I’m friends with Bill W

I’m in Alcoholics Anonymous, and I’ve been sober for 5 months. There I said it.

I’ve been anxious to announce it on Facebook. Have my FB posts been too serious lately? Am I posting too much? Am I mixing messages posting about the JDRF Ride and my T1D business? Will people judge me for being a life coach and a recovering alcoholic?

Then it hit me:

Some of the life coaching fundamentals are

happiness comes from being your authentic self

only YOU can make yourself happy with your thoughts

I’m a product of my product, so I’m better suited to help others

— so why not share my story!

Here goes…

I’ve been unhappy for the last few years. I love my friends and family, I’ve just had this overall feeling of restlessness, and I didn’t know what “to do with my life”. It really started when my dad passed away, and then I was laid off from GE Capital. I honestly just felt lost…

I’ve always been a super social “partier”. What you hear in the movies as a “functioning alcoholic” with a great career, volunteer position at JDRF, etc. Without going into too much detail, it was two things that drove my troubles with drinking:

1. My inability to have just one drink 2. My thoughts and decisions were dictated by alcohol. 

Focusing on External Factors 

When the pandemic hit, my unhappiness and restlessness grew (I’m not alone on this one!). I thought I could fix it by changing external circumstances.

I moved from Dupont Circle to Capitol Hill

I changed jobs

Planned ANOTHER move from Capitol Hill to Dewey

Quit the corporate world to become a life coach – while this was a GREAT decision – this alone could not make me happy 

I could not solve my problems by changing external circumstances. The problem was the dinking AND my thinking. 

One Thought Changed Everything 

There’s a saying in life coaching – “you’re only a thought away from changing your life” 

I had just spent two weeks in Dewey, after receiving my vaccine. I had fun seeing my friends and breaking free from quarantine. But the whole time I was there, I could NOT shake this horrible feeling of shame, loneliness, and despair. It was the absolute worst feeling.

My first morning back in DC, I sat down with a pen and paper and did a “thought download” to try and make sense of the mess in my brain.

And one main thought popped out of my head… “I’ll never be truly happy until I give up alcohol for good”.

I started to bawl.

So, I googled DC AA meetings, and I joined the first one that came up. It happened to be a Dupont Circle meeting, and I’ve gone every day since, for 151 days.

Now that I’ve found sobriety, clarity, happiness, and I’ve learned how to feel my feelings (instead of drinking them), I’ve decided to move back into my beautiful condo, because I WANT to. Not because I think it will make me happy. 

I’m a Product of my Product

Life Coaching has saved me in every possible way.

I changed my mindset around T1D so it doesn’t feel so HARD

I’ve learned how to make MYSELF happy

It’s given me sobriety and clarity I NEVER thought possible

It’s taught me to FEEL my feelings

Find yourself changing external circumstances, only you’re still unhappy? Simply just want to chat? Email or DM me if you want to talk! Lauren@LifecoachingwithLauren.com #LifecoachingwithLauren