Sunday Sermon. On Monday. August 18th. Prayers Answered.

Hi!

I wanted to get this newsletter out on Sunday. I've been told that Sundays are the best time to send a newsletter. I've also been told the same about Tuesdays. And 11 am. And 8 pm.

I like the idea of a Sunday sermon, as you know. I've talked about that before. Reading a newsletter on a Sunday could be a great way to set yourself up for success for the week. Sundays have become a favorite day of mine, a long way from the Sunday Scaries, which had become my most unexpected and saddest drinking day of the week. Reclaiming Sundays is a huge benefit in sobriety. 

Tell me, do you like to receive a newsletter on a Sunday? Do you even open emails at all on Sundays? Is Sunday your day of digital Sabbath? Do you read a lot of newsletters? Unsubscribe? Leave unopened? Pile them up for a quiet moment to catch up? Do you open some immediately and leave others to collect dust in the corner of your inbox? Do you have favorites? Are they all on Substack? I am curious. Please reply and tell me where you stand on your newsletter insights. I want to know! 

I don't always want to write a newsletter on Sunday. Monday feels like a better time for my own personal reflection. ChatGPT doesn't write this; I do. So it's not generated by prompts to encourage you to do this or that. It's just my weekly-ish reflections and DTD updates. I don't write it as a sales tactic to get you to buy my programs 🔗 (although I don't mind if you do!). Oh Lordy, please do!) 

I write to you to share my story and work through some of my thoughts myself. I write it because you have signed up here, and I appreciate your witness to my life. I like being one of yours too. I reply to every reply (say that five times fast)!

I write because I am building a community. I want you to know that you are not alone. I am here with you. I've felt that way too. I struggle with the same things. We all do. I write to share others' stories so you know there's a group of us out here, feeling similar things, navigating similar challenges, and learning new ways to cope, to laugh, to grow, to heal, and to "recover". I write because I have a lot of questions. I write because it helps me find some answers. Mostly, I write it because I love to write. I loved to be moved by writing, as the storyteller or the reader. 

I write to you because I love you. I prayed for you. I asked for you way back in August of 2019 when I sent my very first newsletter (to basically no one but my other email addresses). I also sent it to my mom, of course. And my husband, who, thank God, usually doesn't read it.

I wanted someone, a stranger, to read my writing and feel moved. You did. You shared with someone, and then they read it too. We kept growing together, getting braver by the numbers, and now drinking is on the decline 🔗, and you betcha we had something to do with it. Never a doubt. You answered every prayer. Thank you.

If we're getting spiritual here, I'd like to add that August is the Sunday of the year to me. It just makes sense in my mind. It's like everything has grown into its final expression, and it's laying the groundwork for what's to come.

A new season is approaching. August is the runway to fall and the end of the year, the 4th quarter, the final push, and all that. Could you use this as a metaphor for your drinking? Has the final expression been reached? A time for reckoning, withering, and settling in is approaching? A letting go to survive? 

I've been accused of rushing into fall, and to be clear, I am not rushing it (yet). You don't have to either. We can go slow and savor, which was my Insider Challenge last August.

This year we are doing Alcohol-Free August with reflection prompts and a mini action to take each day. I am a participant in the challenge too. Everything just keeps getting better on the inside. I am getting more organized and offering more value, but it's the actual members themselves and the connections that make it so meaningful.

There is a specific shift that has happened today for me. After being gone for most of the summer, yesterday I returned home from my final summer adventure. My oldest daughter has moved into her new college apartment, and my youngest has started her high school senior year. My dog is feeling better.

After weeks of travel, sitting in planes and cars, eating out, vacation vibes, laying by the pool, the ocean, and the hammock, fitting in this and that, and generally being on the go, I am ready for routine. Not as punishment, but as indulgence.

It's almost like I set the stage last week without knowing how much I would need it in the upcoming week. The Insider community is cosmic, synchronous, and serendipitous like that. It changes you. 

I hosted an Insider call last week on rituals and routines. We focused our discussion on mornings when the theta state is high. I was looking forward to taking my coaching expertise and joining some of the Insider members (in spirit) on a morning walk today. 

This walk changed my entire day. With a low (Lowe?) bar goal of 10 minutes out and 10 minutes back, it was more than doable. With a list of benefits and positive outcomes from a 20-minute morning walk, there was no way I could talk myself out of it. The stage is now set. The runway launched. The test flight has been taken. I am ready to soar on my little theta state morning Lowe bar walks. To be honest, I left my phone at home, didn't track the time, and ended up walking for a half hour, not 20 minutes. I already exceeded my own expectations. It feels good to keep your promises to yourself. 

I am telling you this because that call was last Thursday, and it took me until Monday to complete my 20-minute walk and set myself up for a new routine. I am telling you this because that is the power of community. I got to report back that I did it. I am telling you this because it is proven that you accomplish more and go farther in community than you could ever go alone.

Evidence-based resources have proven that certified coach-led group support increases chances of success in removing alcohol, improves mental health, enhances coping skills, and offers social support to combat loneliness and create meaningful connections. 

I am telling you this because the day you show up to your first group call doesn't have to be the day you take the walk, ditch the drink, or set a high bar goal for yourself. You don't have to pull yourself together before you join. You can just join.

Take a private tour (test flight) of the Insider community and see what's going on first. Then on Monday, or Thursday, or whenever you can, take the next step and let us welcome you, tear-stained face, shaky voice, and all. You don't have to do it alone. We are here waiting for you.

We are celebrating major annual alcohol-free milestones this month, with member story shares coming up. These shares are always so powerful, and I usually cry. Join me in celebrating Mary's 1 year, Jen's 2 years, and Melissa's 3 years free from alcohol. Coming up... we've got a few special additions to our connection calls.

• Sarah Kate of Some Good Clean Fun is doing a live guest workshop on "How to Enjoy NA Wine When You Want the Real Thing."
• In early September we've got a book club, "Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea," with the author, Jessica Guerrieri, joining us.
• We are adding a Less Scroll September Challenge (prizes and giveaways included).
• A new masterclass on "Healing Between Emotions and Sensations, Alcohol and the Nervous System" with Brandi Babb will be added to the 30+ course library vault.
• I am leading a connect call for IAPRC coaches next month.
• There's an Insider in real life event happening in Chicagoland this October, which is basically my perfectly curated YES DAY with friends Mocktail Mo and Kate of Clarity Zero-Proof and Prima Pave.

And so much more that you won't find on social media because I don't know about you...but who wants to feel like they are being sold to all day long with sponsored posts and boosted posts and everyone's opinion on everything? It's hard to weed through the muck to find the gold. Ugh.

It's hard to participate in the shallow social media forums full of clickbait when I want the depth of providing compassionate support for women by creating a safe space where women can listen to themselves and heal in good company. I find myself gravitating closer to the Inside 🔗. I want my love for the sober life to be so contagious that anyone in my presence will welcome the opportunity to ditch the drink, even when it is so fucking hard at first. 

I have been able to do this, as proven by the major milestones happening INSIDE 🔗 this month. As you know from last week's newsletter, I am satisfied, content, and enough. So now I'm really on a roll, and I don't want you to miss out because although I am not swearing off social media, I am so turned off by it right now (LOCATION without telling us, like what? A predator's dream?) I am putting my energy elsewhere, which is to say INSIDE 🔗. I love you for being here, and I want you to join in on the really good stuff. 

XO!

-Heather

p.s. reply and tell me your newsletter musings.