This Is Woman's Work with Nicole Kalil - Sober Curious with Amanda Kuda | 270

Episode Date: January 10, 2025

Today, we’re diving into a topic that’s becoming increasingly common but still manages to get a few raised eyebrows and a chorus of “but whyyy?” in social settings—being sober or sober curious. More and more people are taking a closer look at their relationship with alcohol and realizing it’s not one they want to keep. This episode isn’t about judgment; it’s about empowerment. Our mission today is to help you make the best decisions for you. Because, ultimately, that is woman’s work. Our guest, Amanda Kuda, is an alcohol-free lifestyle expert, holistic life coach, and author of Unbottled Potential: Break Up With Alcohol and Break Through to Your Best Life. Amanda’s mission is to help ambitious, soul-centered women let go of alcohol to step into their full potential. She’s here to show us how elective sobriety can unlock doors we didn’t even realize were closed and become a powerful tool for personal growth. I encourage you to take time to reflect and be intentional about your choices. Whether it’s rethinking your relationship with alcohol, setting boundaries, or breaking free from habits that no longer serve you, the message remains the same: YOU are the decider. Connect with Amanda Kuda:  Website: https://www.amandakuda.com  21-Day Challenge: amandakuda.com/challenge (code TIWW for free challenge) Book: https://a.co/d/fHooI5M  IG: instagram.com/amandakuda Related Podcast Episodes: How To Know When It’s Time to Quit with Goli Kalkhoran | 266 5 Steps To Forging Your Own Path with Katie Horwitch | 232 5-Steps To Making Big Decisions with Abby Davisson | 222 Share the Love: If you found this episode insightful, please share it with a friend, tag us on social media, and leave a review on your favorite podcast platform! 🔗 Subscribe & Review: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon Music

I am Nicole Kalil and you're listening to the This Is Women's Work podcast where we are redefining what it means, what it looks and feels like to be doing women's work in the world today with you as the decider. And today's topic is about something that is becoming more and more common. But I'm sure somehow still gets a raised eyebrow or a but why in social situations. And that is being sober or sober curious. Because a growing number of people are taking a hard look at their relationship with alcohol and deciding that it's not a healthy one that they want to continue.

And I freaking love that. Getting out of relationships that don't serve you is absolutely doing one's work. And so is telling people to mind their own business when they raise an eyebrow. And here's the deal. Close to half of the world's population and about 30% of Americans over 21 do not drink alcohol. Not for happy hour, not at weddings or in celebration. about 30% of Americans over 21 do not drink alcohol, not for happy hour, not at weddings or in celebration. And while addiction is part of the reason for some,

there are so many other reasons, like improving your health, saving money, religious beliefs, not liking the taste, or my personal favorite, because you just don't want to. People have made the decision they feel is best for them, and that is always worth celebrating. In addition to those who are completely sober, 41% of Americans say they want to drink less alcohol. And get this, Gen Z is leading that charge.

They're prioritizing mental health over hangovers, and I'm personally enjoying this level of maturity that I did not have when I was their age. So while I'm not planning to be entirely sober or dry myself, I have absolutely changed my relationship with alcohol, moving away from drinking when stressed, bored, uncomfortable, or being able to get my introverted self through social situations. My current philosophy is only well-made drinks, which includes mocktails for sure with well-made people. And ultimately, that's what we're up to today,

helping you make the best decision for you, because after all, that is woman's work. And our guest, Amanda Couta, is an alcohol-free lifestyle expert, holistic life coach, and author of Unbottled Potential, Break Up with Alcohol and Break Through Your Best Life. Amanda's mission is to help ambitious, soul-centered women stop drinking and step into their full potential.

She's here to teach us how elective sobriety can open doors we didn't even know were closed and become an important part of our personal development. Amanda, thank you so much for being here. Like many of us, I imagine your personal experiences have led you to your life's work. So would you be open to starting the conversation by sharing why you chose to eliminate alcohol from your life? Absolutely. And you know, Nicole, I would love to say that I have like this really tumultuous relationship

with alcohol that made it so obvious that I needed to quit drinking. But I didn't. And that actually made it really difficult for me to come to this place in my life where I had to, wanted to, decided to make a decision for my own mental, physical, spiritual, and emotional health. And my decision came, you know, quite a bit earlier than I think a lot of people who choose to renegotiate their relationship with alcohol. And I know that because I work with those women. And typically you're making that decision in your mid-30s, 40s, or 50s. And I started to get this inkling when I was in my late 20s.

Something just wasn't stacking up for me, Nicole. I had the glitzy job. I was written up in one of the posh society magazines as one of the 20 under 30 young professionals to watch. I was speaking on stages. I owned a home and was rubbing elbows in the prominent social circles. I had an advanced degree, all of these things that I had worked so hard for

that really were this American dream. And I felt so dissatisfied. I felt so lost. I felt so underwhelmed with the life that I had built for myself. And on top of that, I felt kind of like an asshole for feeling underwhelmed because I had so much more.

I was a first-generation college student. My family grew up on food stamps. So I felt like, so wow, I should feel so privileged and so an adoration of my life. And I didn't and something felt off. And so I kind of started going on this soul searching journey of how can I get to that feeling that I want? And I was introduced to new age spirituality

and personal development right around my 28th birthday. And I dove into it head first. And I really was doing everything that I could gather up to optimize my life. I was going to yoga and working out and tracking my meals. I was meditating. I was praying. I was journaling. I was going on retreats. I was doing all of the things that would have technically shifted my life. I had enrolled in therapy and nothing was moving the needle. And so finally I started to look at my life

a little more critically and I looked at, okay, well Monday through Friday, I'm doing all these amazing mindful things. But then Friday at 5.30, I switched into work hard, play hard and my weekend was completely mindless and while that was only you know 72 hours of my week. I didn't realize the damage I was doing the setback that I was creating for myself to get back into the groove on Monday morning and When I looked at that as a young professional single woman that

Really was a harsh wake-up call because I did not want single woman, that really was a harsh wake-up call because I did not want to quit drinking. I was a social drinker. I didn't have a problem with alcohol and yet all roads led to this is the thing that's holding you back. And so you know I tried my darndest to figure out moderation and just to cut back on alcohol and I'm sure we'll talk about this a little bit but at the end of the day that just took up too much of my brain power and was too much effort. So finally in 2017, I decided I was just gonna quit

and try an experiment. And that experiment changed my entire life. And that is why I'm here doing the work that I do today. You know, I kind of love that your story wasn't maybe what we might expect, right? Like the, you had this severe problem and you hit rock bottom and it was destroying your life, but rather curiosity and exploration of how to be

and feel your best self. Again, I'm probably gonna say this so many times. I just love the making the best choice for you, especially when I'm sure in your twenties might not have been the most popular decision with other people or might have made things harder in some ways or made you feel different. I don't know. We'll get into that. Before we do, I would love if you would make the distinction between sober and sober curious. Sure. And I think that you get to choose words

that make the most sense for you, but like it or not, the branding of the word sober and sobriety is addiction and recovery. AA kind of put their claim on, stuck their claim on that word intentionally. And that's great for that community who needs that nomenclature specifically. But for me, the word sober was really intimidating

because it indicated that I had a problem and wanted to, needed to, had to be in a specific group because I was powerless over alcohol. And guess what? If that's your path, that's okay. But I didn't feel congruent going into those spaces because that wasn't my story. And so here I am left with,

well, then I guess I just have to figure alcohol out because I don't wanna be sober. I can't say I'm sober. I can't say I'm powerless over alcohol. And that was really confusing for me. And just around that same time, one of my colleagues, a guy named Ruby Warrington had started toying around with this phrasing

of sober curious, someone who is wanting to maybe dabble in sobriety, but doesn't want to say that they're sober, doesn't want to make any sort of specific commitments. They just want to learn a little bit more about it. And I think that what she did was really brilliant because it helped shift the trajectory of our ability to think differently or open up to a possibility just because there was a slightly different name tag we got to wear. And that was really helpful for me because I didn't feel like I had the permission to say I was sober,

but sober curious was something I could play around with. And I think that a lot of people feel that way. We just need a permission slip to explore something that before was off limits unless you met specific criteria. Makes perfect sense. And kind of on that topic of, and I'm just gonna put an air quotes, permission,

that feeling that we often feel like we need that. I would imagine for many people, one of the challenges is thinking about how to be sober, sober curious in certain situations or with certain people, mostly social, mostly celebratory, mostly large groups. Talk to us a little bit about sort of maneuvering your way through that for our listeners who are considering. Oh, for sure.

And that was, I have to tell you, Nicole, my biggest fear when I first started out and most people's biggest fear that there'll be a social outcast, that they'll be rejected by their existing friends and then there will be no one else out there because of course everyone drinks and if you don't, then you're probably just a fuddy duddy. And I had that perception. Of course, I thought that I would get, you know, excommunicated from all of my friend groups and then who would I be? No one. And by the way, I just moved to a new city. I just moved to Austin when I decided to quit drinking. I'd invested a year in making new friends and now I

was like, great, well now I'm gonna get kicked out of that group so I'll have to start all over again. And in some way that was empowering for me because I already knew that I could do it. But even if I wouldn't have moved, what I can tell you now with certainty is that if you approach this decision as something you are doing for yourself that you desire to do, that it's an opportunity for you, and we can talk about how you can shift your mindset into that way of thinking, but if you approach it in that way, people are going to react and respond to you differently. If you act like an Eeyore and act like, oh, I'm such a pain, I'm such a drag because I don't drink,

people will respond to you as such. But I decided in my, you know, however I made this decision, that I was just going to do it as a positive thing. And so I didn't give my friends in my social circle the opportunity to criticize me for it. I just went in with this brazen confidence that this is what I'm doing right now and come hell or high water I'm gonna make it through and I will say that there were certain occasions where I felt a little awkward Because it so many things so much revolve around alcohol It really feels like when you do XYZ that you have to you're supposed to drink and of course When you go to a happy hour, that is the central

activity. So I think the big thing that we have to realize is that, yes, your life is going to need to probably make some shifts because you're not going to feel comfortable at some of those events like happy hours or big boozy brunches or whatever if you're not drinking. And I want to encourage you that you might still enjoy it. But the reality is it's an opportunity for you to figure out what does Amanda, what does Nicole, whoever you are, what do you like, what do you enjoy? And can't you just spend your time doing more of that instead of trying to figure out how to do these events

that you actually probably don't enjoy? Right, yeah, I mean, I know plenty of people have FOMO, I have JOMO, right? Like the joy of missing out. So having reasons to not go to some of those things is actually exciting for me. But I guess from your personal experience and all the work that you do in coaching, do you find that people more often than not

continue to go to these things and they just figure out their way of doing that, whether that's having fun anyway or mocktails or whatever the case may be. Do you find they tend to avoid those types of things or sort of somewhere in the middle where they figure out their rhythm? Like, what are people typically doing

when they make this decision? Yes. Well, I always encourage you to explore and go out and experiment because so many of us, you know, it's sometimes part of our jobs to network, and we have to go out to some of these activities and some of these events, and we just have to figure it out. And the reality is, I imagine a lot of your audience are mothers, and you figured it out when you were caring for someone else

inside of your body, so why can't you figure it out for yourself inside of your own body? That's, you know, one piece of it. And so I find that if we go, if we approach it, knowing, Hey, sometimes I just have to grin and bear it. And guess what? Sometimes I can have a really great time if I focus my energy on that. But I work with a lot of women who also identify as highly sensitive and maybe a lot of people who are neurodivergent in some way

And when you are a little more sensitive and attuned to the environment around you Sometimes what alcohol actually did to you or did for you is numb your mind out so that you're not getting over stimulated And when you go into those environments, what you realize is number one You're overstimulated from the sound and the chaos and all of that. And number two, because you are very sensitive, you're wired, you're really wired for deep connection and it's very difficult to have deep connection and authentic vulnerable conversations in those environments. And so what I find is that you start to be dissatisfied with it because it's taking more

than it's giving. And so more often than not, I find that yes, we have a certain amount of events and obligations that we want to learn to stomach and want and can learn to have fun. Like, hell, I've gone to music festivals and still had an amazing time because I like that activity. But there's other things that I realized, wow, that's overstimulating and under-fulfilling because I don't get to connect. And so I choose not to participate or to really limit my participation.

And that actually feels like a superpower because I get to gain time back by not doing things I actually don't enjoy. And wow, what a wake-up call that was for me. Okay, so then I liked what you said earlier about when you approach this decision from a place of this is what's best for me and there is a confidence about it that people will respond accordingly. I believe that to be true and I also know there are some jerks and some people who are

completely disconnected or don't think in the moment. And it's almost inevitable that somebody is going to be like, come on, or why or whatever in those moments. Any tips for either language to use or ways to deal with people having opinions about your choices? Yeah, for sure. So when you are sharing this with anyone, the first thing is, yeah, your energy. Are you coming off with confidence? And the second is your language. And I think that having a little miniature script or a little formula to go off of is really helpful.

So I always set people up with a formula that's something like this. I am not drinking and then add a timeframe. And so it's definite. I'm not drinking, period, boom. And then add a timeframe right now so it's definite, I'm not drinking, period, boom. And then add a timeframe right now for the next 90 days, through the end of the year, for the next 30 days, because, and then add something that is a feeling-based and internal thing that people cannot argue with.

It is an inarguable truth. I don't like the way that it makes me feel and I wanna see how I feel without it. And I wanna give it a solid chance to see how I feel without it. Boom, the give it a solid chance to see how I feel without it. Boom, the end. Because if you do something, I was having this conversation with a client yesterday,

and she was like, ah, I'll tell them I'm driving. And I'm like, nope, you won't. Because even if you are driving, that's a problem for them to solve. Because guess what? Oh, just have one. You can get an Uber. If someone tries to argue with how you feel internally

and that you want to feel better and that you've noticed from your own intuitive standpoint that alcohol does not help you do that, that is a person you're not mixing with for a minute. Okay, they don't maybe it's just their bedside manner is not the best, but also maybe they don't have your best intentions at heart. And so I like setting it up with a definite statement, a timeframe and an inarguable internal reason. And if we can do it like that, people are much less likely to go against you. And if they do, I would honestly just kind of close off the conversation and walk away and say,

hey, it's not up for discussion. I really hope that you can choose to support me in this. And whoa, what a power move, a scary power move, but it is a power move to make to say, hey, this is how it is, and you can choose, I really hope that you choose to support me. And usually that will shut people up. I think it's very rare that we encounter a true bully,

um, and I hope that no one has that experience. Yeah, so phenomenal formula. Also great plan B, right, if somebody's not respecting the formula. And I think that can be applied to literally any choice we make that people might question or challenge or whatever. It's just such a solid approach. I will also add only because it's happened to me a few times

where I won't be drinking or I'll have, you know, like a glass of bubbly water in my hand or whatever. Ladies, we need to stop doing this to each other. It's typically women who do it to women. It's like, oh, why aren't you drinking? Do you have something to tell us? For fuck's sake, if they wanted you to know that they were pregnant, they would have freaking told you.

They wouldn't have done some Jedi mind trick about what they're drinking. Let's stop doing that altogether. That was my little side note. Anyway. I agree, 100%. Ridiculous. Okay, so let's talk about why, we've talked about a few things personally,

but generally speaking, why are people starting to choose life of sobriety and what are all the benefits? So some of the reasons that you might choose on the surface and some of the benefits that are really obvious, I mean, if you are on a health wellness optimization journey of any kind, alcohol wreaks havoc on your body. It disrupts all of your vital organs at the cellular level.

It changes the way your entire body functions because essentially it's fighting off alcohol as a toxin. And I don't like to go down to like the doom and gloom path, but it is what it is. And unfortunately, it just completely corrupts your entire system, no matter how much or how little you drink, unless you're drinking like something in a tincture and it's like less than a tablespoon, your body has to fight it off. And so if you want better sleep, clearer skin, more effective workouts and body optimization, if you want to have a more clear and consistent high emotions,

if you struggle with depression and anxiety, often we use this substance as a kind of cure-all for that, doesn't work. If you want to live an optimized life, one of the fastest ways of doing so is to remove alcohol from the picture and see what that does. The benefits that you'll see there are tremendous, but I think that the bigger benefits that I like to go for are some of the things that are intangible.

When I quit drinking, and a lot of the women who I work with are like this, sure, of course, they want to feel better, they want to sleep better, they want to save money, all of those things, but they sense that they are meant for something more, something bigger, something more magnificent in their lives, and they're feeling discontent, they're feeling off track, they're feeling stuck, even though, like me, I was successful and I was going to make my dreams happen come hell or high water. But let me tell you what, my dreams in the last, I've not drank in eight years, it took me five years for all but one really of my biggest dreams to come true, and that's Oprah. And I know we're getting close, girl. But every one of my wildest dreams came true

in such a short period of time once I got alcohol out of the way. And so I really want to speak to that woman who feels like something's holding her back. She's doing pretty good, but she's feeling still really stuck and discontent. And she knows that there's something bigger and better and more wonderful out there for her. And I think that if you approach it from that, well, I know that if you approach it from that perspective, you're going to get a much easier journey

because you're doing it for that someday win goal that yeah, it's intangible, but you're going to get there so much more quickly if you don't have the barrier of alcohol in the way. So Amanda, you're the expert. I'm going to just throw this out there to get your experience and expertise on it. But is there some element too of, I think as women, we tend to carry around a lot more guilt and shame, like just anyway in our normal day-to-day lives.

And you add in the feeling sometimes you have the morning after drinking or the, what did I say? Or did I represent myself the best? Like, is there any element of wanting to release and let go some of those not so great feelings that tend to come along with drinking or drinking too much? Oh, absolutely. The kids call it anxiety.

They make it sound so cute, and it's not cute. I had that feeling no matter how little I drank. There was just this internal niggling that something was going amiss and that I had done something wrong or things were crumbling and I did not like that feeling. It does not feel good to go through your day feeling like something is off kilter. And so there's that after feeling of you

know shame, remorse, guilt, you know maybe even just on a deeper level that feeling of wow now I've made it so difficult to be my biggest me, my fullest me, my most present and centered and creative me. And that sometimes creates a sense of longing that you can't be the you that you were meant to be when you're feeling a little sluggish. And so yeah, what would your life be like if you could completely, well, not completely,

because there's still some inner work to do, but the inner work is easier to do when you're not operating at half capacity. What would your life be like Well, not completely because there's still some inner work to do, but the inner work is easier to do when you're not operating at half capacity. What would your life be like if you didn't waste all those hours sulking and feeling anxious and feeling hung over and feeling that anxiety feeling? Let me tell you, as someone who's been feeling it

for eight years or not feeling it for eight years, it's pretty miraculous and I feel so good and so on point that I wouldn't trade that feeling for anything. Yeah, so I wanna dive a little deeper into something we actually started talking about before we hit record and you just mentioned a little bit there is this wasted time. I have yet to meet a woman who's like,

I couldn't use an extra hour in a day or what I wouldn't do with a few hours a week, where does being sober impact time and energy? Yeah, I have all of my clients and students do this activity, and it's one that I mentioned in my book, which is where you take a rough guess at how many hours you spend in your week planning to drink, figuring out the social schedule, drinking,

and recovering from drinking. When you look at just that broad number, it's going to be pretty staggering. But then what I'm able to do is I have the gift of I can look in the rear view mirror and realize that when I was going out drinking, I actually wasn't feeling back at 100 percent after my hangover was gone. I wasn't feeling, and I was a weekend warrior, so let's say Friday, Saturday, Sunday, but I wasn't feeling 100 percent until Thursday. So then what? I have a good day and a half before I'm back at it again.

I didn't know how sluggish and foggy and uncreative and unmotivated I was, because I was just one of those push through and get shit done kind of gals but I didn't realize how much faster the synapsis could be firing and how much more like vibrant and energetic I would could and would feel until I got some space from alcohol so I can tell you now that yeah I was operating at dismal capacity for a lot of the week and that is really shocking. But then I think the other thing that's really shocking, Nicole,

is when I started trying to renegotiate my relationship with alcohol, and this is because of my personal personality type. I don't know if you ever talk about different archetypes, like Myers-Briggs or Enneagram, and I know people are obsessed with those. So there's two really simple archetypes that a podcaster and author Gretchen Rubin introduced

and they're moderators and abstainers. And moderators typically find their resolve if they get to have personal choice. And a lot of people really covet the persona of a moderator because they think that that's the Holy Grail, that you just have the best of both worlds, you, you know, it's balanced, it's whatever, it's really glamorized.

But when I learned about these two archetypes, what I realized is I'm an abstainer I'm someone who actually does better with all-or-nothing goals because then I don't have to spend my brain power trying to figure out How to moderate and if you're investing a lot of brain power Which I was trying to figure out moderation Then it might just be that you are someone who is better served because you are most authentically an abstainer. And when that clicked for me and I realized, wow, I've really been spinning my wheels trying to figure out this alcohol thing,

I could free up all that time by just saying, no, it's a no for me. And again, that was a hard decision. That was a tough, bold decision to make, but it freed up an infinite amount of time, space, and mental energy that I was able to spend on pursuing my dreams and pursuing my life. And wow, it was just really miraculous. Lots of things to chew on there. I love the distinction between moderators and abstainers. Is that what you call them? Yeah, exactly. I always think there is a measure of self-awareness

that is so important when we make big decisions for ourselves. So what would you recommend as first steps or next step? So I would imagine if somebody's decided to be sober at this point, they're already working on it, right? So somebody's sober, curious, and you mentioned this earlier, like a timeframe. What would you recommend as a way to explore that curiosity? For sure, taking a consistent consecutive break

from alcohol. And a lot of people will start with this 30 day, you know, you might, I think that you were gonna air this in January. So you might be doing dry January, or maybe you're doing another dry month where you decided to take a 30 day consecutive break. That's a great place to dip your toe in the water,

but I really want to encourage you that you're not gonna see the full benefits overnight. And really you're not going to see them in 30 days because your body is still recalibrating. And especially for women of our age where our hormones are starting to change and do some other fun, exciting things. You really want to give your body at minimum 90 to 100 days to start seeing the really important results.

Now again, you're not going to have like unicorns and butterflies shooting out your behind at this time, but you are going- Wouldn't that be fabulous? That would. Maybe consult your doctor if that does happen. It takes some video for sure. But you have to realize that this is a probably for most of us, decade, two or three decade long habit and influence on your body. So you have to give your body some time to recalibrate. There is a half life there. But if you have it in you, and I think that most of you do, and because most

of you are go-getters, you have something big you wanna accomplish, wouldn't it behoove you to give yourself 90 minimum days just to see what it's like and how good you could feel and reevaluate from there? And that is what I would want for anyone who is, you know, you're kind of following this language that you feel like you were put on the planet

for something bigger, you haven't quite touched into it yet, give yourself something that's reasonable but challenging and start with 90 days. Really start, get in there and see what happens. Okay. And then over those 90 to 100 days, any suggestions of how to tune in and pay attention and track some of the benefits? I think sometimes we're so busy and often not paying attention or numb to some of the benefits. I think sometimes, you know, we're so busy and often not paying attention or

numb to some of these things, and that might be a byproduct of alcohol, right? So in there, is it a journaling? Is it a everyday tracking how you feel? What are some tips and tricks to get the most out of these 90 to 100 days to optimize them? Yes, thank you for asking that because I should have just like going ahead and covered that. That you can just abstain for 90 days and that's great. Not drinking for 90 days is amazing, but you have to also realize that alcohol has been a bandaid for something in your life.

It has probably been some sort of emotional or social, you know, crutch. And so you have to give yourself new tools to replace alcohol or else you're just going to be going into the world with a lack of skills and open wounds and that's not going to feel good for you. And so first of all, yeah, absolutely. I recommend a journaling practice to kind of get mindful about what you're experiencing and how you're feeling and how your mood is shifting and becoming a little more broad in the things that you're able to feel. But I give some exercises inside of my book and then I also wanna share a free challenge

with your community that offers some reflective exercises because the best thing that you can do is really get curious about how do I feel and what's changing, where are my skills maybe lacking and doing the work to start to add, increase those skills in your life. So these are basic life skills that are emotional regulation, spiritual check-ins,

things that you can do to learn to actually solve the problems that alcohol was shortcutting you through or delaying. And if you can get really clear about what was I using alcohol for, how can I get at those things myself without alcohol, you're going to leave that 90 days in with a superpower that cannot be matched. And that will be incredibly powerful. So absolutely journaling. I'm happy to give you some exercises to reflect on if anyone wants to participate in

this challenge that we'll talk about. But really, yeah, doing some introspection during that time. So it's not just an exercise in abstinence. Perfect. Okay, tell us where we can find the challenge and then I'll tell people where to find and follow you from there. For sure. So the challenge is at amandakuta.com forward slash challenge.

And typically I ask that you buy the book to get the challenge for free, but I just want your listeners to be able to jump right in and dip their toes in the water. So if they use the code, I think we did decide a T-I-W-W, it will bypass that and let you write in. So I would love for anyone who's wanting to explore this and have some of those introspective moments to go ahead and join in. And if you're looking for a little extra support, you can follow Amanda on Instagram at Amanda

Cuda and of course, get the book Un Unbottled Potential, available on Amazon or wherever you buy books. Let's support our local bookstores. Amanda, thank you so much for your incredible work, for the impact I know you're having on so many women, and for challenging us to rethink our relationship with alcohol. Thank you so much. Absolutely. Thanks, Nicole. All right, friends, as we wrap up, I'd ask us all to take some time to reflect

and be intentional about our choices. Whether it's rethinking your relationship with alcohol, setting boundaries, or breaking up with habits that no longer serve you, the message is always the same. You are the decider. And moving away from anything that doesn't align with your values or support the life you want may not be easy, but it is always a great, bold, and brave move. Honoring yourself, trusting your instincts, and making choices that feel good for you

without explanations or apology, that, my friends, is absolutely worth cheersing. So, a big bubbly water-filled cheers to you because creating a life and making choices that serve you is the ultimate form of self-respect and confidence. And that, that is always woman's work.