Speaker 1 0:00

Welcome to the Catholic Sobriety podcast , the go-to resource for women seeking to have a deeper understanding of the role alcohol plays in their lives , women who are looking to drink less or not at all for any reason . I am your host , christy Walker . I'm a wife , mom and a joy-filled Catholic , and I am the Catholic Sobriety coach , and I am so glad you're here . Hello everyone , thank you so much for being here . I'm really excited to do this episode . It's one that I've been planning for quite a while , and I just kind of got it all put together last night and I am ready to roll with it . So today's episode is self-care without booze . So , contrary to popular marketing and beliefs and what people say on Instagram and everywhere else , drinking alcohol is not self-care . Let me say that again Drinking alcohol is not self-care . It's not a way to cope with your motherhood . It's actually something that I've talked about a ton on my show , and so you can go back and listen to episodes , but it actually doesn't help with all the things that a lot of times , women consume alcohol to try to alleviate . So it actually increases your anxiety and depression . It leaves you feeling kind of grumpy , not feeling well the next day . Sleep is disrupted , which accounts for the not feeling well and being grumpy , and , yeah , it's just no good . And I want to help you by providing some tips on how you can do self-care without the booze . Okay , so I've been doing this for a long time . I am a woman in recovery and I have had to figure out ways to self-care , which I mean sometimes as moms , as women , as Catholic women the word self-care can feel a little selfish , but I think that the options that I'm going to be providing for you today I have five are going to be very doable and they are going to just fill your cup so that you can be the wife , the mom , the daughter of God that you want to be . So I have five of those for you and I would love to dive in . So let's get started .

Speaker 1 2:51

So the first self-care tip that I have for you that does not involve booze is to schedule in real rest . This is conscious rest . It's about making deliberate choices to prioritize your well-being . So you may be saying look , christy , I am a busy mom . I have , like , so many things going on . There is no way that I am going to have time to take a moment in my daily routine to have any kind of real rest . But this is what I would offer you Think about the times , or take note of the times , when maybe you're doing things like scrolling or wasting time doing things that aren't really serving you , or when you're drinking alcohol , and then fill that time with rest .

Speaker 1 3:52

And rest can look different for everyone . For some people it can be practicing gratitude , journaling , praying , meditating , calming our bodies , doing things like gardening or painting , you know , whatever it is , just so you are allowing your mind time to rest and you're able to calm your body . And that can even involve just taking , you know , short breaks throughout the day to take a real deep breath , because , honestly , we all just walk around all the time breathing so shallowly . I didn't realize this until my coach brought it up to me and I was like you are so right . So now I try to really take moments when I just take a breath for me and it just calms down my nervous system and I just feel so much better after , you know , a few deep breaths . So even if you can grab those short breaks throughout the day , that would be an amazing gift to yourself .

Speaker 1 5:05

The next thing is hobbies . Do you have any hobbies anymore that you love , or maybe you had hobbies that you had , but then you stopped doing . I know for me , once I get out of the habit of doing something , it can be hard for me to get back into it . And then I look back at it longingly like , oh , I loved doing that , I should do that again . And then I don't do it . So I would say , just like , think about things that you used to do that you would like to pick up again , or maybe something new Like this is going to sound so funny , but I started doing lacto fermenting of vegetables . Like I love it .

Speaker 1 5:52

I watched this lady . If you want to learn more about it , she's so good and it's really easy for like beginners , just look up clean food living , I think , on YouTube . Anyway , I got so into it . I binge watched like all her videos and then I showed them to my husband , who was like that's crazy . But then I bought all the things because I wanted to do it . I told my mom about it and she watched the videos with me and then she went and bought all the things . And then I was like I love these lacto fermenting queens , like it's so fun , like right now I have some carrots going and it's really good for probiotics and all of that Anyway . So that is a hobby that I'm doing , like it's very calming for me to be like chopping things up . I feel very accomplished . I love looking at my vegetables fermenting on the kitchen counter . I don't know it , just they're like my little lacto babies . I just love them .

Speaker 1 6:50

So , anyway , whatever that is for you whether it's like crocheting , flower ranging , getting outdoors , painting , playing an instrument just do it , just pick it up and make time for it . And that is something that you can do , you know , to fill that time that maybe you used to fill with drinking , or maybe you used to fill it with the time of not feeling well , and because you feel well , then you want to do those things more often . This leads me into exercise . I know , I know I'm not like a super fan of exercising . You will not . Anyone will not accuse me of being a gym rat , but I very much admire people that can get themselves to the gym and Work out and and do good things . That's , that's not me . But Exercise can look different for everyone .

Speaker 1 7:47

So some days my exercise is going down multiple flights of stairs in and out of rooms , cleaning laundry and all of that . I mean I can get quite a few steps in doing that , and then other days it's walking , some days it's doing an exercise video . I just got a Like one of those mini trampolines to start doing rebounding . I just like to try things that trick my body into thinking that I'm not exercising when in fact I am so . But I do know people that love exercising and they love to run , they love to be at the gym and those types of things , and that is real self-care , because even if it's not for , you know , weight loss or something like that , it really is so good . Those endorphins are so good for our whole well-being and yeah . So that is definitely Another self-care item .

Speaker 1 8:47

And then the last one is just ask for help . It's so hard , I am so bad at asking people for help . However , once I was able to change my mindset around asking for help and realize that doing so Not only blesses me , but it blesses the person who is providing the help , that made me think about it in a completely different way . So , for example , several years ago , before our boys were bigger and old enough to do a lot of yard work , I Decided that we were going to hire Landscapers and we were gonna have them come regularly because my husband was working a lot and on the weekends we were spending a lot of time doing yard work and not spending time as a family . So I asked him if it would be okay if we hired Landscapers . That way he didn't have to do that on the weekends . I didn't have to do it because I hate yard work and we could spend more quality time as a family . And we did that for a very long time .

Speaker 1 9:53

But I felt kind of guilty about spending that money To do that . And then my mom said you know , you're helping your landscapers by giving them a job and they're helping you by , you know , making your yard look nice . And that just made me feel so much better because I realized I wasn't just being frivolous , this was something that we could afford to do and it was benefiting our family and it was benefiting him . So , um , yeah , asking for help is good . So if you need help with , like , maybe having a mother's helper come in a couple times a week , maybe hiring house cleaners , landscapers , you know , training your children to help , I'm kind of bad about this because I just want to get in and get things done . But you know , especially since I have two 16 year olds and a 10 year old , they are all very capable of doing many , many things and they do when I ask . So , yeah , and getting your kids to help my husband is Very helpful . He actually does a lot of things . He's a great person . He actually does laundry way better and more efficient than I do , but he's very helpful . But he usually does the outside , I usually do the inside , but we both help out , help each other out , which is great . We have great teamwork . So , yeah , just asking for help in whatever way will Benefit you and just kind of lighten your load so that you have more time .

Speaker 1 11:24

And my final tip for self-care without the booze is to make a list of your energy Drainer's and the things that really light you up and get excited and then , when you are , you know , asked if you would participate in this or if you could do that . You know you can really be honest with yourself about what you have time for , what your gifts are , what drains your energy , what gives you life , and that will help you determine now and in the future what you need to say no to , so you can say yes to those things that really fill your cup and help you to achieve the goals that you want to , so that you can live a life you love , a life that you don't have to feel like you need to escape from by drinking alcohol . Because , I promise you , alcohol is not life giving . Alcohol is life draining . It is stealing precious moments from you , whether you realize it or not .

Speaker 1 12:37

I ask you , I beg you , to get really honest with yourself and look at your alcohol consumption and then ask yourself is it serving me , what does alcohol bring to my life and what does it take from my life ? And then look that over , and I think that you'll be . You know , you might be surprised , you might be encouraged , especially if you've decided to drink less or not at all for any reason , because you can now see on paper exactly what you've known in your heart and mind for a long time and that might help you resolve to make that change so that you can stop the chaos . The chaos of thinking about it , of wondering when the next drink is going to come , wondering if you're gonna go to a restaurant and have the opportunity to have a margarita , the chaos of feeling like you have to hide how much you are drinking or how frequently you are consuming alcohol , you can have more peace because you won't be feeling the guilt and the shame that comes along with you know , a next day hangover when you're driving your kids to school or you need to participate in an event or go to a meeting . You know there's a lot of ways we can beat ourselves up . So if we take away one of those things that we don't need , it just provides so much freedom . So I hope that you can hear the energy and the excitement in my voice , because you know I just want you to experience the freedom of living a life you love . So , whether that's reducing the amount of alcohol you consume , whether it's eliminating alcohol altogether , whether you are a woman in recovery and you're just still struggling with really knowing how to take care of yourself , because for so long that was the way that you , you know , took care of yourself or dealt with emotions , there's so many other ways out there and if you are struggling at all , I am here to help you .

Speaker 1 15:05

I am a Catholic life coach who works with women in recovery or those looking to drink less or not at all , by helping to remove the obstacles that are just keeping you stuck and I would love to help you . So , if you're interested , you can find my contact information below , and there's information on my website and on my Discovery call page . So love you , guys , and I will see you next week . Well , that does it for this episode of the Catholic sobriety podcast . I hope you enjoyed this episode and I would invite you to share it with a friend who might also get value from it as well . And make sure you subscribe so you don't miss a thing . I am the Catholic sobriety coach , and if you would like to learn how to work with me or learn more about the coaching that I offer , visit my website , thecatholicsobrietycoachcom . Follow me on Instagram at theCatholic sobriety coach . I look forward to speaking to you next time and remember I am here for you , I am praying for you . You are not alone . I am here for you .