National Sober Day is coming to the US on September 14th, but you don't have to wait to celebrate!  I'm so proud to be one of the Founders of Real Aligned Women, the company that made National Sober Day happen every September 14th, with the first annual celebration in 2019.  Although the company is no longer active, National Sober Day lives on forever.    What is National Sober Day?  National Sober Day is a National Day Calendar day of recognition for fun and unique national days.  If you live in the US you may hear (almost daily) of National D ..read more

  I quit drinking in the summer of 2013, and when I did, I wanted to replace my summer wine and occasional beer that I enjoyed with something that tasted the same.  Or at least I thought I did until I tried my very first no alcohol added beer and realized that it was great because it tasted like a *real* beer. And not great, because it tasted like a REAL beer.  In this post, I'm sharing my experience swapping out non-alcoholic (n/a) versions of my favorite alcoholic beverage to help you if you feel like you're unsure what to do because you may be triggered to drink the real stuf ..read more

   When I first decided to give up alcohol, I didn't see many benefits heading my way. I felt like I was giving myself a lifelong sentence of boredom and being an outcast.   After all, everyone drinks, or so I thought.   Flashforward seven-plus years into my sobriety and the thing that comes to mind when typing this post is I wish I had gotten sober sooner.   To put in the time it takes to get to the other side of drinking and alcohol has to reap benefits, and there are so many as we get older.   I spent thirty-years thinkin ..read more

In this post, I want to share hope and insight into the lessons I never knew I needed until I found sobriety. At the time of this article, I'm 53 and have learned so much about who I truly am without alcohol. I'm different but in a lot of ways the same.  If you are reading this because you are searching for the bright side of quitting drinking, I was where you were once, and I got to the bright side.  I truly hope this article will help you find inspiration and encouragement on the other side of alcohol.    It's challenging to explain the headspace I was in when I quit ..read more

The following is a compilation of the Top 10 Sobriety Questions in Midlife that I receive from women all over the world who are tired of drinking and ready to explore what else life has to offer. Women over 40 are questioning their drinking and trying to make it work.     I know where you are, you are questioning your drinking and wondering What will life be like if I don't drink? Your brain wants to tell you, you can't, you shouldn't, life will be boring and you will be left out.  To quit drinking is a commitment to yourself that happens in a span of a few minutes. Ma ..read more

 You're researching perimenopause to try and figure it all out, aren't you?   Something feels off, or you were recently made aware of the fact that yep, it's menopause, and you feel unprepared.   Are we ever prepared for one of the most significant changes in our lives?   I mean, we've heard about menopause from our elders but thought that it was much further off for us.     When I learned that I was in perimenopause in my early forties, my first thought was I'm too young, and my next thought was now what?   This i ..read more

  Updated 11/17/20 Fantasy is the faculty or activity of imagining things, especially things that are impossible or improbable.  Wine fantasies are what happens when you slip into another realm of your life while drinking. A life that is hopeful and exciting and full of dreams.   I drank copious amounts of Chardonnay to slip into what I call wine fantasies. For decades. I envisioned myself leaving my crappy job, having muscle and strength, and traveling with my family. All it took was one glass of crisp white wine to make me feel happy and creative and close to my ..read more

Photo by cottonbro from Pexels   During three decades of drinking, my buzz became less fun.  I began to question if drinking was worth three-day hangovers.  That first stage of getting drunk was my favorite, but after half of a glass of wine, I lost the buzz and went into a different realm of drinking — one of lashing out and crying for no reason.  My drinking evolved into drunk behavior that no midlife woman should ever endure.      My drinking at forty-five was no longer cute. I had become a drunk in the middle of life.    The ..read more

Women in the middle of life are faced with many challenges; financial issues, body acceptance, ill parents, job loss, divorce, empty nest, perimenopause, and society's view on aging (aka stereotypes.)   Society challenges our mindset by telling us we need to slow down, we can't do things we used to anymore, our mind isn't sharp, and aging skin is not beautiful. Our mind + our bodies will follow suit into this type of lifestyle and succumb, but only if we let it.   Growing up, I was never taught anything about menopause or perimenopause and what to expect as we grow old. When I first hit perime ..read more

If you do a Google search using the word midlife, what do you think pops up first? Crisis! Yup, midlife crisis is a highly searchable term and one that, I believe, should not exist.   Your life in the middle is not a crisis - you may not believe that, but that's okay, you don't have to believe. Keep reading.   After I survived eight years of perimenopause (H.E.L.L.), and after I turned 50, I began to experience this feeling of holy shit, I better get going!   I think that is why most people (including myself a couple of years ago) think of the middle of life as a crisis because you begin to th ..read more