I was so excited when Kimra and Yasemin reached out to me to me to be on their podcast! It went live last week but because I was on vacation with my family, I was only able to share on social media (if you aren’t following yet, click the icons below to follow on Instagram and Facebook).
Brave Visibility is a platform to prioritize and de-stigmatize mental health within the entrepreneurial space. Healing any kind of trauma, loss, grief is a major step in showing up bravely.
I loved this conversation because we talked about mental health, and the social pressures to drink, and the importance of really understanding the “need” underneath the desire to drink. We talk about how you can reframe what sobriety means to you and how you can give yourself permission to take breaks from alcohol to transform your relationship with yourself.
Since I’ve been home in Canada for my annual summer visit, I have had the opportunity to reflect a bit on what it means to be authentic and brave and VISIBLE. I forget sometimes that people here read my blog or follow what I’m up to on Facebook. So there’s been a few instances where I’ve shown up a people’s houses, or my friend’s restaurant, or an impromptu boat tour, and I’m immediately offered a selection of non-alcoholic drinks. I appreciate it and it allows me to then decide without any awkwardness what I want to drink and if I want it to have alcohol or not.
This is a very different experience than what happened to one of my clients recently. She was on vacation with her mom and a close friend (amongst others) and she didn’t let anyone know about her intentions or the fact that she was trying to drink less. She went over the limit she had set for herself and ended up feeling really bad physically and also disappointed by her choices.
The thing is, learning new behaviour and habits is challenging and we will often default to what feels comfortable and familiar. That’s where the BRAVERY comes in! It’s brave to share about making changes, it’s brave to have those conversations and let others know your intentions. It doesn’t mean you need to start a blog or broadcast all over social media like I do, however, choosing one or two people you can speak to about the changes you hope to make and articulating your intentions to someone else will really help you choose the new behaviour over the old one.
Remember, the people that really care about you want to support you. Be specific in your requests, and make it about YOU and not them (ie no judgement if they don’t want to change their own drinking).
I’d love to hear your thoughts on the podcast or one way you can show up bravely for yourself this week.