Thriving Alcohol-Free with Mocktail Mom

EP 125 | Total Wine Purchase That Sparked My Sobriety + The Mocktail Challenge

• Deb, Mocktail Mom • Season 2 • Episode 125

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In this episode of Thriving Alcohol-Free with Mocktail Mom, Deb Podlogar shares her personal journey to sobriety, and she brings the receipt for how it all started.  

She discusses the importance of having non-alcoholic alternatives and shares more about the upcoming Mocktail Challenge, a 21-day program designed to support and encourage those exploring a sober lifestyle. Deb also highlights the community aspect of the challenge, with daily emails, happy hour events, and prizes. 

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SPEAKER_00:

Okay, hey friends. It's Deb. Welcome back to Thriving Alcohol Free with Mock Tell Mom. I am your host. I'm so happy you're here. Really, really so grateful to be connected to you. I can't even tell you how much you guys encourage my heart and how you help me stay on my alcohol-free journey. So thank you for being here. Um, we are having a solo episode today. So, what is a solo episode? It's just you, me, and Coco. That's what that means. Uh, next week we have a very special episode. I spoke with Jennifer or with uh Jen Butler. Let's say Jennifer, because it's Jennifer Page. She's in our membership. Jen Butler, uh, she and I had a chat about her upcoming memoir called Mom Rediscovered. So that is going to come out on October 7th. That'll be a podcast coming out next Tuesday for you guys. So really excited for you guys to hear from her. She's actually the first guest, that's our third, her third time at the Thriving Alcohol Free Podcast. So I'm very happy for her to make her third appearance here. So you guys will get to see her next week or hear from her next week. And but today, though, I want to share with you just one-on-one. I want us to talk about, I wanted to share with you about where my journey really, really began because I don't know that I've ever shared it with you guys one-on-one here. I don't think I've shared this with you. I know I've talked about this on other podcasts, like when I've been interviewed or been interviewed, whatever, been talking, you know, when I've been chatting with another podcast, podcaster or whatever on their podcast. Um, I know I've shared this story, but I was like, I don't think I ever told you guys this. And so I actually brought the receipts. Literally, I have receipts to show you about what I'm gonna talk to, talk to you about. And then I want to talk about the mocktail challenge, which is starting on October 6th, the first mocktail Monday of um our sober October. So this will be my fourth sober October. Yeah, because I'm coming up on five years. Uh December 31st will be five years since I've been alcohol free. I can't even believe that. Oh goodness gracious. Um, didn't even think I'd make it to the first weekend. That's so crazy. Okay, so uh what we're doing though in sober October, we're doing I'm doing a mocktail challenge because honestly, you guys, I just want to bring the fun. I want to bring the fun to this party because it's not drudgery, it's not boring, it's not wah. It's let's keep having a great time. You know, we can have even more of a great time when we're not drinking and we're drinking mocktails, discovering new alcohol-free drinks, discovering alcohol-free wines, non-alcoholic options, all the good stuff. It's a good time to learn about mocktails, to learn some of the basics and to really also um just kind of dig into maybe like, why, why are you curious about, you know, learning about mocktails? So um, okay, I have some notes. I have some notes. Actually, you know what? I'm gonna put in the show notes for you guys uh a list of some non-alcoholic options. I just worked on this today. You guys are gonna laugh. I am the most, I'm not, I'm not like a, I should not be anyone's administrative assistant because I do not work very quickly. So today I spent hours. I spent hours. You guys would laugh. Any of you who use like automated things and do things fast, you'll laugh because I probably spent I probably spent three hours working on it. Um, it's a Google Doc that I made into a PDF. That itself, that in itself is complete magic. Um, a miracle, I should say. So uh it's a PDF that I have for you. And I just listed in there some of my favorites. It's not like a full list. There's obviously so many favorites, but I just wanted to give you guys and give those who are doing the mocktail challenge just like here's like a little starting document of like here are some good options because in the beginning you're like looking at the shelves going, I don't know what to drink, I don't know what to purchase. You know, these are things that I like. Obviously, everybody's taste, you know, your taste buds are different or whatever. You might buy it and be like, all right, like geese in uh the Sauvignon Blanc, 0% is my absolute favorite. It's what I drink all the time. I'm for sure their number one purchaser. They were actually the number one, I think it's premium, not alcoholic, Sauvignon Blanc in the United States. I think that was the their, I think that's like their award or something, whatever they won last year. And I'm sure half of that, half of those purchases are from me buying their products at total line, 100%. Anyway, all that to say, um, I have a document for you guys and it even has links in it. I added the links, that's what took me a little while, and it makes sure they worked, whatever. It's down below. Grab it. Please don't make my three hours of work go to waste. I wanted to share it with you. So if you're just looking for some options, obviously many of you already have favorites. So there's nothing like earth shattering on that document. It's just like some easy, like my favorite non-alcoholic beers, favorite non-alcoholic spirits, some of them. There's obviously tons, tons more. I didn't want to overwhelm anybody. I didn't want to hand you a non-alcoholic Bible. It's just some options. I think it's three pages on the PDF, maybe two. Okay, there you go. So that's what's down below. That's a little free gift for you as you go into your sober October. Okay. And then what I want to share with you then about is the mocktail challenge that's coming. So that's that's what we're talking about tonight. So here we go. We're gonna start with receipts of how my mocktail mom journey began. I just basically went kicking and screaming to the total wine on December 31st, 2020 was my first day alcohol free. I did not intend it to be my first day alcohol free. I actually was gonna start on January 1st. But that day, December 31st, for whatever reason, we just like our New Year's Eve plans and stuff. I I didn't really get to have the blowout that I was gonna, I intended to have with my my Chardonnay I had been saving. I was like, oh, I still have like one more day where I could keep drinking before dry January, and I really jump into this whole crazy idea that I've you know decided to do. Anyway, December 31st ended up being my first day alcohol-free. But even before that day finished, before we got to like the nighttime of December 31st of New Year's Eve, at 4.19 p.m., how do I know? Because I have the receipt from my purchase at Total Wine when I went in there looking for alcohol-free options. I had to walk to the very back of the store. This is from December 31st, 2020, 4.19 p.m. I walked to the very back of the store. I will never forget feeling like I could literally smell the wine. I was as as I was walking past all my old BFFs to get to the back where they had a tiny little section with alcohol-free options. I purchased a B Well Chardonnay. It was$11.99. I paid with cash,$12.71 with tax. I got 29 cents back. I gave them$13. Melissa was my cashier. Register four. This was at the paddock shops in uh Louisville, Kentucky. So this is where I purchased my very first alcohol-free wine. And I remember thinking, what is the point? This is the biggest waste of money. This is this is so stupid. Why? Why? I literally was thinking, why? Why am I buying this thing? Coco G needs something. She's underneath me doing something. Um okay, so I'm just wondering, like, why? What on earth am I doing? That purchase changed my life. That purchase changed the trajectory of my life. I had no idea at that time because I honestly didn't even think I'd make it to the first weekend without alcohol. I didn't think I would make it. I thought this is a total joke. But you know what? I'm gonna give it a try. I'm gonna give it a try. And you know what? I knew I knew even then before I had started that I was going to need alternatives. I knew how important it would be. Somehow I knew. I don't know how I knew. I just mean like something inside of me was like, go to Total Wine and see what else they have. Like, stop buying what you always buy. Go see what else they have, go find some alternatives. And I did. I mean, I didn't, I bought one item. I was like, I wasn't totally committed. I was like, well, I'll just buy one bottle. So there you go. That's what I did. And that is what started this all. And I was like, it wasn't that bad. Actually, Be Well Chardonnay is pretty good, but it wasn't, it wasn't grape juice in a wine bottle. Like I wasn't horrified by it. And then I went back a couple days later and I bought my uh ritual tequila, which actually did really, really, really change my life. Okay, all that to say, having alcohol-free alternatives makes for me makes all the difference. And so I just want to share those with you. I want to get to know you better. I want to connect with you. So this is the first time I'm running this, the Mocktail Challenge. This is the first time I'm ever doing this. This is brand new. It's a 21-day program because it takes 21 days, you know, to change a habit, right? It takes 21 days to kind of break your habit. So let's break our habits of maybe, you know, going back to our old ways and let's have a great time while we're doing it. So um, you can join the mocktail challenge. Mocktailchallenge.com is where you can sign up. You can use right now, I don't know when you're listening to this, but if you're this is before our October mocktail challenge and you're hearing this, uh, you can, or we start October 6th, you can use code October and that will save you$10. There's that. Okay, here's the plan. I'm not really much of a planner. I did write notes though for today. Um I promise we're gonna have a good time. I'm not building the plane while I'm flying it with the mocktail challenge. I have all the emails printed out, like they're all ready. Oh, printed out, they're all loaded in, they're ready to go. Okay, so we have 21 days of emails. Every day you're gonna get an email from me. Um, just of encouragement. You're gonna have support, you're gonna have um some journal prompts and just ways to like reframe your thinking from like, oh, I have to do this, I have to stop drinking, to like I get to like changing your mocktail mantra, so to speak. We're gonna talk about like mocktail 101 things. We're gonna just have like some time for reflections, thinking about like, you know, reframing things for ourselves, talking about like mocktail tools, tips, tricks. Um, we're gonna post our, we're gonna have a little community together, a little community. Listen to me. Like we're all gonna go live together on a kibbutz or something. No, we're gonna have a digital space. It's not on Facebook. So you'll have a community where you can connect with people, post pictures of the mocktails you're drinking, post things of like what you're trying. And because it's the mocktail challenge, we're having many challenges every week. And we're having prizes because I am all about fun and prizes. There's some great brands. We've had some brands, actually, these three brands. I'm gonna mention these three are uh prize donators or they're donating prizes. Um, and they've all been on the podcast. So you guys probably already know these people. Anyway, first one is Beckett's. They're one of my favorite uh cans of deliciousness. And Beckett's has generously donated um a pack of their, like a variety pack. They're gonna donate to one of the winners one week of the Mocktail Challenge. And then Amethyst, who you guys know and love, one of my absolute favorite non-alcoholic uh spirits, Amethyst is donating. Um, actually, I don't even know what they're donating. I think it's at least, well, it is obviously it's at least one bottle. It's I know for sure it's one bottle. So I think you get to pick out which bottle you want. I don't think it's more than that, but don't quote me on it. Maybe you'll end up with all four. I don't know. Um, and then uh the another another donated prize, these you can't even really buy in the United States yet. This is Giesen 0% Spritz. These are their cans. You're gonna get a pack of 24 cans. You can pick either the Rose Spritz or the Sauvignon Blanc spritz. That's one of the prizes, one of the weeks of the Mocktail Challenge. And then final week, we have a final big grand prize, and that is a ninja creamy. They have not been here on the podcast, but a ninja creamy is our is our like grand prize of the mocktail challenge. So I love to give things away, I love to have fun, and I want you guys to have fun with me. Like I want to get to know you, I want to support you. I I love being of encouragement. That's all. I I love being of encouragement. So I want to be that for you on your sober or sober curious or more mindful drinking journey. So I talked about the emails you're gonna get. Oh, we're gonna have we're gonna have four happy hours, four happiest hours, we're calling it because that's the name of my ball. Uh the happiest hours zoom. So those are on Monday nights, mocktail Mondays. They'll be recorded. So if you can't be there live, no stress at all, you don't like to lose any points or anything. Um, you can watch the recording or whatever. But we're gonna make mocktails together, connect. Uh, so we're gonna do mark. Do you guys want to know what we're doing? What we're drinking. We're gonna start with the margarita because it's changed my life. So we're gonna talk about the margarita because you need to you need to know how to make a margarita, right? A non-alcoholic margarita. We're gonna do that. We're gonna talk about uh we're gonna make a mule on our second week, our second happiest hour. We're doing mules. I love mules, they're one of the easiest mocktails to make. You can make it right in your little copper cup or just make it in any kind of cup that you have. If you don't have a copper cup, I didn't have a copper cup when I first stopped drinking. Uh, so we're gonna make one of those together. Uh each week there will actually be an option for a non-alcoholic, a recipe with a non-alcoholic spirit in it, and a recipe option uh that does not include a non-alcoholic spirit. Because I know for some people, the non-alcoholic spirits can be a trigger, like something that's like a one-to-one of like a tequila alternative or a whiskey alternative. It's like, oh, it's it's too triggering. So we're we're got I've got something for for you if that's triggering to you. I've got a mocktail for you. Uh, and then uh the the third and fourth um happiest hours, because we're gonna have a kickoff one on the sixth. So that's like kicking it off of our three weeks, but we actually have four happiest hours, even though it's only a three-week challenge. Uh, the third and fourth week, actually, we're gonna be using an amethyst um for the non-alcoholic for the mocktails that include a non-alcoholic spirit. We're using amethyst. We're gonna be making like a blueberry lime Ricky. If you don't want to use that, you can make a cherry lime Ricky, or you can make whatever you want. Like there's no, like you don't have to make what we're making, what I'm making on the Zoom. You can make whatever you want, or just bring whatever you're making, or bring whatever you're drinking, I should say. And then for our finale, we're gonna have a cosmopolitan, uh, which is really a nod um to my mom. Actually, the on the cover of my book, The Happiest Hour, is a cosmopolitan mocktail. And uh, that was one of her, my mom wasn't like a my mom wasn't a big drinker at all, at all. But um if she did like have a cocktail on her out or whatever, she would have a cosmopolitan. So it's on the cover of the book. So I thought that's a nice way to end our very first mocktail challenge is to, you know, to culminate the time together, or we've had community, we've had connection, we've gotten to know each other, and we've supported one another. That's the whole thing. It's just a community-supported, uh coming together event. And so I would love for you to be a part of it. No pressure. Like, if this isn't the right time for you, no problem. I love you anyway, no matter what, I'm here for you and I want to support you and encourage you. So those are our prizes, daily emails. Oh, yeah, we're gonna talk about um, you know, like what to order when you're ordering out. Um, what are things maybe you can say when somebody says, like, you're not drinking, you know, like things you can like little comeback, one-liners or so to speak. Uh, and there's that. Let's see. I'm looking at my notes. Okay, where can you sign up? Mocktailchallenge.com. Did I mention that? I think I already did. Uh yes, code October will save you ten dollars. Okay, I want to just close out. Uh, I hope I I did say this to you. I do love you guys so much. I'm so grateful you're um a listener of the podcast. Please share it with others. Leave a rating or review. I never asked for that. I or I should say never. I I very rarely mention it, but I'm supposed to be mentioning it more. So there you go. Leave a rating and review. It helps other people find the show. But really, in closing, um, if there's anything, any questions you have, anything I can do to support you, my email is deb at mocktailmom.com. I will reply. I get my emails. Um, I am excited to cheer you on, to support you wherever you are in your journey. And uh just to think, to think that it all, this whole thing, this whole thing traces back to this purchase at Total Wine, where I walked in, walked to the very back of the store, and I bought my very first alcohol-free wine. This changed everything. And I don't know what it is for you that might change everything. Maybe it's just one purchasing, like a purchase of a non-alcoholic wine. Maybe it's a community that you get connected with, meeting other people who are also sober curious or are also leaning into a sober lifestyle. I already know of some people who have signed up already for the mocktail challenge, um, who have been sober curious and they're like, I'm committing to sobriety. I'm doing it, Deb. I'm getting on the boat, you know. Great. Like, I'm so happy you're here. So I don't know what it is. Maybe signing up for the mocktail challenge will be that first receipt for you that you look back and you go, wow, I did that and it changed everything for me, you know. Or maybe you're just coming, you just have fun and be more mindful. So there's no pressure. Anyway, I love you guys. I'm so happy that you're here. Thank you for um encouraging me. Thank you for supporting my journey. It means so much to me to know that I am not alone. You are not alone. You are not walking this journey alone. Okay. Find community, get connected with others. You are not alone. I promise you. And you are not the only one who's maybe been struggling for years. Maybe you've been struggling, trying, start, stop, try again, try again. Okay. I did it so many times. And finally, for whatever reason, for whatever reason, it finally just clicked. And it was like, enough is enough. And purchasing my first alpha offering wine made such a difference. So I have no receipts. I'm not a receipt saver. I don't care, I don't keep receipts. Even when I go to Costco and I make my purchases, I literally walk out, crumpled up, throw away in the trash can before I even get to my car. So the fact that I still have this receipt, I must have known this was a very uh monumental purchase. I must have somehow deep down inside known that like this was this was really different. Something was changing. So I kept the receipt. I need to frame this. This needs to be framed and hung up here in a in my little Hina's old bedroom, my mocktail podcast studio. All right, love you guys. That's it. Talk to you guys later. See you next week with Jen Butler, the author of brand new book Mom Rediscovered. So that'll be our podcast on October 7th. I'll see some of you before then at the Mocktail Challenge. We have our first kickoff happiest hour on October 6th. So see you guys there. Lots and lots of love. Talk to you guys later.