In this episode, Mark and I are tackling a unique topic that we’ve never really covered before! It’s the topic of alcohol and specifically how it can affect our lives and our relationships if we aren’t careful.
If you grew up in a conservative Christian household, you may not have had any exposure to alcohol growing up and that may leave you wondering if it has a place in your life at all as an adult. Whatever your background or past experiences with alcohol, this is an important topic as we determine what is good and healthy to have in our daily lives.
To help us unpack this topic, we asked Matt and Amy Edwards to join us. Matt and Amy are the hosts of the podcast, An Alcohol-Free Marriage. Amy is also a certified coach who focuses on one-on-one coaching and offers a group coaching program called The Alcohol Free Spirit Experiment.
They happen to live just a few miles from us in central Illinois and we are excited to have them on the podcast talking about this very important discussion around alcohol.
In this conversation, you’ll hear:
- The circumstances that led each of them to give up alcohol
- Why moderation may not be the answer
- How we train our brains to turn to alcohol
- And much more!
This is such an important topic and I hope this conversation is an encouragement as we navigate the topic of alcohol.
Resources mentioned in this episode:
- [BOOK] This Naked Mind: Control Alcohol, Find Freedom, Discover Happiness & Change Your Life
- The Alcohol-Free Marriage Podcast
- Connect with Matt & Amy on their LinkedIn or website
- As a thank you for listening, get your 3 free eBooks.
My Key Takeaways:
1) Moderation may not be the solution. Depending on who you are, your life experiences, your history with alcohol, and more, moderation may not be an option for you. Very rarely is willpower enough to make a clean break from alcohol because it is so much work on a daily basis. If you are considering whether or not to have an “alcohol-free” lifestyle, take a break for a period of time and then decide if you are going to commit to it. Sitting in the middle ground will only lead to you sliding into drinking again.
2) Ask if it is about fermentation or fun. What Matt and Amy found is that they loved the ritual of winding down their evening more than they enjoyed the actual ingredients. If you want to have fun, you don’t need alcohol to do that. You can keep the ritual but replace the ingredients associated with it. Secular culture is often centered around consuming alcohol, but we need to disassociate the two. You can still enjoy all the good times with friends, family, or just sitting on your porch without the alcohol. You may even find that you still get the dopamine hit your brain associated with alcohol.
3) Begin by unraveling your beliefs about alcohol. This may be done in conjunction with a program to help you abstain from alcohol. But in order for it to really stick, you have to dig deeper into what beliefs you have about alcohol. These could be things like alcohol is the only way to relieve stress, alcohol makes me more fun, or I can’t handle life without it. This may require the help of a coach or counselor and you should be prepared to abstain longer than just a 30-day program to get to the bottom of these beliefs.
About Matt & Amy Edwards:
Matt & Amy Edwards are the hosts of An Alcohol-Free Marriage podcast. Amy is also a certified coach who focuses on one-on-one coaching and offers group coaching programs. Together, they were led to have an alcohol-free lifestyle after they separately discovered some of the ways it was creating dependence, health issues, and heart issues in their lives.
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Thanks to all four of you for this episode.
My question comes from my own story of course. Alcohol was not a part of my growing up mainly because the church we went to taught the dangers of drunkenness etc, also that the wine Jesus drunk was probably not as strong as todays alcohol content…( I’m just saying how I heard this all my life, not that I am necessarily endorsing that way of teaching))
Now 4 of my 5 children drink, and not only beers and wine but whiskey etc . I’m concerned for several of them as to what I fear is addiction.
But they are glad to have this liberty that they deem was forbidden without good reason. Also, my husbands father died from alcohol related issues. That made us that much more strict in how we chose to NOT drink. I feel Iike that mostly backfired. What do you think is a balanced view of drinking? Also, I don’t think I heard anything about withdrawal symptoms . Maybe that wasn’t the case in the guest’s stories. I love how they are so grateful now and glad to have chosen this way of life and I am also curious how they would answer my adult kids,
who are glad to be able to do what they believe is a liberty rather than a danger or a law.
Laura, the hard part is that our adult kids can make their own choices now and unless they ask, we have to “Pray, not say.” A balanced view of drinking comes down to something that does not control you. You don’t need it for anything. It isn’t something you need to unwind or be social or have fun. However, without realizing it, it can become a slippery slope which is why we need to be careful with it. As Matt and Amy said, moderation may not be the solution. Depending on who you are, your life experiences, your history with alcohol, and more, moderation may not be an option for you. Very rarely is willpower enough to make a clean break from alcohol because it is so much work on a daily basis. If you are considering whether or not to have an “alcohol-free” lifestyle, take a break for a period of time and then decide if you are going to commit to it. Sitting in the middle ground will only lead to you sliding into drinking again.