So, I had been asking this one question, which was, what’s wrong with you? You know, are you an alcoholic? And these were such scary questions. And in this moment, after a very busy work trip, I was just really in a bad place, and had a few drinks that morning to kind of pair of the dog at the hotel bar. And I was sitting, waiting for my flight very still drunk, very upset with myself massive hangover, everything was kind of on top of me. And I remember thinking, Well, why is it like this? You know, why did I used to be able to take it or leave it and why is it that now this fermented liquid and glass has just such a powerful hold on me, on my emotions, on my thoughts, on my experience of life? I feel like it’s one of the most important things I remember vividly saying, If I can’t have a drink, it’s just not worth going and feeling that way, feeling that if I was had to be the designated driver, or if I was pregnant, like why even socialize because there’s no point without drinking? And in that moment of asking, why did it change? I decided to find out and I did something which is radical I had no idea was radical at the time, but I in trying to find out. I decided I was going to stop trying, to stop drinking.

Annie Grace - Apple Podcasts This Naked Mind Podcast Annie Grace - Apple Podcasts

You have actually changed the very structure of your brain so that alcohol is truly small and irrelevant. We start to use the front of the brain (the prefrontal cortex) again. *That’s why awake is where it is in the graphic* Lasting and intimate relationships are fostered in your coach-guided group where peer-to-peer sharing is facilitated. You are of two minds about alcohol - you have a desire to drink less, but you also feel deprived, left out, or upset when you think about or try to abstain. You want to drink less, but life is just way too stressful at the moment. (Alcohol is often your Duct-Tape that is holding life together!)Now complete with daily prompts to reflect on each day of a month-long, alcohol-free plan, the author of This Naked Mind helps readers challenge their thinking, find clarity, and form new habits. Why asking the question: “Do I have a problem?” is the wrong question to ask and which one to ask instead And so that initial mindset shift, I think is vital. And it just sets the stage for how much easier it can be if you can access a place where it’s like, okay, I don’t know for sure that my life will be miserable. I’m not entirely sure. Let me see how this might be and allowing that to be true for every first whether it’s that first happy hour, the first all-inclusive vacation, the first holiday, the first birthday, whatever the case is, but then I think we do need to do work, especially if we are in the group of people, which I think many of us are, who have used alcohol to self-medicate. And I think that work involves building a life you don’t want to escape from, for me, being alone, in my own mind, was a really terrible place to be. And before it was alcohol, I would just, you know, noise, whether it was always being social, or always being too busy, or putting everything I could on my plate or being a workaholic, or, you know, I mean, not even being able to get into a car without having like some something going, that was going to distract me usually a murder mystery on a, you know, book on CD at the time, or whatever the case was. Because being by myself, in my own mind, was not a safe place, it felt just full of landmines, it felt full of self-judgment, and self-loathing. And, you know, worry about everything that I could not control the entire world, all of my friends, everybody I’d loved. And so, it wasn’t a safe place to be. And so, if we’re medicating to escape our own minds to escape the narrative that’s happening in our own heads, we do have to work on that, because we might be able to put down the alcohol once we learned enough about it, but I promise we’ll switch to something else. We’ll go right into that next thing, whether the next thing is overworking or, you know, too much television or whatever that next thing is to distance us from us. And so, the work on that, I think is very important. And it doesn’t have to be overly difficult.

Google Podcasts This Naked Mind Podcast - Google Podcasts

Welcome to another episode of This Naked Mind podcast. In today's episode, we dive into a real-life coaching call from inside The PATH:365, a space where Annie Grace joins members for exclusive group coaching sessions. We all know that life doesn’t get paused while we figure out our relationships with alcohol. Learning how to cope with life while we work on ourselves can be challenging. This month, a member asks a crucial question: "What is the secret to balancing your needs in a relationship?" Annie Grace shares her wisdom on this vital topic, providing guidance, expert science, and real-world experience for those on the journey to living alcohol-free. Embarking on the path to living alcohol-free opens up a world of challenges, and one of those challenges involves dealing with family members who continue to drink. In this podcast episode Annie Grace shares a look inside the coaching she provides to members of the PATH community. Annie's insights offer a fresh perspective on handling these delicate situations, from understanding why family members might judge or feel fearful to nurturing authentic connections while staying true to your commitment. Her unique strategies empower you to gracefully navigate social gatherings, ensuring you can sidestep resentment and feelings of isolation. Big emotions, challenging situations, unexpected cravings - Annie Grace covers all that and so much more during her monthly coaching call inside the PATH: 365. In this episode, Annie dives into the topic of self-forgiveness, offering practical tools and insights to help PATH members process and forgive themselves for past regrets and cringe-worthy moments. Join us as we explore the transformative journey of self-forgiveness.Every one of our own emotional snags, where we feel judgmental of ourselves, judgmental of our circumstances, let down by someone else. All of those things are these big flashing neon signs saying, hey, there’s something in you that you need to work on, that you need to find peace with. And that journey towards cultivating and finding more and more peace in yourself in your heart, I think is the number one thing without a doubt over time. Regular peer-to-peer connection calls (via Zoom). Connect with other Path members. (launching August 2020) I think, yeah, I think it is two phases. I think that’s really a really astute point. Because I think initially, you have to allow enough of a mindset shift to awaken, okay, maybe it’s gonna be okay. You know, because our experience no matter what is going to be our best guide, right? Even if you’ve quit drinking completely with willpower, and you might have to be four or five 610 years into it. I mean, this is legitimately true for people who’ve totally quit with pure willpower. Eventually your experiences will show you that life is tolerable without alcohol. And but if you have a mindset shift, you can go into it like life might not just be tolerable, but it might be Really fun. You have a love/hate relationship with alcohol. You set drinking limits in the morning and then blow right by them once happy hour rolls around. So you want to drink less without quitting drinking alcohol altogether! You’re in the right place and you’re not alone! Thank goodness we [...]