The Life That's Waiting

Hello Darling!

I am putting this week's resources up top, so you can skip my ramblings if you prefer. I know I can get long-winded. 😉

👉🏼 This week's podcast is out: 🔗 Minimizing the Impact of Secondary Traumatic Stress in Helping and Caregiving with Peggi Cooney.

Did you know it is social work month? Peggi and I are both social workers (and dancers)! She's grown a huge following on her alcohol-free journey by telling it like it is. Including her first book that reads like a diary, 🔗 This Side Of Alcohol. She's one of my Sober in the City partners, a grandma, and an unofficial stand-up comedian. This podcast is for everyone who's ever loved anyone going through a hard time. 

👉🏼  🔗 Speaking of Sober in the City, The Art of Connection is my add-on event for Thursday night to kick off an inspiring weekend. I have been busy planning with my team to create a really meaningful experience for you (+ me + us). It will be golden hour on the lawn at the Andaz resort. 

I invite you to join me in wearing a comfy, breezy kaftan. You will be greeted with an artistic zeroproof cocktail from Chelsie Peters, @soberbeachygirl. We will start with a meaningful welcome circle. Jen Roesler (a fan favorite on the INSIDER, a newish coach, an event curator, talented writer, and yoga teacher) will lead a welcome ceremony. 

I will be giving a short talk on the art of connection and using vulnerability as a bridge. There will be a guided conversation starter, meaningful mingling, a mouthwatering quesillda + salsa bar, a playful photo booth led by Lucy West (head cheerleader, hobby photographer, and fashionista), a killer playlist bringing the vibe, and delightful favors to take home. We will end with a meaningful closing circle and tangible takeaways.

The night will be pure magic, and I hope you will join me in making connections upon arrival in 🔗 Scottsdale to make the most of your weekend. It's not too late to get tickets. If you need one more reason to join, my mom is coming, and it's her birthday. Come celebrate!

👉🏼 Need a little extra inspiration? Check out my 🔗 Spoil Yourself Sober Masterclass. I would not sustain sobriety if it was sad and miserable, and neither would you. My philosophy is about elevating your life with the confidence to sing from the mountaintops, not lowering it to the secret basement, if you know what I mean. The Spoil Yourself Sober method has worked for thousands of other women, and it can work for you too. I am giving away some of the secrets in this free (!) recorded masterclass.

👉🏼 If giving up alcohol for any reason (including Lent, spring cleaning, or to get in your best health, shape, or vanity for summer) is on your mind, it's the perfect time for my 🔗 6-Week Jumpstart Course. Join others who are exploring an alcohol-free lifestyle with $100 off using code: JUMP100. I have extended this code for you, but it will expire on Sunday.

👉🏼 Spring cleaning yes! I cleaned up my desk and ended up re-reading my After Magazine's. As a life-long magazine girl, I can't believe there is a glossy read dedicated to an alcohol-free lifestyle. If you are looking for a sober treat. 🔗 This is it. Just the act of subscribing puts the sober momentum in your favor and gives you something to look forward to. 

👉🏼 We continue to gather on the inside, virtually in small groups on Tuesday evenings and Thursday afternoons (replays are always available). We are adding conversation invitations with great topics. Next week we will explore social media and The Life That's Waiting. I invite you to 🔗 join us. This week we learned about cultivating joy in a workshop led by Deb Masner of The Alcohol Tipping Point. I have so many great masterclasses, workshops, and guest speakers lined up. Human design, forgiveness, and midlife hormone balance are a few that I can share right now. More to come.

I encourage you to get on the inside because that is where the magic happens, and this is where I am spending my time and energy. In the past, I have given a lot of energy to Instagram. You know I am usually a big fan of social media, but lately I am not feeling it. It's feeling like a running commercial and an echo chamber to me.

Is it feeling that way to you, or is it just my algorithm?

Anyway, it's time for me to take a little break. I do this periodically whenever I need to. This is part of the way I keep a mostly healthy-ish relationship with social media. I unplug whenever I need to. I am not defining how much, how long, or anything like that; I am just pouring myself into other activities and endeavors that are off social media and bringing me joy for now. I can feel myself pulling away and wanting to give less to social media. So if you see less of me there, that's why.

Social media has been a wonderful outlet for creative expression, a free marketing tool, and a perfect place to connect and make friends with other people seeking freedom from alcohol, but by design it has never been my job. I have never accepted brand sponsorships, paid ambassador programs, or content creation revenue. This makes it easy for me to keep it in check and walk away whenever I want. Hallelujauh! Boi bye! 😜

On social media, I try to share insight on both myself as a healing human and tips and tricks as a top sober life coach, but really nothing compares to a relationship you get when in community or 1x1 coaching. There's no catchy phase or 5 tips that can support you the way being in an engaged relationship with a coach or community can do, and I find myself wanting to invest more there.

Social media is set up to get you addicted. The apps want you to spend more time on them and buy more from people investing money in them. They will do whatever it takes to keep you there and spending there. It's a business, of course, and as a business owner, I get it! But as a mindful sober life coach, this feels like basically the opposite of everything I teach, so there's that. I've written about this before, and I personally think it's boring when people share their stream of consciousness about their relationship with social media, so I will leave it at that for now.

What am I planning to do off social media? Create! Connect! Coach!

Last night I went with a small group of near strangers to see the writer Brianna Wiest and get a signed copy of her book A Life That's Waiting. The title alone says it all, doesn't it? Gathering in real life for real conversation with other business owners (who were gorgeous, smart, and kind) felt right to me. This is how I want to spend my time. I want connection, healing, growth, and real relationships (including with you)! The parasocial thing on social media is not a substitute for that. Also, I've seen enough of my face. For real. We aren't meant to look at our faces all day. OMG. Enough.

I've been going through my journal from my first year of sobriety. On Day 7, I declared I wanted to be an "addictions counselor."

Can you believe it? I was one week in, and I already knew in my heart that when I made it to the other side, I wanted to reach my hand back for the next woman. 

Now I coach clients, and then I support them in becoming coaches too by sharing 🔗 certification information and teaching them how to launch their business. This happened organically. The women that were naturally attracted to my style wanted similar things that I wanted. We rise together. If this sounds like you, do not hesitate to 🔗 set up a call with me.

Here's a direct quote from my journal 

"I think about my job as an addiction counselor and what my office looks like, the dress code, my clients graduating the program, and my joy in being able to help. It would be very vulnerable for me because everyone will laugh since I am a wine lover. I will have to admit I have a problem, and that is why I want to help others. And more importantly, you don’t have to have “a problem” to want to live a healthier, happier life without alcohol."

Dreams do come true.

On Day 49, I wrote:

"I am dreaming of starting a podcast and interviewing my people."

I didn't remember writing that! But I have done it. My 🔗 podcast is out there with my cousin Christi, my middle school youth group leader, my favorite authors, my friends, and my shero's! 

On Day 79, I started writing down possible book titles.

So it seems this is something still left for me to do. This feels like a wonderful way to spend my energy and is more thoughtful and lasting than a caption, if you know what I mean. No promises, but the writing work in progress is bringing me joy, as it's meant to. Writing a book is something I've always wanted to do, and now the life is no longer waiting. It's here.

Need some help getting started with yours? Rest, nourishment, and quiet are okay places to start if you don't know yet. I am here for you if you want to navigate together. 

XO!

-Heather

p.s. I am learning and practicing asking for help. Wow, so uncomfortable.  The best way to support my work is through referrals. You can share my resources (blogs, newsletters, offers, testimonials, podcast) in your online groups and real-life communities and/or bring a sober-curious friend with you to the 🔗 Free 7-Day Insider Trial. There's something in it for you too, and you can sign up for my 🔗 affliate program here. Earn 10% of every sale while helping women find the support they are seeking. Truly a win-win-win.