LAF Life (Living Alcohol Free)

In our last Guest episode of Season 2, it was such a pleasure to sit down with fellow podcaster Deb Masner from Alcohol Tipping Point. After many failed attempts at moderation and taking a few short breaks from alcohol, Deb finally reached her tipping point and gave up alcohol for good in January 2020. Shortly after she decided to create Alcohol Tipping Point as a place to provide resources and educate people on the many health ris...

This topic sparked an interesting discussion about how we define what it means to be a High Functioning Alcoholic. Is this term contributing to the stigmas society has about what it looks like to have an unhealthy relationship with alcohol? High functioning perpetuates the idea that its ok to reward ourselves for our accomplishments at the end of the day with alcohol. Are we using the fact that we are high functioning as an excuse ...

In this weeks episode we touch on all things with a WARNING  label. A somewhat controversial topic but one we believe is extremely important to bring awareness to. There can be many dangers when mixing alcohol with medication, even simple over the counter medications can effect you differently when mixed with alcohol. We are by no means experts on this subject but we are asking the questions, are people paying attention to warning ...

It's that time of year that everyone looks forward to....Summer! Are you looking to cut back or go alcohol free but find the thought of summer socializing without alcohol daunting?  We have some tips for you in this Summer Scattegories episode. Summer time is the perfect opportunity to find so many things to do without alcohol. It's a time when we get a natural dopamine boost from all the sunshine, fresh air and extended ...

In this episode meet Caroline Barrett, Recovery Sober Coach. Caroline has been sober 7 yrs and shares her struggles with alcohol abuse and how subconsciously she always knew one day she would never drink again.  After attending an enlightening AA meeting with her brother and then losing her close friend to addiction, Caroline promised to create a life committed to helping others get on their path to sobriety.  Caroline now has a bu...

Guest Jamie Wild bring us his original free spirit, Feragaia! After years of working in the alcohol industry Jamie found his daily norm quickly became a life that revolved around drinking alcohol. As he found himself searching for more meaning, Jamie and his friend Bill started on their journey to cultivate a more inclusive alcohol free drinking experience. Both from the UK, they decided to utilize the beautiful land around them to...

In episode 19 we had the pleasure of speaking with another fellow Canadian, Hayley Scherders.  Hayley broke free from her addiction to alcohol and cocaine almost 3yrs ago. By doing so she has discovered her own passion for helping others break through the cycle of addiction. Inspired by Anne Grace and certified through This Naked Mind, Hayley has created her own  Recovery Coaching program called Living over the influence.  Combinin...

Our guest in episode 18 Ben Tuff, is a life long educator who has set out to inspire not only his students but now others in the recovery space. Ben is a record holding  ultramarathon swimmer who only learned how to swim in his thirties as part of his recovery from alcohol addiction. In his upcoming documentary "Swim Tuff: How I swam my way out of the bottle" Ben has taken an unconventional approach to sharing his recover...

Do you have an "Alter Ego" when you're drinking? What character do you become? In Episode 17 we question all things as our drunk selves. Is alcohol really a truth serum or is it bringing out buried trauma when were drinking? How did our journey through our drunk "Alter Egos' help us identify our true selves and form who we have become  today. Tune in to this episode to find out!

**Please remember to: Like, S...

The topic of trauma has been brought up in many of our previous episodes but we decided to fully dive into it in Episode 16.  Exploring how childhood trauma shows up in all areas of our lives. We are ringing out the sponge on our own personal trauma and how it is uniquely defined to all of us. We are sharing the ways we have work through it and continue to  heal from it.   Although this was a heavy topic we managed to squeeze in a ...

We are shakin' things up in Episode 15! Our youngest guest yet and the son of our co-host Kelly, Carter Evans joins us. Carter wanted to tell us why unlike most young people that have turned the legal drinking age,  he has made the decision to abstain from drinking alcohol. After experimenting with drinking in his younger teens and realizing it  wasn't something that agreed with him, Carter decided drinking didn't al...

Special Guest Sonia Kahlon joins us for episode 14. After 5yrs of sobriety Sonia was tested when her husband unexpectedly ended their marriage. She didn't feel she had the tools to handle that kind of major life change without alcohol.  Find out how she slowly built her toolkit to hang onto her sobriety for one more day. Learn how building on those tools lead her to create a business that is now helping others facing different...

This is an important episode! Here your hosts discuss some of the warning  signs they experienced when they were consuming alcohol. From this discussion we came up with our own list of 17 Signs that we believe were strong indicators that our relationship with alcohol was becoming unhealthy.  If you or someone you know are contemplating their relationship with alcohol, they need to listen to this episode!

LAF Life's 1...

Celebrating our co-host Kelly's 5 years AF! Kelly dives into the 5 truths she has learned since becoming alcohol free. We openly discuss how Kelly came about these truths on her recovery journey and what each of them  means to us.

✨️Being hangover-free never gets old.
✨️Healing is hard. Staying in denial of our own personal truth is harder.
✨️I’ve never met a single person who’s regretted giving up alcohol.

In Ep. 11 we welcome special guest, Deborah McNairn. Deb is a Yoga and Barre instructor who joined us to share her journey to recovery. After a scary trip to the hospital due to severe alcohol withdrawal, Deb was finally faced with the decision to give up her daily alcohol habit.  Deb's path to recovery lead her to discovering Yoga.  After learning more about the connection between yoga and recovery she decided to turn her pas...

Your Hosts are excited to be back! In this welcome back episode we catch up from the holidays and discuss many HOT topics, including the do's & don'ts of discussing our alcohol free journey at work. We deep dive into the World Health Organizations new guidelines for drinking alcohol, how we've seen people react and what we think is holding them back? That and much much more in this fully loaded episode!

...

This is our Holiday Wrap-Up Episode.  We had fun with this episode playing some holiday Scattergories, reminiscing about the ghosts of drunken Christmas past and sharing our top holiday party tips for surviving holiday gatherings alcohol free!
LAF Life will be taking a break for the holidays to enjoy sometime with our families. Tune back in when we release more new episodes with great topics and amazing new guests this Februar...

In episode 10 it was great to meet our guest Kim Kearns a fellow sober and strong Mom and Podcaster. Kim just released her 1st book "On the Edge of Shattered", a memoir of her experience discovering freedom through sobriety. Kim shares her personal struggle with ending her unhealthy relationship with alcohol which like many had started in her youth. We found Kim very relatable as she reveals how she fell victim to the &qu...

Enabling is something that occurs often in the relationship dynamic with an addict. It happened very unintentionally when we are trying to help our loved ones but we are actually supporting their negative behaviors. In Ep. 9 we explore some of our past actions when we were drinking that reinforced negative behavior. We identify what enabling is and how we can recognize when we may be doing it. We also pose the question "What c...