Quit Drinking Using Lessons from Ted Lasso

Pod Ted Lasso Thanks for listening to this episode of Alcohol Tipping Point. This podcast episode is gonna be a solo one, just me, and I've actually been wanting to do this for a while because I love this show. It's Ted Lasso. In case some people were thinking, oh, who's Ted Lasso? Is she interviewing Ted Lasso? Ted Lasso is actually a show on Apple TV that has Jason Sudeikis. It's about a soccer coach from America who goes to England, has no experience whatsoever to teach or not teach coach soccer. Or football in England. This has been out for a few years. My husband and I actually didn't catch onto it or watch it until the last couple months, and so we binged it, watched the final season that just came out in the end of May, beginning of June, and I thought, You know what? There's so many lessons from Ted Lasso and so many things that might be useful to you as you are quitting drinking, changing your drinking. Honestly, just life lessons in general, and so I thought I would share a few of those with you today. I also wanted to invite you to do dry July with me. I am running the alcohol again and will be doing the month of July, taking a break from drinking. For the month, practicing not drinking. And what it is is I call it an alcohol because I think anytime you are taking a break from drinking, it is a gift. It is a holiday for your body, for your mind. It's a chance for you to learn new tools, and it's a chance for you to just really practice not drinking and practice it in a safe environment. I have a private group. It's small. It is not on social media. You join a different platform. It is usually there's like 30 of us. I cap it at 50 people. But it's just a really supportive environment. We have group meetings where you can get coaching for me and my other coach, Judy, and you also have access to me anytime. You can always email me or chat me up. And then you get daily content as well. So every day you get a new lesson, a new module just to help you be successful for the month. So if you're thinking about doing dry Jan, or not dry January. Dry January is the other popular month to quit drinking or take a month off. But this is dry July. So if you're wanting to do dry July, I would love to invite you to the next holiday. I have been running them every month, so keep that in mind. But I will put a link in the show note. You can also visit alcohol tipping point.com/holiday and you can join there. Would love to have you. All right, well, let's get into our lessons from Ted Lasso lesson number one, know your why. This is so important for anything that you do, but really know like. Why are you changing your drinking? Why are you taking a break? What is your why? And get really specific about this. It it, and get really personal about it too. I know that a lot of the times we're changing our drinking because we want to do it for our children or our partner, but when you can really tap into what's motivating you, that is gonna be so helpful. So some reasons that people list for changing their drinking is they want to sleep better. They want to improve their health, they want to have more focus. They want to work on other goals in their life. They want to feel better. You know, drinking just, and when I was at the end of my drinking journey, it just made me feel like crap, total shit. And I just wanted to feel better. And I knew when I didn't drink, I felt better. So having a list of whys. Can be really important, and you can go back to those why's when you feel like drinking again, you can look at why. Why did I do this in the first place? Why am I even doing this? And you'll find that there's a lot of reasons. And so you can make a list on your phone, you can write it down, whatever works for you, and just have something that you could refer back to easily. Second lesson from Ted, Ted lasso is meet a challenge head on, but with the willingness to grow. So that's just meaning, being confident and starting and just being ready, but also being willing. I really like this word willing. Lately, I've been hearing it coming up again and again and I, I think that it's such a good bridge to allow us to get to the other side of a feeling like I, I am willing to examine my drinking, I am willing to change my habits. I am willing to take a month off of drinking. And I just feel like it allows us to get to that next step in a more kind and gentler way. And there is a quote that Ted Lasso talks about for taking on a challenge because recognizing like it is hard to take on a challenge. And he says, taking on a challenge is a lot like riding a horse, isn't it? If you're comfortable while you're doing it, you're probably doing it wrong. And I just think that's so funny because with anything, any kind of challenge, that's why it's called a challenge, right? It's not always easy and it's gonna feel uncomfortable at first and, and that's how it is when we're changing our drinking because we've gotten so used to drinking. It's become a habit. We've done it every day. It's just been our go-to. So it can be really uncomfortable, like riding a horse. It can be really uncomfortable at first, and that's okay as long as you're willing. To feel that uncomfortableness, willing to grow, willing to allow yourself this break, it's gonna serve you so well. Lesson three from Ted Lasso is having hope and optimism. He is such a cheerful character, almost annoyingly so, but he is very cheerful, very optimistic, and it is contagious. And so one of the things he also talks about is hope. And you see it when he is rooting on the football team or soccer team, whatever you wanna call it. He just believes in hope and he helps instill it into others. And so I really want to help instill hope to you and know that this is possible. You can change your drinking. You can be optimistic about it instead of pessimistic about it. Lean into the, those positive emotions like ho hope and optimism instead of being scared and pessimistic. I, I know that it's sometimes it seems like after another day one or waking up again after a day of drinking, sometimes we really lean into that. I'm never gonna change my drinking. I'm broken. I'm, I'm not gonna get this. And I just really wanna encourage you to lean into faith and. Tell yourself, I can work on this, I can do this. I've seen other people do this. I believe I can do this. I hope I can do this. I'm optimistic that I can do this. And there's a quote from Ted Lasso that says, it will all work out. Now, it may not work out how you think it will or how you hope it does, but believe me, it will all work out exactly as it's supposed to. And I just think that is so comforting. We're all on our own journey and this leads to having courage, having courage, and lots of it. That's another lesson from Ted Lasso. He took on courage just by moving across the country, taking this job he had no experience in, and every decision that he makes, he's like facing fears and that's what we're doing. We are being courageous when we are facing that. Drinking is no longer serving me. Right? When you face that like, I'm not living my life fully. I have a drinking problem, I need to change my drinking. That takes a lot of courage to admit that, and it's scary. I know, and it gets you outta your comfort zone, but it will also. Really help you. It will help you become more resilient. It will help you learn that it is possible. And just signing up to do a dry month or doing it on your own or just listening to this podcast, that takes courage. It really does. And so I, I want to instill a lot of that into you. And another quote from Ted Lasso says, you say impossible, but all I hear is I'm possible. I'm possible. It is possible that you can change your drinking. All right, our other lesson from Ted Lasso is let ideas come from everywhere. You don't need to put limits on what other people can offer. You don't need to put limits on what you should do or shouldn't do when you're changing your drinking, you, there are so many ways now that we can change our drinking. Really let them come from everywhere. See what works best for you. Whether that's doing something online, whether that's speaking with a therapist, doing medication, whatever that looks like for you. Let those ideas come from everywhere. Get creative with it. That's okay. We we're living in a time where people are really sober curious, right? They're really examining how to change their drinking and what a great time and place to live in. So be open, be open, let ideas come from everywhere. Another lesson from Ted Lasso is embrace change. So again, getting outta your comfort zone and embracing change, letting go of the way that you thought your life should be and the way that it is, and that's hard. That's hard. And I, I get it. Change is hard. It's not that straight line that we think it is. It is often that curvy squiggly line is what I call change. And if you can allow it and go with it and just flow with it, then you're gonna be so much better off. And this is one of those tricky things we do. We, we are so comfortable even in our discomfort, even though. It's hard right now. Maybe your drinking is hard right now. It's hard to wake up every morning and feel like crap. It's, it's hard to change your drinking. There's something in it that is keeping you safe and it can feel scary to change cuz you don't know what that future is gonna be like. So again, I want you to lean into faith and hope and optimism that on the other side of this drinking world. Is a much better place for you. And so it's just getting through the hard part, getting through the first few days, getting through the first month, whatever that looks like for you. And knowing that on the other side it's, it's gonna become your new norm. It's gonna be easier for you. You're not gonna think about drinking all the time. It's going to be better. So embrace change. Another lesson from Ty Lasso is to be authentic and embrace your imperfect self. I, I think recognizing we don't have to be perfect. We can take the pressure off of being perfect and we can learn to practice. That's why I'm so. So passionate about saying like, let's practice not drinking because we've spent so much time drinking that we need some time to practice. We, we can't get a perfect ride off. Nobody gets a perfect ride off. I mean, think about any other thing you do in your life that's new when you're first learning to ride a bike, when you're first learning to play a sport, when you're first learning your job, whatever you're working at, you don't get it right off the bat. You, you learn, you grow from that. You make mistakes. You learn from those mistakes, and then you keep going. And so that's why I'm, I really don't focus on perfection. I focus on progress. And when you do the holiday or when you are changing your drinking, whoever you do it with, just recognize that again, that. Change line. It's not straight, linear, perfect line. It's gonna be squiggly and you're gonna have some slipups and that's okay. Embrace them, learn from them, move on from them. Another lesson from Ted Lasso is second chances. In one of the last, well, I don't wanna spoil anything for you in case you haven't seen it, but he does share this quote. We, we watch a character kind of go through making mistakes and then coming to a, a point where, Can they get a second chance? And, and Ted Lasso says, I hope that either all of us or none of us are judged by the actions of our weakest moments, but rather the strength we show when and if we're ever given a second chance. And I think giving yourself a second chance. And even more than that, not judging yourself by your weakest moments. And really focusing on the strengths that you have. I know that a lot of the times we, when we're changing our drinking, we could go a whole month and drink three days for that month, let's say, but. Man, are we focusing on all the 27 days we didn't drink? Oftentimes we're like, fuck, I drank three days. Like you're really mired in those three days you did drink, or whatever that looks like for you. Really, instead of focusing so much on the days that you're drinking, focus on the days that you're alcohol free. Focus on what is going right, what is making you successful, and allow yourself to mess up. It's gonna happen, right? But then learn from it and move on. Again. That's that second chance. Lesson number nine from Ted Lasso is be a goldfish. I love this. He says, you know what the happiest animal on earth is? It's a goldfish. You know why it's got a ten second memory so the goldfish can be the best animal? Although technically, I'm not sure, do we go goldfish animals? But at any rate it's the best animal to embody when you make a mistake. It's the one with a memory that lasts 10 seconds. So the point of it is just shake it off when you make a mistake and get back at it. Be a goldfish, shake it off. If you do drink, shake that the fuck off and be a goldfish. Keep on swimming. And then the last lesson from Ted Lasso is believe. Believe in yourself. That is a sign that hangs up in the locker room and it's just so core to making a change and doing something for yourself and your life. When, when we're mired in self-doubt, that can be crippling. It can be hard to achieve our desires if we don't believe we're capable of them or if we feel like we don't deserve them. And so recognize that you are capable of changing your drinking. You deserve to change your drinking, and you can change your drinking. It is achievable. And so I just want you to really work and be willing, you know, here's that willing word again. Be willing to believe in yourself. Be willing. To take a chance and try, try again. And as you're doing it, embrace the lasso away and have as much fun as possible as you can when you're doing this. And so that's why, again, I call an alcohol holiday because it's about joy. It's about finding the good of being alcohol free. It's not about deprivation that because it is so much better. Feels so much better mentally and physically to be alcohol free, but it's hard to get there. I recognize that in between the space in between drinking and not drinking, that can be a really awkward time and, and change any kind of change, honestly, whether it's good or bad. The space in between change that kind of awkward period. Some people call it the obstacle course. Some people call it like the river of misery. It can be a really awkward period of trying to find your footing, trying to find your new way of being that comes naturally. So I wanna encourage you. I want you to believe in yourself. I believe in you borrow some of my belief because I have seen people change. I've seen it firsthand. Now. I've been doing the alcohol a couple years now, two years now. July will actually be my two year anniversary of doing the alcohol. I've seen people change their drinking. And it's amazing. So again, I wanna thank you for listening to this episode about Ted Lasso. I hope you can use these lessons in all aspects of your life when you're changing anything, when you're trying to be a better person, and especially if you're changing your drinking. I salute you. I'm giving you a high five. If you want help, come join the holiday. I would love to have you. I also have other free resources too. If you want to do something else or do it on your own, definitely check out my website, alcohol tipping point.com. And then if you wanna join the holiday, it's alcohol tipping point.com/alcohol holiday, and you can use the code dry D r y, all caps and get 20% off. And that is all I have for you today. Be well. Practice not drinking. You are worth it, and I'll talk to you next week.