You are listening to the Drink Less Lifestyle Podcast with Dr. Sherry Price, episode number 96.

Welcome to Drink Less Lifestyle, a podcast for successful women who want to change their relationship with alcohol. If you want to drink less, feel healthier and start loving life again you’re in the right place. Please remember that the information in this podcast does not constitute medical advice. Now, here’s your host, Dr. Sherry Price.

Well, hello my beautiful friends. Can you believe that we are more than halfway through the year? What? Where is the time going? It’s really flying by. And I want to ask, how have you spent the first half of this year? What are all the gains that you have made towards your goals? What progress have you made towards drinking less? I really want you to ponder that. What strides, what progress has been made on you being in control of your drinking?

And also think about your other goals. What progress have you made in those areas? How are you tracking? Because we’re over the halfway part of the year and we want to fuel ourselves for the second half of the year. And taking that midyear audit is so valuable. It’s time well spent because to live powerfully we want to keep doing what’s working and we want time to evaluate what isn’t working and stop doing that.

So, these are essential questions to ask yourself when you’re living on purpose, when you’re creating a life on purpose, when you are curating your life and living powerfully. And that’s what I want to dive more into today is living powerfully. Because living powerfully to me is going after the life you want and going after everything you want in your life. And it’s also powerfully deciding what doesn’t belong in your life or what you don’t want showing up in your life.

Now, we know things will come into our life, but powerfully living it means that we get to decide how we’re spending our time, how we’re spending our energy, what goals we are going after, how we’re going to go about getting those goals. Deciding what you want to keep, deciding what you want to let go. We have so much power to curating our life. Now, I want to tell you the information I’ll be sharing with you today is very powerful. And we’re going to be taking a lot of this information to a deeper level at my upcoming Elevate You, Elevate Your Life retreat.

It’s my women’s empowerment retreat which I will be doing here in San Diego at the end of September because I really want you to not just hear these principles, but start applying them to your life. And customizing them to your life so you can get the amazing results that you want. And to feel amazing about getting those results along the way. That’s living empowered.

So, let’s talk about those principles, the principles where you live powerfully so you can get success in getting to your goals whether your goal is weight loss, where it’s getting in shape, whether it’s drinking less. Whether it’s improving some of the relationships that you want to make stronger. And I mention these goals because these are the ones I hear most often from the women I coach. These are what they desire. And I love it, so let’s go after it. So first is knowing.

So first off you have to know what you desire, what you want. Now, I’ll say that’s not too difficult for most of us. Most of us know what our goals are or if you said, “What do you desire?” You can make a list. We have an idea about what we want. But that’s not where I want you to stop. I actually want you to dial it up even more. I want you to dial up your desire so much that you can feel it in your bones. So, I want you to think about it like a radio dial, like a volume button. And that’s your desire knob.

And you take that knob and you just crank it all the way up as far as it will go. And think about that when you do that to the radio, what happens, you can feel the vibration of the bass and the beat in your body if you’re in your car and you crank it all the way to the max. And that’s the first principle to getting what you want and living powerfully is you take that desire and you dial it all the way up. So, it’s not just something that’s nice to do in your head. You can feel it in your body.

And when you dial up your desire that much it engulfs you, it becomes you. It becomes all of you. You can feel it down to your toes. And when you do this you should notice you exude desire. So, it’s not just leaning into your desires, it’s dialing up your desire for something. And I want you to do this because it works. Think about when you truly desire something and you let yourself desire and you turn up the desire.

I mean think about a toddler who wants a candy bar. They talk about it, they tell you about it, they keep bugging you for it, they keep asking for it. They go to the ends of the Earth to get that desire met. And if we turn up the desire that we’re feeling for drinking less, for losing weight, or for whatever goal we have, we’re actually creating fuel inside of our body to go after that. It gets us out of this, yeah, that would be nice, or this stuck phase. It actually gets us excited to be moving and going after that goal.

But that’s not what many of us do. We actually do the direct opposite to ourselves. We suppress our desire. And how do we do that? We have all these thoughts that don’t serve us. We say, “I don’t think I’ll ever get that. I don’t think I deserve it. I can’t have that. That’s too vain of a goal. I can’t do that at my age. It’s going to be so hard. I’m too old.” Or, “I can’t do that, it goes against the grain and what will other people think?”

A lot of people say, “I can drink less and then I go out with my friends and then I’m not drinking, and they’re drinking. That’s going against the grain. And it’s going to be so hard. And I can’t do that.” And what you’re doing is suppressing the desire of the woman you want to be. And we talk ourselves out of our own desires and our own goals, and our life. And that’s just simply crazy. If we want something, go after it. Give yourself all the permission to go after it, dial up that desire.

If you want super tight buns or super tight abs, go for it. Let’s be honest. Let’s own it. Let’s tell ourselves the truth. It doesn’t matter if somebody thinks it’s vain. And if we want to be a woman free from thinking about drinking day in and day out, or someone who can just take it or leave it with alcohol, why don’t we own that? Why don’t we say yes to that version of us and we keep thinking of that version of us and turning up the desire to be that version of us. And let our brain simmer in that desire so it can fuel us to make good decisions.

And then when you are that woman you are completely overjoyed and delighted when it happens because your desire has been met, your goal has been obtained. So let your desire fuel the journey to your goal. It’s the best way to do it. You’re excited, you build yourself your own momentum, you’re talking about it and you’re becoming that version of you.

I remember early on in my drinking less journey, I would always go out with friends and always drink. That was just what I did for years. But when I tapped into the desire of who I wanted to be, I didn’t always want to drink when I went out with my friends. So, I wanted to be that woman who can order something different while my friends all drank. And so, when I did order a club soda, or a water, or something non-alcoholic, I was so delighted to be holding that water or that club soda, talking with my friends and having just as much fun if not more because I was doing it.

I was doing it. I was doing what I desired. I desired to be that woman who drank less, who didn’t need alcohol to have fun, who didn’t need alcohol to connect with her friends. And then I started seeing the lies my brain was thinking because I was having more fun. And I was still loving the connection between my friends. Because I’ll tell you what, when you’re not drinking so much you begin to notice life differently. You begin to experience it differently. Your senses are still there, they’re not dulled by the alcohol.

And I would notice things in that environment that I never noticed before because I wasn’t getting inebriated by this alcohol that was clouding my brain. It was like the experience was more technicolor, more beautiful. And I also learned I can have just as much and even more fun without alcohol. That was such a joy to see it because before that I didn’t know if I can have fun without alcohol. I haven’t tried it for so long that it was hard for my brain to believe that maybe that could be possible. So let your desire fuel you. It feels amazing.

If you’re wanting to get tighter abs, every time you do a plank, or every time I do a sit-up I think about that muscle getting stronger, and tighter, and I’m just sculpting it like Michelangelo’s David. I’m chiseling it with each rep that I do. And that fuels me to do more. And this is what it feels like to be in it to win it. I’m not just in my head saying, that’s what I want. I’m experiencing this in my body. Most people slog their way to their goals and that sounds miserable to me.

How many times have you said or thought to yourself, I guess I can’t drink tonight, when my friend orders a drink I guess I’ll just get a club soda, or maybe I shouldn’t even go out because I can’t drink. Maybe I won’t even go to that bar because yeah, I won’t be able to have alcohol. That’s just making this journey much harder and if you have that kind of attitude, just stay home Ee Aw. That’s just wah, wah. And I’ll tell you, what most of us have really learned in this pandemic is that social connection is a beautiful thing. Prioritize that over the alcohol.

And some people, they’ve gone backwards on that. They prioritize the alcohol over people. Our soul craves human connection. Our soul does not crave a buzz and to be drunk. That’s not the soul speaking. That’s just the mind. I’m wanting to get a new car and I’m finding it so much fun. I’m dialing up that desire. We’re looking at different brands and different models, and then when they pass on the road I’ll ask my husband and daughter, “What do you guys think of that one and what color would you get it in? And it’s just so fun to talk about it.

And what I’m doing is dialing up my desire for a new car. And I’m having fun doing it and making the journey to getting one fun. We’re going to go test drive some models. And I don’t even know which one I’m going to get but I already find the experience to be fun. It’s a future goal. It’s something that I’m going to be inviting into my life. And the beautiful thing is I’m getting the high talking about it now just like I’ll get the high of when I purchase it in the future. And I don’t plan to buy it right away.

So, I’m actually creating this high for me all those weeks and months leading up to the purchase. Because if I could feel good along the way, why wouldn’t I do that? So, dial up your desire. Dial up that desire to stay in control of your drinking. When I think of all the things that I’ve tried, I’ve done, I’ve experimented with, and I’ve learned all the ways where I could stay in control of my drinking, it totally delights me because I’m able to stay in control. I learned what worked, what didn’t work, what things needed to be tweaked along the way to work for me.

And now I think of it as the gas pedal. I control the gas pedal on my drinking. I know when I’m going too fast. I know when I need to slow down. And I know when it’s a great idea to stop. And that’s living powerfully when you are in control. Alright, so dial up that desire.

Next, to living powerfully is to focus on your future. Where will your goal be obtained? It won’t be obtained in the past because that means you would already have accomplished it. Your goal is to be obtained in the future. So, your goal lives in the future. So, if you haven’t gotten to the place where you want to be yet in your relationship with alcohol, that relationship, that ideal relationship that you want exists in your future. It lives over there. It lives with your future self.

Now, the beauty of this is you know it exists, it’s over there. And when you’re living from your future it informs the decisions and the actions you need to take today. So, if you want to get there you know the steps you have to take today. So, as I’m thinking, if I want chiseled abs in my future that informs me what I need to do today. If I want to be free from the pull of alcohol that informs me what I need to do today.

If someday I want to purchase that car, it informs me of the actions I need to take today and in the next few weeks and months. Test drive, decide which brand, which model, what my budget is. It informs me of what I need to learn and do today. Now, I’ll tell you, that’s not what most people do. Most people go to their past to look for information. And most people live from their past. And how do you know?

Because they say things like, “Well, I haven’t been able to get chiseled abs before. Well, I’ve never been able to control my drinking. Well, I’ve never been able to do that. Well, I’ve tried it once and it didn’t work.” Okay, so try something different. It doesn’t mean your goal is unattainable. It’s just what you tried or the way you tried didn’t work. Or how about when you hear, “It just won’t happen for me. Everybody else can achieve it but it just won’t happen for me.”

If you think about the guy who broke the four minute mile, once he broke it within months, so many other people broke it. It’s like if somebody can do it then they showed you it’s able to be done then you know it’s a possibility. Or how about when you hear, “I’ll always be like this. I have always been this way.” That’s living from your past. Just because you’ve always been a certain way doesn’t mean you can’t change. Or sometimes I hear, “Do you know my history, I come from a family of alcoholics.” Like that matters.

Yes, that might say there’s some challenges but it doesn’t have any bearing on you being successfully in control of your drinking. And you may choose that being successfully in control of your drinking means you don’t drink at all, or you have very little, whatever that means to you. But I would never tell myself the story that I can’t control my drinking because that was just a lie. I just needed to learn how to control my drinking.

Now, I hear people say, “But I’ve had a DUI, or a DWI, or I’ve been in rehab, or I spent years in AA.” And again, always looking to their past to say they won’t get to their goal. But your goal lives in the future. Sometimes I hear, “Well, my family won’t support me on this or they won’t understand.” And I just want to say, really? Because family members support health goals, they do. They want the best for their loved ones. And they also support not wasting money on alcohol, something that you just pee out.

The financial savings of that, yeah, they’re going to be onboard. So, look at how all this past thinking just keeps you creating and living more in the past. You don’t get new results. You just keep talking about the past which doesn’t create a different future. It holds you back. And I’ll tell you, it’s not only hurtful, it’s harmful. Why? Because you don’t grow and you don’t change. And yet you still desire the change. And your mind sells out on you because you don’t even know that you can achieve it. And I didn’t know I could achieve it until I started doing it.

So, we don’t even know what we’re capable of if we’re constantly living and looking to our past to tell us what we’re capable of. What we’re capable of is about the future, that’s where possibility lives. And how many people just throw their hands up in the air and say, “I can’t change, might as well just keep drinking. This is good as it’s going to get.” That’s harmful. That’s causing self-harm with your mind. I won’t even allow my brain to go there. It’s not true. It’s a lie. It’s harmful. It’s toxic and I refuse to believe it.

I’ve put a stake in the ground. I refuse to believe that about myself or anyone else. So, focus on your future. Make your future bigger, brighter, and better than your past or your present. Because that’s what it means to go after our dreams, to go after our desires, that come from our soul. It’s your Go Go Juice, it’s like yes, I’m going after this because I want it.

And then finally the last point I want to make is to make your power moves. Oh, my gosh, my friends, I love this step so, so much. And your power moves are your individual actions that you take that give you progress towards your goals, not perfection, progress towards your goas. So, if you’re on my email list you’ll be getting an email from me tomorrow where I outline and break down this step because I want you to customize this step for you, your power moves may be different than my power moves.

And so, you want to take the actions that move the needle to get you to your goal. This is the work that we’ll be doing inside Epic You in the month of August. It’s some of my most powerful work and I invite you to join us if you’re wanting help coming up with your power moves to work towards your goal. We’re working on all kinds of goals in there, drinking less, loving more, losing weight, getting in shape, all kinds of goals. And I want you to be fueled towards your goals so you get them, so you’re not just living in constant desire which is soul sucking, energy depleting.

And it makes us feel like we’re broken or we’re a failure. Just means you don’t have the right strategy, that’s all. For me to become a woman who learned to take it or leave it with alcohol, I had to learn what my power moves were. I had to know the actions that I had to take that would work for me. So, I could stay in control of my drinking because that’s the goal that I wanted. And the other goal I wanted is just not to desire it on some nights. If I don’t have it my brain doesn’t think about it, my brain doesn’t yearn for it. I am fine without it.

So come join us if you want to make your list of power moves and have a community of women cheering you on because it’s so much fun to get our goals together. I love taking my power moves. I have a previous podcast about this and it works. And oftentimes this step alone helps transform you tremendously because right now you don’t have your goal because you’re holding yourself back. And so, when you just flip the switch to start taking your power move actions you begin to build your own momentum. You begin to create progress and progress towards your goals feels amazing.

Ladies, please, do not go for perfection right out of the gates. There is nothing more that kills your motivation and kills your momentum by going to say, “I’m going to follow this plan exactly.” And if I don’t do it exactly I fail. That is not what we do in power moves and with our power moves. And that is not how you live powerfully. When you live powerfully you’re fueled by your own desire. You’re playing your own game. It’s not somebody else’s game and we’re not comparing to others.

We’re in our own lane playing our own game. So, you can live as your amazing self and live your amazing life. And that’s what I consider your epic and elevated life, a life you feel amazing about. Alright my friends, I want you all to live so powerfully. Come join us inside Epic You for this month, it’s going to be amazing. We’re going to be applying these three principles and achieving some amazing results. Cheers to that my friends and I will see you next week.

Thanks for listening to the Drink Less Lifestyle. If you’re ready to change your relationship with alcohol, check out my free guide, How to Effectively Break the Overdrinking Habit at sherryprice.com/startnow. That’s sherryprice.com/startnow. I’ll see you next week.