January 10, 2025 • 20 mins
Have you ever wondered why your New Year's resolutions falter before January's end? Join me as we explore the concept of progress over perfection, especially in the realm of sobriety goals. With National Quitters Day looming, it's more important than ever to reflect on the progress we've made instead of focusing on what hasn't gone perfectly.
Together, we'll delve into understanding your 'why' and how celebrating small victories can lead to sustained success on your alcohol-free journey. I introduce a powerful yet simple method for tracking your alcohol-free days, transforming potential setbacks into motivational stepping stones.
I'm here for you. I'm praying for you. You are NOT alone!
Please subscribe to this podcast so you won't miss a thing!
🔥 JOIN the FREE FIRE 50 Challenge - bit.ly/4jNqoJM
👉🏻 JOIN THE FREE 5-DAY KICK START
https://the-catholic-sobriety-coach.myflodesk.com/5-day-sobriety-kick-start
👉🏻 Join The Sacred Sobriety Lab
https://sacredsobrietylab.com
Visit my Website: https://thecatholicsobrietycoach.com
Telos Art Get 10% off Using Coupon Code CHRISTIE10
https://telosartshop.com/?ref=christie
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to the Catholic Sobriety Podcast, the
go-to resource for women seekingto have a deeper understanding
of the role alcohol plays intheir lives, women who are
looking to drink less or not atall for any reason.
I am your host, christi Walker.
I'm a wife, mom and ajoy-filled Catholic, and I am
(00:22):
the Catholic Sobriety Coach, andI am so glad you're here.
I am publishing this podcastepisode on January 10th.
Well, you may not know this,but the second week in January
is called National Quitters Day,and this year it lands on
(00:46):
January 10th.
National Quitters Day might notsound like a day worth
celebrating, and it's not reallyone of those celebration days
per se, but it is a day that weshould be aware of.
If we do have goals and I havegoals and maybe you have goals
for the new year we need to beaware that this could kind of
(01:10):
trip us up.
There's nothing magical aboutthe second week.
It's just that studies showthat about 23% of adults have
already given up their NewYear's resolution by today.
But here's the thing.
I don't think that shoulddiscourage us.
Instead, it's a great reminderto pause, reflect and reset our
(01:34):
intentions.
We want to think about our why,why we are doing this in the
first place?
If you haven't listened to mylast podcast episode, I would
suggest that you go and do that,because I provide some tips on
how to get through dry January.
(01:56):
If you're doing that and beyond, or even if you're just wanting
to drink less whatever time ofyear it is, so you might want to
go back and listen to that.
It's episode 112.
But if right now, you arefeeling a little shaky about
keeping your resolutions, ormaybe you feel like you've
already not done a great job,believe me when I say you are
(02:19):
not alone.
This was actually a bigconversation in the Sacred
Sobriety Society this past weekduring our coaching call, and
it's something that we're allkind of struggling with.
But what I want to do is helpyou reframe your goals and focus
on progress, not perfection.
(02:40):
So if, up to this point, you'vehad some slips or missteps,
don't even worry about it.
I want you to look at that froma place of curiosity and just
use that to learn as you moveforward and work toward your
goals.
There is still plenty of timeleft to achieve your goals of
(03:02):
drinking less or not at all thisyear.
It doesn't have to be perfectand you don't have to string
together a whole bunch ofalcohol-free days for it to
count.
Today, I want to help youreframe your goals and focus on
progress, not perfection.
To do that, I'm going to sharesome practical and positive tips
that are going to keep you ontrack.
(03:24):
Whether your goal is reducingor eliminating alcohol, or
striving for personal growth inother areas, progress is what
really matters, and I'm here toremind you that falling doesn't
mean failing.
Now grab a cup of tea, settle inand let's chat.
First, I want to talk to you abit about mindset, because this
(03:48):
is what can trip so many of usup, and it has definitely been a
stumbling block for me over theyears.
It's just so important that,with our resolutions, we don't
have the mindset that it has tobe all or nothing.
Remember, your goal is progress.
(04:09):
You know life is messy.
You know things come up andslipping up does not erase the
progress you've made.
I promise you it doesn't.
Now, if you think about it,let's say that you decided that
you were going to walk five daysa week.
Right, you're like I'm going towalk five days a week.
(04:31):
That is my goal.
That's what I'm going to do.
Let's say you actually onlywalked three days that week, or
maybe even two days that week.
You've still made progressbecause, assuming that you
hadn't been doing any walking atall, you are doing more walking
now than you were doing before.
(04:52):
So that is progress.
And the same is with drinking.
If you think about how manyalcohol-free days you've had
this month compared to how manyalcohol-frees you did last month
, then you might be like, okay,well, it's not going perfect,
it's not going exactly how Iplanned it to be, but I'm
(05:15):
definitely doing better, even ifit's just a little bit.
I'm definitely doing betterthan I did last month, and so
that's the mindset shift that Iwant you to have as we go
through some of these tips.
It doesn't have to be all ornothing, and be encouraged
(05:36):
because you're making progress,okay.
So my first tip I kind of justalluded to it a little bit is to
count your alcohol-free days.
This tip is a game changer forso many of my clients, and we
talked about this in the labduring our coaching call and the
people that were on the callwere like oh my gosh, that is so
(05:58):
helpful.
Just get out a calendar.
Have a calendar If you don'twant it up on your wall,
whatever get a personal calendaror you know you can do it
digitally if you want.
I'm more of like a papercalendar kind of gal and you can
either get stars and put starson the days that you're alcohol
(06:19):
free, you can get fun stickersthat you love, you can just exit
out, but keep track of youralcohol days cumulatively, not
necessarily striving to pulltogether the perfect streak of
alcohol-free days, and I'll tellyou why.
(06:40):
Because, let's say, you'rerocking it, you are rocking dry
January because that's whatyou've decided you wanted to do,
and you make it to day 20.
And then on day 20, you justhave an urge and you give into
it and you drink and you wake upon day 21 and you're like now I
(07:04):
have to start all over from dayone and I don't want you to
think of it that way.
I don't want you to think of itthat way at all.
I want you to be so proud ofyour 21 days that you got, or
however many days, even if youget four days here and two days
here and whatever it is I wantyou to be able to look back at
(07:26):
that calendar in January and saylike, oh look, how many
alcohol-free days that I hadthis month and be encouraged by
your progress, because that candiscourage us and then it
totally stops our momentum, likewe just stop instead of
continuing.
(07:48):
So many of us not all of us, butso many of us would look at
that and be like I failed andthat's not what it's about.
That's one thing that I don'talways love about challenges,
because challenges and the wordchallenge kind of makes you feel
like you have to do itperfectly, and if you don't do
it perfectly, why even keepdoing it?
(08:09):
But if you think about likethis is a marathon, not a race,
and every time you go alcoholfree for however long it is, you
are learning something.
Like you've had to talk toyourself and tell yourself no,
you've had urges come up.
How did you manage your mindaround that, or change thoughts
(08:31):
that you've had so that youcould just let that urge go
unanswered?
Or did you give into an urgeand what was the thought that
you had and how can you changethat in the future?
So I always, always, always,recommend having a notebook and
keeping track of thisinformation.
(08:52):
You can write down, you caneven just write down the date.
So again, this is why thisworks so well, if you slip up
and you have a drink, of courseit's easy to think, oh great,
now I've completely failed,what's the point of starting
over and then you stop.
But if you shift yourperspective to counting your
alcohol-free days, every singleone of those days is a victory.
(09:17):
Even if you have just one slipup and then you collect 10
alcohol-free days after that,those are 10 steps closer to
your goal.
It is progress that matters.
Okay.
Tip number two focus on your why.
Why did you make thisresolution in the first place?
(09:38):
Was it for your health?
Did you want to be more presentfor your family?
Maybe this decision feels liketoward becoming the person God
is calling you to be.
Maybe you just wanted to see ifyou could do it.
Whatever your reasons, writethem down your reasons.
(10:04):
Write them down.
Invite the Lord into theprocess and pray over them and
then, when you are caught in amoment of doubt, revisit your
why to remind yourself why thiscommitment matters to you.
So one of the ways that Iinvite people to discover what
their why is like that why thatis going to most motivate them
(10:24):
is to keep asking yourselfquestions so you could say why
and then say so that Maybe yourobjective is to lose weight, and
then you would ask yourself why?
And then you would say so thatI have more energy.
(10:46):
And then you ask yourself why?
And then you say so that?
And you just keep doing thatuntil you get to the deepest why
?
Tip number three is to set minigoals.
Now, big goals can feel sooverwhelming, but if you break
them down into manageable steps,it will feel so much better too
(11:11):
.
So, for example, instead ofsaying I'm not going to drink
anything for the rest of theyear, I'm not going to drink
anything for the rest of theyear.
Start by saying I don't want todrink tonight, or I don't want
to drink this week, whateverseems like a smaller goal.
(11:32):
Then, once you reach that goal,then you can expand it out.
So if you say I only want tonot drink today, and then you
expand it out, expand it out thenext day saying well, I don't
want to drink for the rest ofthe week, and then see how that
goes.
When you do that, you'recreating a sense of
(11:53):
accomplishment more often, whichkeeps you encouraged and
motivated and you want to keepgoing, because it really is all
about taking one step forward ata time and you're building on
your habits and goals.
Now, the other thing is notjust saying I'm not going to
(12:15):
drink, but saying instead of, Iwill do this.
So when we root something out,we have to put something back in
its place.
So if you're going to say I'mnot going to have alcohol while
I'm cooking dinner, awesome,what are you going to have
instead?
(12:35):
So that could be sparklingwater.
That could be tea dead.
So that could be sparklingwater.
That could be tea.
That could be just water withlemon in it.
You could make yourself amocktail.
So have something that you canput in its place so that it
doesn't feel empty.
And then also, when you arethinking about it, don't think
(12:57):
about I can't have.
When we think about I can'thave, then that really can put
us in a deprivation mindset.
And then, for whatever reason,we want it even more.
So to say I am choosing not tohave it right now, I am choosing
not to have it today, and then,after you don't have it, being
(13:23):
grateful, developing thatmindset of gratitude for being
able to wake up in the morningand feel good and proud of your
choices.
Instead of, what we can dosometimes is sit around thinking
like how unfair it is that wecan't have that glass around,
thinking like how unfair it isthat we can't have that glass of
wine, or how unfair it is thatother people can drink regularly
(13:47):
or not have to deal withwhatever level of chaos alcohol
is causing you, but thinkingabout what you are gaining from
not drinking is what will bemost helpful.
Tip number four is to build asupport system Now.
You don't have to do it thisalone.
We are not meant to.
God has called us to walkalongside each other, and
(14:09):
community is so powerful inhelping us stay on track.
I can tell you that, eventhough I just opened the Sacred
Sobriety Lab January 1st, we arealready having great
conversations and the women arelearning from each other and
(14:30):
supporting each other, and it'sbeautiful to see, even just this
first week with our first groupcoaching call and it just
reminds me why I wanted to addthe community aspect and the
group coaching aspect to the lab.
It just makes the experience somuch richer, because when you
(14:51):
find a group of supported andlike-minded people or people
that, even if they're not goingthrough what you're going
through, but love you so muchand want to encourage you and
celebrate your wins with you andlet you share with them what
you're going through, the upsand the downs that is so
(15:14):
valuable.
So you still have time to jointhe Sacred Sobriety Lab.
I'm going to keep it open tillthe end of January.
The link is in the show notesor you can go to my website,
thecatholicsobrietycoachcom.
But even if you don't join thelab, I encourage you to get a
buddy.
Do you have a friend that coulddo this with you?
(15:35):
Do you have a group of friendsthat can do this with you your
spouse, even if they don't wantto do the same thing you are?
Maybe they will be youraccountability and your
encourager.
So I highly suggest that youhave at least one person who is
(15:55):
going to support you, becausedoing it alone is not impossible
, but it is so, so difficult andit's a lot more fun with
friends.
Tip number five is to celebrateyour small wins.
Now don't forget to celebrateyour progress, because every
alcohol-free day, every momentof growth is worth celebrating,
(16:21):
and your celebrations don't haveto be big.
They can be as simple astreating yourself to a quiet
moment with your favorite bookor a podcast, or enjoying a
special meal with loved ones.
Whatever it is, just take timeto acknowledge how far you've
come.
Okay, I want to also just sharean encouraging reminder that is
(16:48):
rooted in truth, rooted in ourfaith, and it comes from 2
Corinthians 12, verse 9, and itsays my grace is sufficient for
you, for my power is madeperfect in weakness.
What an incredible gift theGod's grace is.
It's always enough for us.
(17:08):
Even when we falter, hisstrength is there to lift us
back up.
Your efforts toward detachingfrom alcohol, whatever that
looks like for you, or any otherresolution that you've decided
to make, matter deeply to God,and he is walking this road with
(17:31):
you.
He wants you free.
He wants you to live thebeautiful life that he created
for you, without feeling theneed to escape or feeling the
need to numb out.
He wants you fully present andfully alive, and he is with you
(17:52):
every step of the way, so youare never alone in this.
I encourage you during thistime to lean into prayer when
you feel weak.
Take that journal that you have, just let it all out to God,
talk to him through your pen, ortake it to adoration, or just
(18:14):
pray out loud when you'rewalking.
He wants it all, he wants tohear it all, and then draw
strength from God, hear hisvoice and trust that grace will
carry you through.
Now, before we wrap up, here'swhat I want you to take away
from this episode.
Resolutions, resets, whateveryou want to call them, are not
(18:40):
about perfection.
They are about progress.
So it's not the number of timesyou fall that matters, it's the
number of times that you getback up, and every step forward,
no matter how small, is worthcelebrating.
If today's episode resonatedwith you, I'd love to hear from
you.
Share your victories, big orsmall, on social media and tag
(19:05):
me, or you can use the send atext link that is in my show
notes and let me know.
And if you are struggling, knowthat I am here cheering you on,
and so is this amazingcommunity around you.
Keep taking those steps forward.
(19:26):
You are doing amazing work andI am proud of you.
Until next time, may the graceand peace of Christ be with you.
Well, that does it for thisepisode of the Catholic Sobriety
Podcast.
I hope you enjoyed this episodeand I would invite you to share
it with a friend who might alsoget value from it as well, and
(19:49):
make sure you subscribe so youdon't miss a thing.
I am the Catholic SobrietyCoach, and if you would like to
learn how to work with me orlearn more about the coaching
that I offer, visit my website,thecatholicsobrietycoachcom.
Follow me on Instagram at theCatholic Sobriety Coach.
(20:11):
I look forward to speaking toyou next time and remember I am
here for you.
I am praying for you.
You are not alone.
Welcome to the Catholic Sobriety Podcast, the
go-to resource for women seekingto have a deeper understanding
of the role alcohol plays intheir lives, women who are
looking to drink less or not atall for any reason.
I am your host, christi Walker.
I'm a wife, mom and ajoy-filled Catholic, and I am
(00:22):
the Catholic Sobriety Coach, andI am so glad you're here.
I am publishing this podcastepisode on January 10th.
Well, you may not know this,but the second week in January
is called National Quitters Day,and this year it lands on
(00:46):
January 10th.
National Quitters Day might notsound like a day worth
celebrating, and it's not reallyone of those celebration days
per se, but it is a day that weshould be aware of.
If we do have goals and I havegoals and maybe you have goals
for the new year we need to beaware that this could kind of
(01:10):
trip us up.
There's nothing magical aboutthe second week.
It's just that studies showthat about 23% of adults have
already given up their NewYear's resolution by today.
But here's the thing.
I don't think that shoulddiscourage us.
Instead, it's a great reminderto pause, reflect and reset our
(01:34):
intentions.
We want to think about our why,why we are doing this in the
first place?
If you haven't listened to mylast podcast episode, I would
suggest that you go and do that,because I provide some tips on
how to get through dry January.
(01:56):
If you're doing that and beyond, or even if you're just wanting
to drink less whatever time ofyear it is, so you might want to
go back and listen to that.
It's episode 112.
But if right now, you arefeeling a little shaky about
keeping your resolutions, ormaybe you feel like you've
already not done a great job,believe me when I say you are
(02:19):
not alone.
This was actually a bigconversation in the Sacred
Sobriety Society this past weekduring our coaching call, and
it's something that we're allkind of struggling with.
But what I want to do is helpyou reframe your goals and focus
on progress, not perfection.
(02:40):
So if, up to this point, you'vehad some slips or missteps,
don't even worry about it.
I want you to look at that froma place of curiosity and just
use that to learn as you moveforward and work toward your
goals.
There is still plenty of timeleft to achieve your goals of
(03:02):
drinking less or not at all thisyear.
It doesn't have to be perfectand you don't have to string
together a whole bunch ofalcohol-free days for it to
count.
Today, I want to help youreframe your goals and focus on
progress, not perfection.
To do that, I'm going to sharesome practical and positive tips
that are going to keep you ontrack.
(03:24):
Whether your goal is reducingor eliminating alcohol, or
striving for personal growth inother areas, progress is what
really matters, and I'm here toremind you that falling doesn't
mean failing.
Now grab a cup of tea, settle inand let's chat.
First, I want to talk to you abit about mindset, because this
(03:48):
is what can trip so many of usup, and it has definitely been a
stumbling block for me over theyears.
It's just so important that,with our resolutions, we don't
have the mindset that it has tobe all or nothing.
Remember, your goal is progress.
(04:09):
You know life is messy.
You know things come up andslipping up does not erase the
progress you've made.
I promise you it doesn't.
Now, if you think about it,let's say that you decided that
you were going to walk five daysa week.
Right, you're like I'm going towalk five days a week.
(04:31):
That is my goal.
That's what I'm going to do.
Let's say you actually onlywalked three days that week, or
maybe even two days that week.
You've still made progressbecause, assuming that you
hadn't been doing any walking atall, you are doing more walking
now than you were doing before.
(04:52):
So that is progress.
And the same is with drinking.
If you think about how manyalcohol-free days you've had
this month compared to how manyalcohol-frees you did last month
, then you might be like, okay,well, it's not going perfect,
it's not going exactly how Iplanned it to be, but I'm
(05:15):
definitely doing better, even ifit's just a little bit.
I'm definitely doing betterthan I did last month, and so
that's the mindset shift that Iwant you to have as we go
through some of these tips.
It doesn't have to be all ornothing, and be encouraged
(05:36):
because you're making progress,okay.
So my first tip I kind of justalluded to it a little bit is to
count your alcohol-free days.
This tip is a game changer forso many of my clients, and we
talked about this in the labduring our coaching call and the
people that were on the callwere like oh my gosh, that is so
(05:58):
helpful.
Just get out a calendar.
Have a calendar If you don'twant it up on your wall,
whatever get a personal calendaror you know you can do it
digitally if you want.
I'm more of like a papercalendar kind of gal and you can
either get stars and put starson the days that you're alcohol
(06:19):
free, you can get fun stickersthat you love, you can just exit
out, but keep track of youralcohol days cumulatively, not
necessarily striving to pulltogether the perfect streak of
alcohol-free days, and I'll tellyou why.
(06:40):
Because, let's say, you'rerocking it, you are rocking dry
January because that's whatyou've decided you wanted to do,
and you make it to day 20.
And then on day 20, you justhave an urge and you give into
it and you drink and you wake upon day 21 and you're like now I
(07:04):
have to start all over from dayone and I don't want you to
think of it that way.
I don't want you to think of itthat way at all.
I want you to be so proud ofyour 21 days that you got, or
however many days, even if youget four days here and two days
here and whatever it is I wantyou to be able to look back at
(07:26):
that calendar in January and saylike, oh look, how many
alcohol-free days that I hadthis month and be encouraged by
your progress, because that candiscourage us and then it
totally stops our momentum, likewe just stop instead of
continuing.
(07:48):
So many of us not all of us, butso many of us would look at
that and be like I failed andthat's not what it's about.
That's one thing that I don'talways love about challenges,
because challenges and the wordchallenge kind of makes you feel
like you have to do itperfectly, and if you don't do
it perfectly, why even keepdoing it?
(08:09):
But if you think about likethis is a marathon, not a race,
and every time you go alcoholfree for however long it is, you
are learning something.
Like you've had to talk toyourself and tell yourself no,
you've had urges come up.
How did you manage your mindaround that, or change thoughts
(08:31):
that you've had so that youcould just let that urge go
unanswered?
Or did you give into an urgeand what was the thought that
you had and how can you changethat in the future?
So I always, always, always,recommend having a notebook and
keeping track of thisinformation.
(08:52):
You can write down, you caneven just write down the date.
So again, this is why thisworks so well, if you slip up
and you have a drink, of courseit's easy to think, oh great,
now I've completely failed,what's the point of starting
over and then you stop.
But if you shift yourperspective to counting your
alcohol-free days, every singleone of those days is a victory.
(09:17):
Even if you have just one slipup and then you collect 10
alcohol-free days after that,those are 10 steps closer to
your goal.
It is progress that matters.
Okay.
Tip number two focus on your why.
Why did you make thisresolution in the first place?
(09:38):
Was it for your health?
Did you want to be more presentfor your family?
Maybe this decision feels liketoward becoming the person God
is calling you to be.
Maybe you just wanted to see ifyou could do it.
Whatever your reasons, writethem down your reasons.
(10:04):
Write them down.
Invite the Lord into theprocess and pray over them and
then, when you are caught in amoment of doubt, revisit your
why to remind yourself why thiscommitment matters to you.
So one of the ways that Iinvite people to discover what
their why is like that why thatis going to most motivate them
(10:24):
is to keep asking yourselfquestions so you could say why
and then say so that Maybe yourobjective is to lose weight, and
then you would ask yourself why?
And then you would say so thatI have more energy.
(10:46):
And then you ask yourself why?
And then you say so that?
And you just keep doing thatuntil you get to the deepest why
?
Tip number three is to set minigoals.
Now, big goals can feel sooverwhelming, but if you break
them down into manageable steps,it will feel so much better too
(11:11):
.
So, for example, instead ofsaying I'm not going to drink
anything for the rest of theyear, I'm not going to drink
anything for the rest of theyear.
Start by saying I don't want todrink tonight, or I don't want
to drink this week, whateverseems like a smaller goal.
(11:32):
Then, once you reach that goal,then you can expand it out.
So if you say I only want tonot drink today, and then you
expand it out, expand it out thenext day saying well, I don't
want to drink for the rest ofthe week, and then see how that
goes.
When you do that, you'recreating a sense of
(11:53):
accomplishment more often, whichkeeps you encouraged and
motivated and you want to keepgoing, because it really is all
about taking one step forward ata time and you're building on
your habits and goals.
Now, the other thing is notjust saying I'm not going to
(12:15):
drink, but saying instead of, Iwill do this.
So when we root something out,we have to put something back in
its place.
So if you're going to say I'mnot going to have alcohol while
I'm cooking dinner, awesome,what are you going to have
instead?
(12:35):
So that could be sparklingwater.
That could be tea dead.
So that could be sparklingwater.
That could be tea.
That could be just water withlemon in it.
You could make yourself amocktail.
So have something that you canput in its place so that it
doesn't feel empty.
And then also, when you arethinking about it, don't think
(12:57):
about I can't have.
When we think about I can'thave, then that really can put
us in a deprivation mindset.
And then, for whatever reason,we want it even more.
So to say I am choosing not tohave it right now, I am choosing
not to have it today, and then,after you don't have it, being
(13:23):
grateful, developing thatmindset of gratitude for being
able to wake up in the morningand feel good and proud of your
choices.
Instead of, what we can dosometimes is sit around thinking
like how unfair it is that wecan't have that glass around,
thinking like how unfair it isthat we can't have that glass of
wine, or how unfair it is thatother people can drink regularly
(13:47):
or not have to deal withwhatever level of chaos alcohol
is causing you, but thinkingabout what you are gaining from
not drinking is what will bemost helpful.
Tip number four is to build asupport system Now.
You don't have to do it thisalone.
We are not meant to.
God has called us to walkalongside each other, and
(14:09):
community is so powerful inhelping us stay on track.
I can tell you that, eventhough I just opened the Sacred
Sobriety Lab January 1st, we arealready having great
conversations and the women arelearning from each other and
(14:30):
supporting each other, and it'sbeautiful to see, even just this
first week with our first groupcoaching call and it just
reminds me why I wanted to addthe community aspect and the
group coaching aspect to the lab.
It just makes the experience somuch richer, because when you
(14:51):
find a group of supported andlike-minded people or people
that, even if they're not goingthrough what you're going
through, but love you so muchand want to encourage you and
celebrate your wins with you andlet you share with them what
you're going through, the upsand the downs that is so
(15:14):
valuable.
So you still have time to jointhe Sacred Sobriety Lab.
I'm going to keep it open tillthe end of January.
The link is in the show notesor you can go to my website,
thecatholicsobrietycoachcom.
But even if you don't join thelab, I encourage you to get a
buddy.
Do you have a friend that coulddo this with you?
(15:35):
Do you have a group of friendsthat can do this with you your
spouse, even if they don't wantto do the same thing you are?
Maybe they will be youraccountability and your
encourager.
So I highly suggest that youhave at least one person who is
(15:55):
going to support you, becausedoing it alone is not impossible
, but it is so, so difficult andit's a lot more fun with
friends.
Tip number five is to celebrateyour small wins.
Now don't forget to celebrateyour progress, because every
alcohol-free day, every momentof growth is worth celebrating,
(16:21):
and your celebrations don't haveto be big.
They can be as simple astreating yourself to a quiet
moment with your favorite bookor a podcast, or enjoying a
special meal with loved ones.
Whatever it is, just take timeto acknowledge how far you've
come.
Okay, I want to also just sharean encouraging reminder that is
(16:48):
rooted in truth, rooted in ourfaith, and it comes from 2
Corinthians 12, verse 9, and itsays my grace is sufficient for
you, for my power is madeperfect in weakness.
What an incredible gift theGod's grace is.
It's always enough for us.
(17:08):
Even when we falter, hisstrength is there to lift us
back up.
Your efforts toward detachingfrom alcohol, whatever that
looks like for you, or any otherresolution that you've decided
to make, matter deeply to God,and he is walking this road with
(17:31):
you.
He wants you free.
He wants you to live thebeautiful life that he created
for you, without feeling theneed to escape or feeling the
need to numb out.
He wants you fully present andfully alive, and he is with you
(17:52):
every step of the way, so youare never alone in this.
I encourage you during thistime to lean into prayer when
you feel weak.
Take that journal that you have, just let it all out to God,
talk to him through your pen, ortake it to adoration, or just
(18:14):
pray out loud when you'rewalking.
He wants it all, he wants tohear it all, and then draw
strength from God, hear hisvoice and trust that grace will
carry you through.
Now, before we wrap up, here'swhat I want you to take away
from this episode.
Resolutions, resets, whateveryou want to call them, are not
(18:40):
about perfection.
They are about progress.
So it's not the number of timesyou fall that matters, it's the
number of times that you getback up, and every step forward,
no matter how small, is worthcelebrating.
If today's episode resonatedwith you, I'd love to hear from
you.
Share your victories, big orsmall, on social media and tag
(19:05):
me, or you can use the send atext link that is in my show
notes and let me know.
And if you are struggling, knowthat I am here cheering you on,
and so is this amazingcommunity around you.
Keep taking those steps forward.
(19:26):
You are doing amazing work andI am proud of you.
Until next time, may the graceand peace of Christ be with you.
Well, that does it for thisepisode of the Catholic Sobriety
Podcast.
I hope you enjoyed this episodeand I would invite you to share
it with a friend who might alsoget value from it as well, and
(19:49):
make sure you subscribe so youdon't miss a thing.
I am the Catholic SobrietyCoach, and if you would like to
learn how to work with me orlearn more about the coaching
that I offer, visit my website,thecatholicsobrietycoachcom.
Follow me on Instagram at theCatholic Sobriety Coach.
(20:11):
I look forward to speaking toyou next time and remember I am
here for you.
I am praying for you.
You are not alone.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!