bad at it."

Jessi is 32 and spent her 20s wandering New York City until she found her passion for healthcare. She now lives back home in Texas with her wife and animal babies. She’s been sober since 11/22/22 and spends her insomnia hours enjoying time with her first love: drawing.

Get in touch!

We would love to hear your thoughts! Join in the conversation on social media, or send us an email.

[email protected]

Visit our website at throughtheglassrecovery.com

Instagram

Facebook

Tiktok
37 min
February 20, 2023E24: Comparing Ourselves to Others
In this episode, we talk with Dan, Liz, and Alex about comparing ourselves to others, and how that affects our recovery. A lot of self worth issues - the ones we used to drink away - stem from comparing ourselves to other people. We get honest and share some of our stories where comparing ourselves to others led us to unhealthy emotions, and we also talk about some of the ways we've learned to stop comparing ourselves so we can live with confidence.

Some of the points we cover include:
Feeling out of place in social situations
Making assumptions about what others are thinking about us
Shame and the role it plays in social comparison
Figuring out who we are now that we are in recovery
Surrounding yourself with the right people
Seeking external validation
Comparing ourselves to others on social media
Allowing comparison to paralyze us
Feeling like a failure or a fraud
Vulnerability and its place in self worth

Julie mentions Brene Brown in this episode. Learn more about Brene and the incredible research she does about emotions at brenebrown.com

"The only true comparison is the one to ourselves."

We would love to hear your thoughts! Join in the conversation on social media, or send us an email.

[email protected]

Visit our website at throughtheglassrecovery.com

Instagram

Facebook

Tiktok
34 min
February 13, 2023E23: Defining Love in Recovery
"With big love comes big feelings"

In this episode, we explore what love means to us, now that we are in recovery. Many of us stopped maturing emotionally in our teens due to substance abuse, and so our understanding and grasp of love stopped developing, too. We explore everything from romantic love, to love between a parent and child. We talk about emotional safety and availability and what that looks like, and we put words to the feeling that is always so hard to understand and describe.

Other topics we cover include:
How we practice self love in recovery
Unhealthy attachment in place of real love
How our childhood experiences color our understanding of love
How vulnerability plays a part in love
What love looked like in active addiction
How we show our spouses, partners, and children love
Learning how to receive love in recovery

"When we numb our emotions, we can't really feel love."

Meet our guests:

Lynn: "You can find me pretty much every day @thesobergrandmaroadtrip and I invite your listeners to click on my IG bio link for bits of my story and my fav resources. My very first podcast guest appearance and the one I always invite people to checkout is the one titled “Thesobergrandmaroadtrip is born” because it chronicles step-by-step every resource and action I took in my very early days alcohol FREE." https://linktr.ee/thesobergrandmaroadtrip

Michael: My name is Michael, I’m just a regular guy I do regular things. I’m an entrepreneur and employed. I run lots and lots of miles and I read a lot of books, mostly horror stories. I know a few things about a few things and am grateful for 4 years trauma informed conscious and sober. I believe we help ourselves by helping others.

Alex: Outside of being a mother of four, Alex is a sober warrior She started her intentional journey in February of 2022 after dealing with legal issues and being tired of the power she allowed alcohol to hold over her life. She deeply connected with a sober community through the I Am Sober app. Sobriety has been a learning journey of honesty with self and others, authenticity and mostly, what true self love and worth looks like and she wants to share what she has learned and the joys of sobriety along with creating a new sober life with others.

Join in the conversation!

We would love to hear your thoughts:

Visit our website at throughtheglassrecovery.com

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Facebook

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36 min