So here I am, three years into my journey as a Boozeless Babe! But you might wonder, “So what?” It’s a mixed feeling. I want to celebrate this milestone, yet it also feels like a regular part of my life now.
So, what’s a soul junkie like me to do? I’ve decided to do both. I’ll celebrate myself, and I’ll celebrate everyone else on this not-so-easy path to ‘sobriety.’ At the same time, I want to normalize my experiences and feelings by sharing them here.
Being a Boozeless Babe has brought about some remarkable changes in my life. I’ve dived headfirst into learning, reading, writing, creating, and leading in ways I never thought possible.
In my journey, I’ve identified three distinct areas that have helped me stay on this winding road to sobriety. It’s funny how the phrase ‘straight and narrow’ doesn’t quite fit my journey, but here we go:
Physical Sobriety: This is where people break free from the physical habit of drinking. It’s about escaping the cycle of alcohol abuse, which may or may not have been serving us well in various aspects of our lives—health, family, friends, work, relationships, success, to name a few.
Emotional Sobriety: Even after breaking free from the act of drinking, we’re not entirely free. We’re confronted with all the emotions we used to hide from during our days of indulgence—fear, frustration, blame, shame, rejection, isolation, judgment, abandonment, just to name a few. Achieving emotional sobriety is the next step.
The Work: This is where the real transformation happens. We need to invite each of these emotions into the living room of our soul for a candid conversation about what’s really going on inside us and why. We must understand how yesterday’s experiences influence our behavior today, shaped by our habitual thoughts, feelings, actions, and beliefs. This is what I call ‘The Work.’
On our path to physical sobriety, we have no choice but to remove the masks we’ve hidden behind for years, maybe even decades. Once we’ve made a sincere commitment to abstain from alcohol abuse, we can see what’s beneath the mask. And trust me, it’s not always pretty. When these long-buried emotions start to surface, we might not even know how to deal with them. We need to learn to rise above our past with forgiveness and appreciation, so we can redefine our core selves.
We all desire some level of transformation in our lives; that’s why we’re here, right? To learn, teach, grow, and evolve without the heavy burden of guilt, shame, blame, resentment, judgment, and anger weighing us down.
It all comes down to understanding our belief system, which we can affectionately call “BS” because, as I’ve learned, that’s often what our beliefs turn out to be—BS! When we begin to recognize and question our beliefs and whether they’re still valid in our current lives, that’s when the real celebration begins.
So, here’s to celebrating my journey and yours, whether you’re on the path of physical or emotional sobriety or deep into ‘The Work.’ Let’s also normalize our own experiences and those of others because we’re exactly where we need to be right now, and there’s nothing wrong with that.
Now, let’s go out there and do what we were meant to do:
– call BS for what it is
– PLAY more with our thoughts, beliefs, feelings, actions, and reactions
– be CURIOUS about how we can transform those old, dreaded patterns into happy habits.
Play more … it’s worth it!
Janine McJannet
RTT Therapist, Hypnotherapist,
Empowerment & Play Coach
Janine McJannet 
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