As you embark on a sobriety or moderation journey, building a toolkit to keep you motivated and inspired can help you reach your goals. Recovery-related books, AKA ‘quit lit,’ can be great for seeing how others have navigated similar experiences, gaining tips that can help you along...

The promise of a new school year has a freshness to it that rivals January. September is the real start of the new year for me. It is a freeing idea, that we can start again. We are brand new in every moment, never the same as we were in the moment before. This gives us the freedom to evolve and...

As a former ‘Party Girl’ turned Certified Recovery & Life Coach and seasoned international traveler, I am excited to share my tips for how to stay alcohol-free on vacation. 

Let me start by saying, vacations are so much better when enjoyed fully present and sober. I...

Last week, I had dinner with some of the sober babes that I met on a sober hiking retreat in Sedona, a month ago.  Most of us live in Chicagoland. From the larger group, four of us were available to get together. We picked the most central spot for dinner. Lucky for me, that landed...

Yesterday I met Mt. Evans of Colorado up close and personal and accomplished a big goal of mine = to climb a 14K mountain. 

Climbing a mountain is a big feat. 

Climbing a mountain of this elevation is a big feat. 

Climbing a mountain at this elevation, as a 46 year old...

I used to be gone drinking every Memorial Day. It was tradition. I was pretending to have so much fun in pools and boats. Some of it was fun. Some of it was not. I am not faulting the company that I was in. I thank the hosts so much for their generosity. The problem wasn’t with them, the...

What happened to my friendships when I got sober?

Navigating friendships and finding people to support you in sobriety can be one of the most challenging parts of getting sober. 

How did my friendships change when I ditched the drink?

I lost people and it hurt.

I...

May is the busiest month of the year in my house.

I think this is true for many families, especially those with kids.

There are all the end of the year extras that completely fill our calendar. 

We have award ceremonies for academics, sports tournaments, and more. 

It's the final...

I used to do a lot of drinking when I got home from time away. 

I had a sunken feeling of being home. It felt like Sunday Scaries on steroids. I never knew what to do with myself. I didn’t know how to end the “good timing”. I didn’t know how to transition back...

I had such a serendipitous experience on spring break. We stayed in Naples, FL, for the first half with family, and in Treasure Island, FL, just the four of us (meeting our Chicagoland neighbors for dinner one night) for the second half of our stay.

We had a hotel on the beach for the...

I was inspired to take on the 75 Hard Challenge after seeing some of my Instagram friends do it. I started on a bit of a whim. I didn’t think much about it and just decided to do it. 

It is a big undertaking and a huge commitment in some ways. 

In other ways, it was much the same...

At four years sober, looking back I can see how my whole life revolved around alcohol. 

St. Paddy’s Day is, of course, a huge drinking holiday. All I needed in the past was alcohol to make it a success.

So much so, that it was my first night  out just 6 weeks after...

In an alcohol obsessed society it is so hard to be sober.

As a child growing up in small town Wisconsin I had no alcohol free role models. 

Every adult I knew, minus two family members, drank beer. 

It was my understanding that the two people in my family who no...

I fell to my knees the morning of February 20th, 2018 and surrendered to my husband. 

I was crying, miserable, terrified. 

For the first time in my whole life I said the words that seemed impossible to me,  “I need help.” He held me and we cried together. 

...

It has taken me a long time to admit this, I was addicted to alcohol.  

To my inner circle, my addiction looked like drinking too much, too often.

Getting drunk too fast.

Passing out too quickly.

Getting sloppy, slurry, while the people around me were just starting a buzz.

 ...

New Years Eve has always felt like one of those days where you are supposed to be having more fun than you actually are. 

I have done almost every kind of New Year's Eve you can imagine. 

I have been in a sequined dress in the middle of the biggest party in downtown Chicago. 

I...

I distinctly remember a few holidays past.

One Christmas, many moons ago, I had 2 young, toddler-ish girls.

It was 1 pm on Christmas Eve and we had already completed everything I had planned until we opened a few gifts after dinner. 

I was bored out of my mind.

It...

I was a woman who could do it all, until I couldn’t. 

I am a 40 something Mom, married to a wonderful, dependable guy. 

I have the privilege of raising smart, kind, talented, and athletic teenage girls.

I am a doer, a go-getter, a highly motivated seeker.

At times, I...

There is no one way to ditch the drink. 

There is no right way either. 

There is only the way that works for you. 

It can be a process of trial and error to figure it out.

Some of my clients come to me wanting “a program” and some coaches...

There’s a lot of information out there about what changes in sobriety.

You read books and run marathons instead of sipping Chardonnay to take the edge off.

You go to bed instead of opening a second bottle for good time’s sake.

You meditate to escape the incessant critical voice inside...

I recently spent 3 nights in Vegas as a nondrinker. 

It was my best trip to Vegas ever.

I had an absolute blast with none of the consequences from previous alcohol induced trips. 

You must be wondering...

What did I do?

What did I drink?

Let me tell you all about it!

We arrived in the...

I’ve been to Vegas seven times. 

For five of them, I went as a drinking party girl. 

For one, I was doing a sober, curious experiment.

On my most recent trip, I arrived in Vegas as a happy, healthy, comfortable, non drinker.

There is such a thing, and I am proof of it.

I have...

Talking about substance use is the missing link in Corporate Wellness conversations.

We have this idea that people are addicts or they are not addicts.

We think you have a drinking problem or you don’t.

We think an addict is living under a bridge somewhere drinking from a brown paper bag....

Happy National Sober Day! 

I celebrate today because I am 3 ½ years sober. 

I am a Certified Professional Life and Recovery Coach, and a Certified Facilitator of Addiction Awareness.

I wasn’t always so enthusiastic about ditching the drink. 

...