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I Went Alcohol Free 8 Months Ago: Here's The Update
76 Plays1 year ago
To drink alcohol or not to drink alcohol? That's a question I asked myself last year once me and my husband came back from our boozy trip to Italy.
I'm passionate about getting to the root of WHY I behave a certain way or have the patterns I have--and this area was no different!
In this episode I unpack the last 8 months of no alcohol and how it has impacted my life..and maybe how it can impact yours too!
JOZI LINN INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/jozilinn/
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Transcript
Introduction to Sobriety Journey
00:00:01
Speaker
Hey everybody and welcome to the Listen Sis podcast. So today I wanted to share my journey on drinking no more. Me and my husband haven't drank since it's been July. So July of 2023. And so just walking out for the past few months,
00:00:28
Speaker
not drinking.
Cultural Drinking Experiences
00:00:29
Speaker
It's been on my mind. I'm like, you know what? It's pretty trendy right now to not drink. And I wanted to share the why behind this because if any of you guys listening have ever considered not drinking, stopping drinking, or maybe you haven't, but you're like, I just want to hear about the story, then this is going to be for you. So
00:00:55
Speaker
It all began when this past year, me and him went to Italy and it was amazing. We went for my 30th birthday, first time being in Europe. And the thing about Italy, or at least how we did Italy was like, you drink. Like you drink for breakfast, you drink for lunch, might have a drink again at dinner. Most people have multiple drinks again at dinner. Like that's just kind of what you do, right? Like 12 day vacation.
00:01:25
Speaker
you go and you eat and you drink. And so we have never really been big drinkers, like never really had alcohol at our house. We always would go out, go on date night, you know, Moscow Mule or get a glass of wine. Like we're just social drinkers.
00:01:43
Speaker
And so when we were in Italy, we would have a beer at lunch and then we'd have a glass of wine at dinner. And we literally did that for 10 days. I think we were there for 10 days. So every day we drank and it was fun and we enjoyed ourselves and we indulged and we're very much all about work hard, play hard. But then we came home and we had a work trip planned with our team.
00:02:13
Speaker
and we all went to Mexico and you already know that you're going to drink in Mexico. Like it's turn up time in Mexico. So then we went to Mexico for four days, all inclusive resort and we drank again. Now, like I said, we are not big drinkers like, you know, go to the pool and, you know, maybe have a bloody Mary or two and then, you know, maybe have like a spicy margarita or two at dinner, like pretty chill.
00:02:44
Speaker
Um, definitely not the type to like get drunk, right? Like we're just having a good time. But when we came back from that trip, we just kind of looked at ourselves and we're like, we literally drank for like half the month, 10 days in Italy and then another four days in Mexico.
Decision to Quit Alcohol
00:03:02
Speaker
It's like 15 days of drinking. And then we just started,
00:03:12
Speaker
really unraveling and going down this rabbit hole of like why are we drinking?
00:03:20
Speaker
And so we decided that we were just going to stop for a month. We're like, okay, we just need to like reset the body. Just pause, give the body a break because let's be real. Alcohol is toxic. Like it's so toxic to the body. Hence when you wake up the next day, you feel hangover, hungover. That's your body's way of being like, Oh my gosh. So like totally needed to reset. So we decided we're going to take a month off from drinking.
00:03:51
Speaker
So we would go like to date night and we got on a La Croix kick when we were in Italy because everybody over there drinks soda water. So like here in the States, when you go out to eat, they just bring you just regular steel water. Well, in Italy, they ask you like, do you want sparkling? Sometimes they don't ask you, they just automatically bring sparkling water out. So while we were over there,
00:04:18
Speaker
we very much caught on a sparkling water kick. So that's like what we replaced the alcohol with in that month. So we would like go on date night and then we'd just be like, Hey, can we get a soda water? Or we would go to a social event and you know, everybody's drinking and we would just have like her La Croix or soda water with lime. Well, one month goes by no drinking and then
00:04:46
Speaker
We're like, all right, we're going to do another month. So another month goes by, turns into three, four, five, six, seven, eight. And then, you know, here we are. Now I'm recording this at the beginning of March, 2024. So we have just created this new habit where we have not drank. And my husband decided that he was indefinitely
00:05:14
Speaker
done with alcohol. He's like, I'm just done. I'm definitely done with alcohol. I will not be drinking ever again. For me, I haven't completely made that decision, but I have very much not had a drink since him in July. I'm not going to for sure put my flag in the sand and say I'm done, but for now, I'm done. I just want to pivot and just share about
00:05:43
Speaker
our experience not drinking.
Reflecting on Drinking Habits
00:05:46
Speaker
So first of all, I don't necessarily think there's anything wrong with drinking, right? Like this was our conviction. This was just our conviction. I don't think there's anything wrong with having a drink or having a glass of wine or two or going out with your girlfriends and having mimosas and like, no,
00:06:11
Speaker
But the question that we began to ask ourselves after one month of not drinking, turned into two months, turned into three months, was why are we drinking? And so that began the conversation between me and him
00:06:29
Speaker
of when we would go to social gatherings, we would reflect back to, you know, before we quit drinking and how, you know, everybody at a wedding or at a social gathering, like, they just automatically go to the bar and they get a drink. And why is that? Well, for many people, it's different reasons, but for us, it was like one, social pressure. And I don't mean people who are pressuring us into drinking or that we're being followers necessarily.
00:06:59
Speaker
but it's just kind of like everybody else is doing it. Like, let's have a drink. It's just kind of what everybody does. And another reason was social lubrication. How much easier is it to have a conversation when you're buzzed? It's like a lot easier, right? You're socially lubricated, but here's the deal.
00:07:24
Speaker
We made the decision that we don't need to be socially lubricated to have a good time or to have a deep conversation. And then we also pivoted and made the decision like, okay, everybody else can have a drink if they want, but now that we've actually thought about what we're doing, we actually don't want to have a drink.
00:07:49
Speaker
So if you guys want to have a drink, go for it. But like we actually don't want to have a drink. So we're not going to just because of the sheer fact that it just quote unquote what you do. It's quote unquote celebratory time. And so we thought it was going to be difficult like going through the holidays. You know, it's very much like, oh, let's make fun drinks. And but it has not been hard.
Benefits of Sobriety
00:08:14
Speaker
And here's why, because we feel so good and so clear headed, so good in our bodies that we don't want to have a drink because the older you get, the longer it takes you to recover from even like one glass of wine. I remember when I would drink the glass of wine the next day and like, Oh my gosh, like you're just sluggish and
00:08:44
Speaker
I talk some on my Instagram about my functional medicine journey and how when I started seeing a functional medicine doctor, they put me on an anti-inflammatory diet and part of that three month anti-inflammatory diet was no alcohol.
00:09:01
Speaker
And that is the best I have ever felt in my whole entire life is when I cut out alcohol and dairy and gluten and all the anti-inflammatory foods. And I am not saying you should do this. I am just saying I was on a three month cleanse. I pulled out all of these inflammatory foods and I have never felt more clear headed. I have never felt more energetic and I have never felt just so good in my body since that cleanse.
00:09:33
Speaker
And so that's exactly how we feel being off of alcohol. When we go to a party,
00:09:41
Speaker
We're waking up the next morning going to the gym, like there is no hungover because we didn't participate in that. And we started having these conversations of like, we take such good care of our bodies, like hydrated, eating right, like grass fed, organic, taking all of the good vitamins, like all the things. Why do we want to turn out on the weekends and dump alcohol into our temple, which we have spent all week working on? Like it really doesn't make sense.
00:10:10
Speaker
And it's really just unkind, like it's being unkind to your body. And I know that sounds kind of hippie-ish, but I want to be kind to my body and I want to put good things in my body. And that's exactly what we've done for the past eight months. And it just feels incredible.
00:10:34
Speaker
Not only that, but as we have elevated in our business, in our marriage, in our ministry at church, in all the things that God has put into our lives, we just continue to get more and more and more on our plate, more gatherings at our house, more things we're being invited to, more things that we are called to run
00:11:00
Speaker
and be responsible for and steward over more people. When you are performing at a high level, you start to learn. And if you're not here yet, my hope is that you get here. But you start to realize that every minute of your day matters. Every hour matters. Every day matters.
00:11:30
Speaker
Because once you start really filling up your schedule with stuff, you're like, how can I get my time back? How can I buy my time back? How can I be as effective as possible? And for us, we were not as effective as possible if we are slightly hungover. Like we wanna have the sharpness of mind.
00:11:57
Speaker
Because in business, it's not who's the most talented, it's who works the hardest. In our ministry, it's living a life above reproach. It's being the salt of the earth. And for me, I want my life to look differently than everybody else's, not because I think I'm better than, not because of any reason other than that is my conviction.
Sobriety and Social Interactions
00:12:25
Speaker
And I don't need alcohol to have a good time. I don't need alcohol to have a deep conversation. And in fact, my conversations are much more intentional when I'm not drinking because I am my true self. And we all know what happens when we drink. We get a little chatty and then that chatter turns into gossip. And then, and now what? Now we're really not.
00:12:54
Speaker
living as leaders, the leaders that we're called to be. And so part of that is also like, I want to protect myself from the pitfalls of sin. I don't want to be gossipy. I don't want to be, you know, in the corner, like saying a little too much. Bible talks a lot about if you just be quiet,
00:13:20
Speaker
Even if you're a fool, just being quiet will make you look wise. Well, what happens when we drink? We talk, talk, talk, talk, talk, talk. We get louder. And you know what? I'm all about having a good time. But I just came, me and John came to the realization, like, we don't need that to have a good time. And so we just feel like,
00:13:40
Speaker
We are sharp, sharp in our minds, sharp in our spirits. I have noticed that I just, I just feel God's presence in my life more because I am not doing anything to hinder his voice. And I want my God to know you can trust me. You can trust me. You can trust me on Monday and you can trust me on Saturday night at 10 PM. I'm going to be the same person. I,
00:14:09
Speaker
don't need to have advice to unwind, to relax. And that is a whole another conversation of asking the question, why do you feel the need to drink? Most people have
00:14:29
Speaker
and out that they need because they're stressed, because they're overwhelmed. For some people it's eating. For some people it's smoking cigarettes, smoking weed, taking pills, drinking alcohol. For some people it's porn. For some people it's working out. It doesn't always have to be something negative. But what would happen if you actually just sat
00:14:57
Speaker
with those really uncomfortable emotions instead of drank your way through it, instead of smoked your way through it, instead of ate your way through it. Like what would happen in your emotional state if you were so stressed out and you just sat there
Emotional Resilience Without Alcohol
00:15:17
Speaker
and you're like, you know what?
00:15:19
Speaker
I'm actually just going to sit in the stress and I'm going to feel all of it instead of trying to escape. There is so much healing that can be had when we learn how to just face stuff head on instead of trying to numb out instead of trying to run. And this has been part of my journey. I have,
00:15:47
Speaker
had to put down substances and bad habits because I learned that when I was stressed, I picked something up to medicate. And so I've had to unlearn that habit. It's a mindset, it's a habit. It can also be spiritual. So all to say,
00:16:15
Speaker
You know, I used to, when I was stressed out, come home, have a glass of wine, but now, if I'm stressed out, like, no, I can sit with that stress. I feel it, and then I move it through my body, and I move it out. Instead of sitting there, feeling stressed, drinking, and then I don't move the stress through my body, then it sits in my body, then it turns into dis-ease and sickness.
Encouragement for Self-Reflection
00:16:40
Speaker
And so, there's just so many components
00:16:46
Speaker
drinking and what I really wanted to leave you with today is Just ask yourself why like Why do I drink whether excessively or whether? Socially ask yourself why and and don't ask yourself why so you can stop ask yourself why just so that you can ask
00:17:11
Speaker
Come to understand yourself on a deeper level. This is part of doing the work that I'm always talking about. Creating awareness around why you do what you do. Maybe if you're hurting and you're drinking, ask yourself why? What is it that I need to heal instead of just masking with alcohol? Maybe if you drink socially,
00:17:39
Speaker
Why is it that I feel like I need to be socially lubricated to have a conversation? Do I feel uncomfortable having conversations with people I don't know? Maybe I should just face that fear and do it anyway. So whatever your situation may be, I just wanna leave some, that thought provoking question of you asking yourself, why do I do this?
00:18:04
Speaker
Like I said, I'm not encouraging anybody to stop drinking. I just wanted to share my story and how putting down alcohol has just, I mean, it's been transformative for me and my husband. It's been amazing. And so I had to share that love with you guys. I know this is a word for somebody. I always love to hear your guys' testimonies, you guys.
00:18:28
Speaker
Well, hit me up on Instagram and I love to hear what you guys think about these podcast episodes and how they're impacting your life. So please follow up with me on Instagram at Josie Lynn J O Z I L I N N. That's all for today. And until next time.